Joan Hogge’s Sermon – 7/27/08
The Second Touch
Mark 8:22-30
Psalm 105:1-11, 42-45
Everything in the first eight chapters of Mark happens at a frantic pace. It’s almost like being on one of those fast, express trains, those you can take between Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York. These trains move too fast to enjoy the scenery. Instead the landscape speeds by so quickly everything looks like a blur. There’s not enough time to take it all in. Mark tells his gospel at just such a frantic pace, telling the story of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The gospel begins with Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, follows Jesus throughout his Galilean ministry and moves on ultimately to Jerusalem and Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. Words like “immediately”, “right away” and “at once” give this gospel a sense of urgency. Within the first 8 chapters, Jesus calls his disciples, teaches in the synagogues, casts out demons, teaches to great crowds, heals the sick, breaks bread with sinners, calms the wind and the sea, and feeds thousands of people with small amounts of food. Things are happening so fast we hardly have time to understand what it all means.
In today’s scripture, we find Jesus and his disciples on the move. They have just crossed the Sea of Galilee where Jesus was teaching on the other shore. He had just fed 4000 people with 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish, and had an encounter with the Pharisees who wanted a sign from heaven as to who gives Jesus his authority. On the trip across the lake, the disciples become concerned; they have only 1 loaf of bread with them; they have forgotten to bring enough bread for all the people they know will be waiting on the other side. At this point the disciples seem almost blind to the feeding miracle they have just experienced, as they stress over not having enough bread. Finally, they discuss it among themselves, and say to Jesus, “we have no bread.” Jesus responds to them saying: “Do you not yet understand? Having eyes, do you not see? Do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5000 and the seven loaves for the 4000?” With each feeding we had baskets of food left over!
Up to this point, Jesus and his disciples have been rapidly on the move. But in our scripture for today, we are coming to the end of the first half of Mark’s gospel. The express train that we are on begins to slow down just a bit; maybe we’ll get a chance to peak out the window and see where we are! Oh yes, look, over there. We can see the boat carrying Jesus and his disciples pulling into the harbor of a small fishing village. Checking our map we find this is the village of Bethsaida. We’re on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, in a mostly Gentile area.
We can tell Jesus’ fame as a healer has preceded him. As he disembarks, a group of unnamed people bring a blind man to him, begging Jesus to touch their friend and heal him. We know from Jesus’ other miracles that he has cured paralysis, deafness, and fevers, and even raised the dead! No words are exchanged between Jesus and the blind man. Instead, Jesus takes him by the hand and leads him outside the village. We don’t know why Jesus went outside the village to heal this man. We can only guess that it was related to privacy, trying to avoid the crowds in the city. Perhaps, to make personal contact with the man without the distraction of the crowds or possibly to help make the blind man more comfortable, so he could concentrate all of his attention on Jesus. Once outside the village, Jesus put saliva on the man’s eyes and laid his hands upon him. Literally, the Greek is translated, “spit in his eyes”. To Mark’s first century reader this approach of using spittle and laying on of hands was not unusual; saliva was considered to have medicinal purposes.
So now we hear Jesus, like a good physician ask the man: “Do you see anything?” Do you see anything?? What!! Jesus, the great healer, asking if his treatment worked! Verse 24 tells us that the healing was not completely successful. The man answers: “I see men; but they look like trees, walking.” The man is telling Jesus he can only see shapes; things seem out of focus. The people look like trees walking around. Like a modern day ophthalmologist, Jesus then tries another treatment. With the second touch, the man’s sight is restored. Now he sees everything clearly. Jesus sends the man home, saying: “Don’t go into the village.” In other words, don’t go back to your former way of life as a beggar in the city. You have been healed; go home now to your family and friends and start a new life.
For the blind man at Bethsaida, the healing is not instantaneous as were the other healing miracles of Jesus. Only with the second touch were his eyes opened and his sight restored. At this point he sees everything clearly, letting us know the completeness of the vision; nothing remains unclear.
We have to ask ourselves why this story of the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida stands out from other miracles in the Gospels? First, it is the only healing story where Jesus asks about his own work, and second, the only account in Mark where the healing takes place in stages rather than immediately. Third, a two step healing does not fit the image of a mighty Messiah. Only one other time do we find a two part healing in the Gospels. That’s in John 9 when Jesus, again using spittle, places it on a man’s eyes and he is then instructed to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. With the washing, his sight is restored. Unlike Mark, Matthew and Luke do not even include this healing story in their gospels. So with the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida, Mark is telling us that this story is about more than just physical healing. It helps us understand the spiritual healing of the disciples which comes gradually and with much difficulty. The gradual restoration of the blind man’s sight suggests the gradual opening of the disciples’ eyes, their slow journey to understanding the nature of Jesus’ messiahship and the meaning of their own discipleship. Time and time again, throughout the first half of Mark’s gospel, the disciples fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, empowered by God. The disciples were called, commissioned and specially taught by Jesus himself. They shared in Jesus’ ministry, yet they continually failed to recognize and grasp his significance. The disciples were privileged to receive Jesus’ private instruction. They were there when Jesus fed thousands; they watched as he calmed the wind and the sea, yet they still responded out of fear and wondered who this Jesus could be that even the wind and the sea obeyed his command. The Kingdom of God remained a mystery for them.
To the first century reader of Mark’s gospel, the message about the disciples would be clear. Jesus touched the lives of his disciples and they followed him, going from blindness to partial understanding of who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. Only after the Cross and Resurrection did they finally comprehend, and “see clearly” what discipleship involves, and the significance of Jesus’ ministry. Only after the Resurrection does anyone begin to unravel the mystery of the reign of God, come in the person of Jesus Christ. In the Resurrection we see clearly God’s power to restore sight and life. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.
All along the disciples have had a bad case of myopia (near-sightedness). They needed the second touch and many more from Jesus. They mirror for us, as modern day disciples, how we can become confused and gifted with only occasional sight. How often in our daily lives are we shown the love, mercy and power of God, but miss it altogether? Only by opening our eyes to everything and everyone around us can we see signs of the presence of God and glimpses of the Kingdom. With his healing, teaching and casting out demons, Jesus practically offered the disciples big neon signs with flashing lights to help them grasp who he is.
From our window on the train, we can now see Jesus and his disciples leaving Bethsaida, walking north, their destination, the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Located some 25 miles from Bethsaida, these villages are at least a two-day journey on foot. Jesus is taking the disciples away from all of the activity and the crowds around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus needs time to prepare them for the rest of the journey that will ultimately lead to Jerusalem. Now with some time alone, Jesus invites the disciples to do a little reflection, looking back over the just completed Galilean ministry. He starts by asking them two questions: Who do the people say that I am? Who do you say that I am?
Word has it that as the disciples mingled with the crowds while Jesus was teaching and healing that the people thought Jesus was possibly John the Baptist, come back to life, maybe Elijah, and if not Elijah, certainly one of the other prophets. But Jesus is more interested in what his disciples have to say. He knows his time for instructing his disciples is limited, so Jesus turns to his disciples and asked: “But what about you?” “Who do You say that I am?” Reading this in the Greek, the You is very emphatic. Peter, as the spokesman for the group answers: “You are the Christ.” Peter knows the correct answer but he still doesn’t truly understand what it means. The first stage of healing is complete, but like the blind man, Peter only has partial sight. Peter and the disciples are in need of the second touch before they can see things clearly.
Peter’s view of messiahship was like seeing people only as shapes; he sees the equivalent of “walking trees.” He saw a political messiah, a new King of Israel. He even rebuked Jesus for saying that the Messiah must suffer, and ultimately die. That was not Peter’s vision of what a messiah was to be. James and John wanted to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus’ throne. They could not see clearly that discipleship isn’t about authority, but rather about servanthood. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now we know only in part, then we will know fully, even as we have been fully known.” The disciples are still seeing through a dusty, murky, glass warped by their own dreams and ambitions.
The second touch of Jesus, offers to us, like it did for the blind man in Bethsaida, the ability to see everything clearly and distinctly. Will we follow the advice that Jesus gave to the blind man? “Do not return to the village” and your old way of life. Go now, you have been healed. Go and start a new life. Are we able to see clearly that being a disciple means denying ourselves and accepting God’s claim on our lives? The good news of the gospel is that Jesus doesn’t give up on us, even if the first touch isn’t enough for us to see everything clearly! We learn from Jesus’ patience with his disciples that he doesn’t give up on them when they don’t understand, even after their failures at his trial and crucifixion. This same Jesus who was able to transform a few loaves of bread into a banquet for thousands can also transform the hearts and minds of his people everywhere. To be touched by Jesus is to have your life transformed.
As disciples we need to remember that, at times, we will fail, but Jesus never gives up on us. As with the disciples, there will be the second touch, and the third, and the fourth. Just like Psalm 105 which speaks of God’s unfailing goodness and faithfulness to the covenant people, Jesus never gives up on us. Jesus loves us and continues to love us even when we don’t understand, and when we fail to see his great love for each of us.
Amen
I would like to close with a prayer written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians in the church at Ephesus. May this be our prayer for each other, for our church here in this place and around the world Let us pray:
Ephesians 3:16-21
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, God may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen