Faith Changes

“I see people, but they look like trees walking.”

Mark 8:24

          It is the only two stage healing found in scripture.  A blind man was brought to Jesus. Perhaps for dramatic purposes, Jesus spit into some dirt and formed a paste of mud and placed it on the eyes of the man.  He then asked him, “Can you see anything?”  This is the first and only time Jesus asked, as a physician might, about the success of his treatment. The man replied, “I see people, but they look like trees walking.”  Jesus laid his hands upon him again, and the healing was complete.

          This miracle raises two questions:  1) Was Jesus unsure of his power to heal? Why else would he ask the question, “Can you see?” 2) Was his power to heal limited? Why did he need to try twice?

Maybe there is a reason.  Read the next few verses. Immediately after this miracle, Jesus asked his disciples, “When you look at me, what do you see?”  Do you see a prophet, a wise man, or the Messiah, the Christ?  This kind of vision or perception sometimes comes gradually.  Some people look at Jesus and immediately recognize the Son of God, while others need more time.  Their faith grows in stages.

          Jesus often used illustrations that you can see and touch to reveal the truth about things you can’t see and touch.  This miracle may have served that purpose. We look at that blind man who can now see, and remember that it didn’t happen all at once. For some people faith explodes like the Fourth of July and for others it grows more slowly like August corn.  What matters is not the time it takes, but that it comes at all.  So, if Jesus needs to take a little more time with you then that’s alright.  Give him the time and maybe you’ll see things a little more clearly.