A Blind Man Is Healed in Two Stages (8:22-26).
This account comes after the blindness of the disciples has been stressed (Mark 7:18) and before the scales are revealed to have been at least partially dropped from their eyes (Mark 8:29). It is clear that it is heavy in symbolism as with the healing of the deaf and dumb man. It is no accident that the two unusual stories of healing are placed at each side of the emphasis on spiritual significance as opposed to literal (Mark 8:14-21), along with the feeding with bread which was also literal with a spiritual meaning, and follow the spiritual use of the idea of bread with the Syro-Phoenician woman (who was the only one who understood the meaning of the bread straight away).
Thus the pattern is - the spiritual use of bread (Mark 7:27-28), the unusual nature of the healing of the deaf and dumb man where there is a pointer to its spiritual meaning in the connection with Isaiah 35:5-6 (Mark 7:31-37), the giving of the bread to the crowd which has spiritual significance (Mark 8:1-10), the emphasis of Jesus that His disciples must think not of literal bread but of spiritual, and referring to deafness and blindness which are also spiritual (Mark 8:14-21), all leading up to this unusual healing of the blind man (Mark 8:22-26) which must also be seen as having spiritual significance, as is demonstrated by the fact that it is followed by the eyes of the disciples being partially opened (Mark 8:27-30) and then fully opened (Mark 9:1-8). And it all follows the lesson that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him (what is physical) but what comes out of his heart (what is spiritual) (Mark 7:14-23).
The two accounts of healing, that of the deaf and dumb man, and of the blind man, are parallel in a number of ways. Both take place outside Galilee, both involve the use of saliva, both mention Jesus touching the affected part, both are connected with Messianic expectation (Isaiah 35:5-6; compare Matthew 11:5), both illustrate the spiritual state of men in the context (compare Mark 8:18; and see also Mark 4:12), and both result in a request for secrecy (which was Jesus' policy when He performed an outstanding miracle and would be staying around).
Analysis.
· And they come to Bethsaida, And they bring to Him a blind man and plead with Him to touch him, and He took hold of the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village (Mark 8:22-23 a).
· And when He had spat on his eyes and laid His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” (Mark 8:23 b).
· And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I behold them as trees, walking” (Mark 8:24).
· Then again He laid his hands on his eyes, and he looked steadfastly and was restored and saw all things clearly (Mark 8:25).
· And He sent him away to his home saying, “Do not even enter into the village” (Mark 8:26).
Note that in ‘a' the blind man is brought to Jesus and He takes him out of the village, and in the parallel He sends him away and tells him not to enter the village. In ‘b' He lays His hands on him, and asks if he sees anything, and in the parallel He lays His hands on him and he sees clearly. Centrally in ‘c' the man sees men as trees walking, a picture of the half-sightedness of the disciples.