It Takes More Than One Touch

Today’s passage is Mark 8:22-30.  With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.  Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?  After you’ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Mark 8:22-26 (NIV)
²²  They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
²³  He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
²⁴  He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
²⁵  Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
²⁶  Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village.”

On verses 22-26:  I appreciate Mark’s honesty here.  Here we have a case where it took not one but two touches from Jesus for this blind man to be healed.  Some might see this as an embarrassing fact for Jesus.  I don’t.  To me there are some important lessons we can learn from this miracle:

–  Sometimes the healing God wants us to experience does not happen instantaneously but is a process that takes time.

–  When it comes to our spiritual life, it’s not enough to be touched by Jesus once.  We need more than one touch, in fact multiple touches, from Jesus to see the way Jesus wants us to see and to become the people God made us to be. 

–  The more we let Jesus touch our lives, the more clearly we can see people as they are and love them as they are. 

–  2 Corinthians 4 says that the Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.  But God made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  Like the blind man here, like Jesus’ disciples in Mark, we start off blind spiritually.   Then by God’s power we begin to see a little bit (though not that clearly).  And as we continue to be touched by Jesus, our vision and our understanding get sharper and clearer.

Mark 8:27-30 (NIV)
²⁷  Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
²⁸  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
²⁹  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”
³⁰  Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

On verses 27-30:  Back in Jesus’ time, people were saying all sorts of different and contradictory things about Jesus.  But instead of merely relying on what others said about Jesus, the disciples experienced Jesus personally and firsthand.

You can do the same.  Ask people who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus and you will hear all sorts of different, contradictory opinions about who Jesus is.  But you don’t need to stay in the world of hearsay.  You can draw near to Jesus and experience Him yourself.  Jesus welcomes you to do so.  How will you draw near to Jesus today?

My prayer is that, like Peter, you would draw near to Jesus and find, with the help of His Holy Spirit working in you, that Jesus is who He says He is: the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah (Saviour King) whom God had promised all along.

Lord Jesus, I declare that You are the Messiah, God’s Son, and my King.  Please touch me today that I would see more clearly as You see.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!