Thursday, March 19, 2015

Thursday, week five: Spit with the power to heal (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

Jesus heals everyone who begs. He heals people who beg for their own healing. When people beg for the healing of others, he heals them, too.

Word has definitely gotten around about him, so it’s no surprise that the people in Bethsaida beg him to heal a blind man. He can, after all, do anything.

Jesus leads the blind man by the hand out of the village to a private place.  For some reason, Jesus doesn’t want anyone else to see or hear what’s about to happen.

Perhaps Jesus is protecting the man’s dignity. After all, this is not a side show.

When they are alone, Jesus spits on the man’s eyes and lays his hands on him. “Can you see anything?” he asks.

The blind man looks up. It’s as if some sort of fog hovers in front of him. He can tell there are people in the distance and he can tell they are moving about, but nothing is clear.

Jesus lays his hands on the man once again. The man concentrates and tries to focus. Suddenly everything becomes clear. People look like people.

Jesus tells him to go home. “Don’t even go into the village.”

What a strange thing to say after an even stranger sort of healing. Won’t the whole village know about what has taken place anyway? And what about the people who begged Jesus to heal the man in the first place? Don’t they deserve to celebrate?

Text for the day:

Things to think about:
We may be able to see, but that doesn’t mean we are able to see clearly.
Perhaps the healing Jesus gives takes forms we cannot see.
Maybe Jesus is more interested in the healing that takes place than in what people think or say about it.

Things to do:
Beg for the healing you, your friends, your family, and the world need.

Jesus, spit in my eyes and help me see.

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