(This devotional was originally written in the morning, but the Internet once more went 'wonky', so it was delayed until the evening.)
Once again we have Jesus performing a miracle of healing .. this time the healing of a blind man, and there are quite a few similarities with the previous healing of the deaf man. Like the deaf man, people brought to Jesus the blind individual, just as before Jesus led the person needing healing away from the village, and once more Jesus used spit while healing. For the first time though, the healing wasn't complete for the blind man, the first time Jesus spit into the man's eyes, and the man could only see shapes of people... like walking trees, and then Jesus put his hands on the mans eyes before his vision was fully healed. What I like about this story is the compassion that Jesus had on the man, like a doctor would .. making sure that the healing was complete.
After the man was healed, Jesus told him to NOT go to his village on the way home. Usually Jesus just told the people he healed to not tell anyone, this time he just told the guy to avoid the village altogether.
Out of verses 22-26 we can garner a few key truths about Jesus. First, he completed what he started. He started a work on this guy, and didn't let him go half blind, but continued until the man could completely see. I like the idea that God finishes what he starts.
Secondly, as I've mentioned before, the compassion he had toward this man ... even though he had been doing this ministry for a while now, Jesus never let his compassion falter. A lesson for all of us. More and more as I'm reading Mark, I see the compassion of Jesus coming through, and no doubt you probably noticed that in my writing ... but I think it's so easy for our hearts to become cynical, or disillusioned by the world, that we lose our compassion.
Compassion is one (of many) of the things that separate us from the animal kingdom. I believe it is a reflection of who God is, and part of His image that we need to exude more of in our lives.
Thirdly, look at the personal touch of Jesus ... 1) He took the man by the hand 2) He led him out of the village 3) He spat on the man's eyes 4) He laid his hands on him 5) He asked "Can you see anything now?" 6) Jesus placed His hands on the man's eyes
When you really look at these verses, bit by bit, and realize that God is revealing Himself to us through these words, and let it sink into our very being ... I don't know about you, but personally I find it very moving, and humbling that God, the creator of the Universe, shaper of Worlds, decides to have a personal impact on this blind man ... It's a wow moment, and to realize that he is wanting to actively be in our lives ... it's pretty awesome .. and it's something that I can't take for granted.
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