Time for Healing

Mark 8 records the healing of a blind man in Bethsaida. This is, to my knowledge, the only account of a gradual healing in the Scriptures (and it was pretty instantaneous when you consider sight was completely restored to a once blind man). I wondered why, when Jesus healed others from afar, instantaneously, with only a word was this man's healing so different? And, right between "Phase 1" and "Phase 2" Jesus asked the man if he saw anything. If Jesus wasn't second guessing His success (and I'm certain He wasn't), what was that all about? Curiosity led me to Google.

Most commentaries and pastors see this healing as a reflection of the spiritual healing that comes when we surrender to Jesus. The "seeing" bring us to Jesus, and He takes us by the hand and begins to transform us -- slowly, maybe, by our standards, but pret.ty quickly when you consider this is a complete resurrection and reconstruction! That was an explanation I could tolerate.

Then I turned back to my study guide, a booklet from Moody Bible Institute (1964), written by Keith L. Brooks. Brooks quoted a Dr. Parker in saying, "Some men cannot stand instantaneous." It was merely an interesting thought until I continued reading Mark 8. Jesus and His disciples are traveling along when Jesus asks, "Who do men say that I am?" Once they discuss public conjecture, Jesus asks, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter says it,the "Granddaddy of all confessions", the cornerstone of the church universal: "You are the Christ." The long awaited Messiah. Matthew adds, "Son of the living God." Peter got it! And yet...

As Jesus began to teach the disciples of His impending ordeal, the rejection He would face, the pain and suffering, His murder and His resurrection three days later, Peter took offense. He confronted Jesus privately and rebuked Him, a rebuke that Jesus sternly corrected with words that must have pierced Peter's soul: "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." Although Peter readily accepted Jesus' identity, he rebuked His role.

Peter was a man whose sight came to him gradually. It had to be so -- he couldn't stand the instantaneous. When Peter realized the true identity of this Man with whom they'd traveled so much, and from whom they'd learned so much, he eagerly, emphatically confessed it -- "You are the Christ." But when Jesus began to reveal to him the rest of the picture, Peter refused to fill His mind with the things of God, choosing instead to be mind-full of the things of men. Peter chose to "see men as trees walking", rather than open his eyes to the gory details of a comprehensive remedy for all of creation. To use Brooks' language, Peter "did not have the spiritual sight to see the deity of Christ all at once."

And I understand! Sometimes I feel God's presence in a way that leaves me gasping for air. I think to myself, "This is too much. I need to get out of here." It's His love, His goodness, His might, His justice, His wisdom, His holiness -- the weight of which I can only withstand a portion. But it is a much larger portion than that first moment I placed my hand in His and He led me to a place of healing. When some of us cannot stand instantaneous, God takes His time.