Mark 8:22  And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
23  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
24  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25  After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
26  And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

Blindness must be a difficult thing. Those who are born blind, never knew any different. They never saw a beautiful flower. They cannot appreciate the various colours in the flowers or the birds and many other things. Walking would be a different challenge for them since they cannot see what is ahead or under them. They can imagine what is around them but they cannot see it.
Those who had sight at one time and then lost it can appreciate the blessings of sight, but they begin to discover what it is like to lose one of their senses. There is a man in our area who has lost his eyesight over the years. We have witnessed the progression of this loss. The sad reality for this man is that he is not only physically blind, but he is also spiritually blind. He has talked about the loss of his sight, but he has no interest in the need for spiritual sight. He is not alone in that hardened position. There are thousands upon thousands of people who have no interest in knowing the truth.
In our text the people brought a blind man to Jesus. That is the right thing to do. Whether it be physical blindness or spiritual blindness, the right place to bring the person is to the Lord Jesus. At one point the Pharisees came to Jesus and asked Him if they were blind. They asked Him that, not because they wanted an honest answer, but rather because they were looking for more opportunities to mock Him. They were blind, but did not believe that to be so.
That is the biggest problem today as well. It is not possible to help a person that will not admit they have a need. The New Evangelical crowd is blind, but they refuse to acknowledge that fact. They have chosen to believe a lie because they do not want to accept the truth. In my years as a pastor I have witnessed too many individuals who choose a path that is indefensible from the Word of God, and yet they insist on remaining on that path. It is a sad scene to witness. The Bible warns us of the hardened nature of the deceived. I am not the authority. God’s Word is the Authority.
In our text, Jesus dealt with a man who was physically blind. This man had friends who cared enough about him to bring him to the only One who could give him his sight. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town. Again we are reminded that Jesus was not a showman. He did not put up posters advertising His healing powers. He healed many people to prove His deity.
In this particular situation, away from the crowds, Jesus spit on the blind man’s eyes and asked him if he saw anything. The blind man stated that he saw people as trees, walking. He must have been given some description of what trees look like. He could identify them. He had never seen a tree and now he was seeing trees walking.
Jesus touched the man’s eyes another time and asked him what he saw. On this second encounter, the man answered that he saw every man clearly. Jesus used different methods to heal people. Regardless of the method, Jesus proved His deity by the miracles that He did. This method was not a temporary failure. It was just one of many ways that Jesus worked. Jesus did not set up a pattern that we should follow. He was not teaching the disciples that this method He had used was one they could try as well. Jesus was and is the eternal Son of God. He is unique and above all else. His miracles were done to prove His deity. We do not need to prove our deity because we have none. We do not prove we are saved by healing others. Those who are saved do not prove their calling by attempting to heal others. We prove our calling by being faithful to God’s Word.
In verse 26 we read that Jesus sent this man away after He healed him. This man would be more useful at home than he would be travelling with Jesus and His disciples. He was told not to go into the town and he was not to tell anyone what Jesus had done to him.
The desire for physical healing had become such a distraction for the people. Of course we can understand the desire to be able to live a healthy life. The problem Jesus encountered among the people is their lack of desire for spiritual healing. They did not care to hear of their dire need of salvation. They assumed that since they were Jews, they already had all they needed in the spiritual sense. They were preoccupied with physical freedoms.
They were very much like we are today. There is far more interest in political parties and in who is leading us on the earthly level, than there is with the spiritual needs of men. We can clearly see this by the way people do not care about the moral bankruptcy of our politicians. As long as they promise us something we want to hear, we ignore all the evil.
John the Baptist understood the moral corruption of king Herod was not only affecting him. It was also affecting the attitude of the people. Leaders are examples to the people in more ways than one. When leaders reject God’s standards, it suggests that others also can ignore God’s standards. When parents choose to walk in defiance of God’s Word, they teach their children the same thing. When pastors reject the authority of God’s Word, they teach their people that God’s Word is not absolute.
This defiant attitude is all part of that spiritual blindness that is far too prevalent among us as people.
Jesus sent this man to his house to show his own household the significance of what God had done for him. That is the place to start. We need to show our families the difference that God makes in life. Sometimes families are not interested in knowing that. They do not like the difference they see when God takes over. Knowing God and following Him does not rob us of anything of value. In fact it brings us things that are of eternal value. It is quite a difference when a person surrenders more to the God Who loves us and saves us. It is a difference that I would not want to get away from. I would like to continue to draw closer to the Lord. I know that one day I will be with Him in heaven and that will be a vast difference from what we have here. The apostle Paul stated:

Philippians 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

True Christians need to be reminded that we need to be approaching everything on earth from a heavenly perspective. We need to see people as precious souls in God’s sight. That fact will give us a different approach to people. Unless our spiritual eyes are opened by God, we will not see that.
Pastor Bartel