TEXT [Commentary]

12. A blind man’s healing at Bethsaida (8:22-26)

22 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. 23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”

24 The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.”

25 Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.”

NOTES

8:22 Bethsaida. This town of a few thousand was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

they begged him to touch the man and heal him. The crowd interceded for the blind man.

8:23 led him out of the village. One unusual feature of the healing was that Jesus took the man away to heal him. This was probably to keep from drawing excessive attention to the event.

spitting on the man’s eyes. Jesus also did something like this in 7:33. Its significance is discussed in the commentary to that passage. This narrative is very parallel to 7:32-37 (see Taylor 1966:368-369, who concludes that two events are in view, not a doublet).

8:24 looked around. The verb here can mean “regained his sight” (Matt 11:5; Mark 10:51-52; Luke 18:41-43; John 9:11; Acts 9:17-18). That is probably its significance here, but to report on his seeing, he would have had to look around.

They look like trees walking around. Since the man knew what trees looked like, he was probably not born blind. There is a Gr. parallel somewhat similar to this account in which the god Asclepius heals a man in his temple at Epidauros and the man first sees trees in the temple (Johnson 1960:145; Inscriptiones Graecae, IV2.1.121-122, entry 18).

8:25 His sight was completely restored. Jesus completed the two-stage healing. This miracle, not included in Matthew and Luke, is one of the few Marcan texts that does not show up in another Gospel. It may have been omitted elsewhere because of the stages involved in the healing.

8:26 Don’t go back into the village. Once again, Jesus tried to limit the attention given to his healing work.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Jesus was sought to bring sight to the blind. This further allusion to Isaiah 35:5-6 recalls the earlier rebuke in which the disciples were said to have eyes that did not see (8:18). In one sense, full restoration to spiritual health is a process. Jesus’ healing the blind man in stages illustrated the disciples’ gradual move toward clarity of understanding. Peter’s following confession that Jesus was the Messiah represented a major advance in their understanding.