And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.” (Mark 8:22-26 ESV)

blind man healing at bethsaida

All throughout the four gospels we see instances of Jesus doing divine acts of healing.  Some of His miraculous accounts are recorded for us several times, told from different vantage point in the different gospels. Yet there are other miracles recorded for us only once, unique to the gospel which contains it. Within the gospel of Mark we find one of these unique miracles recorded in detail. The account of Jesus healing the blind man outside the village of Bethsaida is not only rare because it is only written about once, but it is also the only progressive miracle Jesus performed in the New Testament. We will explore this miracle more by examining each verse in Mark containing this account.

Verse 22, “They came to Bethsaida and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.”

Bethsaida was a village located near the mouth of the upper Jordan River on the east bank of the Sea of Galilee. This village is no longer inhabited but archaeologists have discovered its ruins and verified that it did exist at the time of Christ. As Jesus went through His upper Galilean ministry, He would have visited this village and been welcomed with the excitement of the people as they longed to see Jesus perform a miracle. The people may not have known or believed that Jesus was the Messiah, yet they would’ve heard of His great miracles and desired to witness them firsthand.

It is recorded in this account that “some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.” The people could have been bringing the blind man to Jesus because he was a part of their village and they cared for his well-being. On the other hand they could have simply desired to see the miracles of Jesus for themselves; they were looking for anyone to be healed so they could witness firsthand Christ’s miraculous power. No matter their motive, they had confidence that Jesus would be able to do a great work for this man.

We can also safely assume that the blind man did not make his way to Jesus by himself or on his own volition. This could have been because he could not see, or because he lacked the faith to believe that Jesus could actually do anything for him. If that is indeed true, it could be for that reason alone that Christ chose to do the miracle in a progressive manner, which will be explained more in a moment.

Before we proceed, we must acknowledge the spiritual lesson hidden within this initial verse. Here we find encouragement for all of those who are weak in faith. Like the blind man, there will be moments in our life when we will find ourselves spiritually hurting or in need of healing. We may lack the faith to believe that Jesus can do anything for us, so we question, “why would he care for me?” Similar to the blind man, we often need the help of those around us to carry us to the Savior through prayer and faith. Our faith is not always strong enough to get us to Christ on our own, but through the encouragement and faithful pursuit of other Christians, we can find ourselves at the feet of Christ ready to receive His healing touch. When we are weak, He is strong and will renew our faith to believe in Him again (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Verse 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?”

The first part of this verse can be viewed as an intimate act of love before the miracle happens. Jesus did not choose to do the healing with everyone around, but instead He took the man alone with Him outside of the busy village. Jesus did not have to do this, nor did he have to touch him at all. He could’ve simply spoken a word right there in the middle of the bustling crowd and the man would’ve been healed. However, Jesus chose to tend to this man in a very caring way. Jesus, being divine in his nature, perhaps already knew that the man lacked faith. In compassion and love, Jesus “led him outside the village.” We are not told if anyone followed, or if the disciples were near, but what is important to note is that Jesus intentionally sought to be alone with this man.

Some of the greatest and most faith-growing times in our life will happen when we are completely alone with God. The world we live in is full of busyness and distraction. When we are willing to be “led” by Jesus to a place of solitude, He will impress Himself upon us in ways He may not have been able to within the confines of our busy life. We see in this story that Jesus lead this man gently where he would not have gone on his own. In the same way, we must be willing to follow Jesus to special places of solitude for spiritual renewal. We cannot fight it or find excuses. Even today, when He grips our soul, we must trust Him to lead us to a place that is good for us, even though we may not understand its benefit at the time.

The second part of this verse is small but an important part of the event; Jesus spat right into the man’s eyes. He could have healed this man without spitting because we’ve read about Him doing miracles without this action. However it was included as a seemingly necessary part of Jesus’ calculated process to (1) taking them outside the village, (2) spit on his eyes, and (3) then touch Him.

So we’re left to ask, what was the reason for the spit?  Most commentators agree that the warmth of Jesus saliva would have soothed the man’s pain. As we will see in the following verses, the blind man knew the difference between people and trees. That fact he was able to make this distinction allows us to safely assume that he had seen previously and was not born blind. Therefore, something may have caused him to go blind leaving open wounds on his eyes.  Saliva may have simply been another act of compassion from Christ. This action for the blind man may have helped him begin to have faith that Jesus could actually heal him because he felt the care of this miracle worker.

While we may not be able to prove that the man had a preexisting painful condition directly from the text, it would make sense that Jesus compassion would have propelled Him to care for the man’s pain prior to the healing. In the same way, we understand that our God is not only one who sympathizes with us but moves to action in a caring way to tend to our hurts in an effort to grow our faith. He often is faithful to soothe the throbbing aches of our soul as He moves us to a place of restoration and completion.

At the end of verse 23, we see the miracle take place. Jesus touched the man’s eyes and asked him, “Do you see anything?” With this question, we see the unfolding of the only progressive miracle recorded for us in the Bible. In every other instance of Christ’s miraculous power, we see His efforts accomplish the miracle upon His first effort. However, Christ’s touch in this instance did not fully heal the eyes of the blind man. Let us examine this further by looking at verse 24.

Verse 24, “ He looked up and said, ‘they look like trees walking around. I see people; they look like trees walking around.’”

 All of Jesus actions, especially surrounding the accounts His miracles, were intentional and had purpose. We must not assume that Jesus messed up the first time when touching this man and that he was not able to heal him completely. Jesus never makes mistakes. Jesus was not at fault for not completing the miracle with one touch. Rather, there was a need for Jesus to do this miracle partially with the first touch and then completely with a second.

The progressive nature of this miracle has most scholars interpreting a lack of faith on behalf of the blind man. The reason for the progression was to grow the faith of the one being healed. Here again we see an instance of Jesus compassion as He adapted his miraculous work to grow the man in his belief as the miracle was progressively accomplished. Not only was the man taken to be alone with Christ, but potentially his wounds would have also been soothed and then the miracle was accomplished in two steps. This pattern allowed the man to accept the fact that he was being cared for by someone who knew him intimately and grew his faith patiently. Jesus was not just a miracle worker, but a Savior and Lord who was restoring his sight and spiritually touched his heart. Jesus helped him step across the line from unbelief to belief.

Verse 25, “once again Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”

Within this verse the final saving touch of our Savior is captured. The compassion of the divine God was expressed through the fingertips of Jesus as he touched the man a second time. The blind man, most likely already filled with excitement because he could at least see something after the first touch, may have thought that the miracle was over. However, Jesus being perfect was only satisfied with perfection and completion. Jesus was not tied to a system or method for all of his miracles. Being in the very nature of God, He was free to do according to His will whatever pleased Him. In this situation, His desire was to grow the man’s faith. We notice that it does not say the man could see “just all right” or “partially” after the second touch. Rather, it states that his sight was restored and “he saw everything clearly.”  Jesus was truly the “author and perfector of faith” (Hebrews 12:3) for this man.

Verse 26, “Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Don’t go into the village.’”

Upon the conclusion of the healing this man, and in spite of the great joy that the blind man must have felt, Jesus instructed him not to return into the village. This may have been because of the crowds of people that were waiting inside the walls anxious to see the results. This would have brought an onslaught of requests of Christ once the people heard of Jesus power. Jesus wanted to keep the crowds from continually seeking Him as a mere miracle worker and not the true Messiah. Healing was not Christ’s main purpose for being on earth. He also wanted to teach and train in order to ultimately point the way to God.

Jesus did not tell the healed man to never tell anyone, he just told him not to go and the village. Surely this man would have told his family and perhaps others along the course of his life. Over time people heard of this event, and as we can see today, it was recorded in the New Testament for everyone to read for centuries later. But in the moment, Jesus was simply asking for obedience by instructing the man not to return to the village. In the end, how joyous it must’ve been he could walk away and see everything clearly.

In conclusion there is a lot we can learn from this divine incident. Overall we can trust that God is aware of the state of our faith and what needs to be done to cause it to grow. He desires to take us to places of solitude with Him that we may otherwise avoid. Whether in solitude or in community, we must be open to His pursuit of our souls through the presence of the Holy Spirit so that our relationship with Him may grow in understanding. It is often in the sweet communion with our Savior that we experience fully His healing touch.

Also, we are reminded by this account that Jesus knows our hurts and meets us where we are at, in order to take us to a place of complete redemption. He will not stretch our faith more than we can handle, but will tend to our wounds as He reveals more of Himself to us. Through the instance of the blind man being healed at Bethsaida we are given a sweet account of how Jesus opens the eyes of our hearts so that we can see Him more clearly.

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31 COMMENTS

  1. I have understood Jesus commanding of the now seeing ex-blind man, ” Don’t go into the village” to mean that the people were making sport of the blind man by presenting him to Jesus to be healed but they themselves did not believe he could do the healing. I’ve seen people make sport out of other people ‘s conditions and disabilities. I am disabled and have been on the receiving end of similar people’s devices. Consider this then look in the Old Testament for similar events.

    • Cameron, your July 2019 comment was very insightful. I understand that you are also disabled, which has given you a unique perspective. You mentioned that you thought the people were “making sport” of the blind man by presenting him to Jesus to be healed but they themselves did not believe he could do the healing. in my mind, all of this lines-up with the scripture in Matthew 11:20-24, which talks about the depravity of Bethsaida, as being worse than Sodom & Gomorrah.

  2. This is very insightful and inspiring that Jesus in His love, leads us from small faith to great faith.Leads us to be alone with him to reveal himself to us in a personal way.Amen thank you

  3. Praise God! indeed He open our eyes to see things clearly as long as we are willing and faithfully obeying His will…
    Matt 7:7

  4. The man was taken out of the village. He could not be healed while in the village, in the darkness of sin. So, to be healed he had to get out of the village.

  5. The question came up in a devotional study I was doing as, “Why not did Jesus heal the blind man immediately?” I didn’t know why. But I know Jesus knew why the blind man needed this two-part miracle at that moment.
    Now I believe I knew why it took about 10 years for me to be completely healed by God from the tragic death of my 24 yr old son. I now have faith and can trust that God is working in my life. He gave me the strength, courage and clarity I need to persevere in follow Him. Thank for clearing the question up for me. #God bless

  6. When you are alone with God or Jesus in this instance, he is able to minister more effectively without any distractions from unbelieving people that might be around. Jesus always retreated to a solitary place to pray and spend time with the father. This show the importance of alone time with God. Jesus knew the hearts of the people of Bethsaida and in his compassion wanted the blind man healed. Grateful we have the account to reference to today.

  7. Bethsaida & two other cities are mentioned in Matthew 11:20-24. It tells us that Jesus rebuked these cities for their lack of faith—no repentance despite the many miracles he had performed in these areas. Jesus went on to say, “the mighty works which were done in you if they had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago”…. “but I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for you.” Wow, these were really wicked cities.
    Cameron was insightful in her July 2019 comment, being disabled, she had a unique perspective, which also line-up with these scriptures regarding the depravity of Bethsaida. She thought these men who carried the blind man to Jesus in Mark 8:22-26 was likely “making sport” of the blind man by presenting him to Jesus to be healed but they themselves did not believe Jesus could do the healing. This further completes the picture for me why Jesus did not heal the man on the spot. Bethsaida was an environment of no faith and Hebrews 11:6 tells us without faith it is impossible to please god. Healing occurs where there is faith. As it was with the healing of Jairus’ daughter. Jesus had to empty the house except for the father & mother & his 3 disciples before he could raise the girl, Mark 5:35-43.
    Some people say that God can do anything, but this is not true. There are spiritual laws that God has set in motion and He moves and works by our faith… even if it is tiny as a mustard seed. Faith did not exist in those 3 towns, even though Jesus did all he could to turn them around. Jesus also knew that a young believer (as this healed man from Bethsaida) would not have grown spiritually if he had returned to Bethsaida (a city worse than Sodom & Gomorrah). Jesus knew the seed of God’s word planted in this man’s heart would take root and continue to grow in a better environment that offers spiritual leadership, Matt.13:20– 21.

    • Thank you for this information, given me a more understanding of the word, the lord giving me this word 2days ago and I be meditating on it,listening to different Pastors views on it trying to understand what he is saying to me and others, so to you and others peoples comments I have a better understanding, thanks again God bless you all ❤.

  8. The grestest calamity that can befall a man is not to be blind but to have sight without insight. Jesus new the man had duble problem that is why He first restore the man’s (insight) mind and haven achive that Jesus who charish our mind more than our physical look charge the man to leave for fear of being corrupted again

    • Thanks for sharing I’m a young coming up pastor
      After reading the holy scripture I decided to get others views on this topic so I came across your post
      It really enlightens me
      May God help us live our life by his word.Amen
      Thanks for sharing

  9. I love the way everyone has expressed their views on this mark 8-22-26,Thanks for sharing, I feel the same way about mark 8:22-26,when you read all of the comments it pulls it all together, thank you, all to all my brothers and sisters in christ God bless you all.

  10. The first and second touch of Jesus. The first touch the blind man did not see clearly . . . The meaning of this Jesus wanted us christians to understand that even us we don’t view us clearly because we are blind in spirit. We don’t see others as candidates for heaven but just us moving trees and in Jesus second touch he wants us to view everyone us equal s and deserve our prayers and care.

    • The first touch Jesus give him eyes but he was still blind like the pharisees and sadducces He had just confronted. Though he had preformed many miracles the were still blind and demanded more. Mark is making a point by giving us this specific context of scripture in this manner. Thought they have eyes they cannot see, ears but they cannot hear. He is also leadin the blind man into faith as he cares for him, and so upon the second touch he is healed.

  11. Im so pleased to see how the spirit of God is leading into this discussion and is guiding every ones thought in one accord. God bless you all

  12. This scripture has been eating at me for months. I tried to get info from friends and posting my question to Bible Study sites with no response. I even stopped reading my bible. But this explanation really helped to put it into context. I feel better now. Back to Romans!

    • I have read this passage so many times.es, but I was led to search for deeper insight this morning. And I found this. Thank you for helping me understand. I was like the blind man who needed a progressive miracle

  13. Realy his passage on compassion and miracle JESUS did on the blind man from Bethsaida. especially how Jesus treats affected hearts than wounds first. how Jesus helps to increase the faith of the blind man. I got a great lesson for my life here. JESUS SAVES FOREVER!!!

  14. Lack of believe especially in the son of man,can really cost us our personal mirracles,like the bethesaidas they did see mirracles happens to others but not to them! What a pity! May God have mercy on me a wretched man!

  15. Pandemic era 2020-2021 comment: for me I feel like God is telling me to analyze my decision of getting vaccinated once again. I may not be able to see it clearly. I’ve been 100% opposed to it, but now I’m starting to feel different about it. Not only because of mandates but the fact that a high percentage of my Christian community has been inoculated by now. On the other hand he spoke to me via Acts 17:1-9 , where I feel like I should stand tall at this time, against the “jealous”/discrimination. May God bless us all.
    Nonetheless, thanks all for the great insights on personal interpretations. How awesome is the word and how it speaks to each of us in an unique way. Praise our God the Father, forever and ever for his love and spoken words for each us! I feel so loved Him.

  16. Well, all interpretations are personal, based on our relationship with the Almighty, as He takes care of everything personally. He touched my blindside 13 years ago, let me know he knew me, more than my first name. I went astray and saw only trees, he is touching me again today so that my spiritual vision is fully restored. He is ready to touch the spiritually poor twice. I understand he doesn’t want me to go back into the village, that’s his command to me, not to wayward anymore. Please forgive me O Lord, thank you for the renewed lease. In fact this verse is the Bible reading for the day, 16th February 2022, I could not fathom the meaning when it was read out by the Priest and came to this site to understand and has signed, sealed and delivered my second lease. Hope all of you will pray for me.

  17. It is great to read these comments. What led me to search further was why the man was taken out of the village by Jesus for healing and later asked him not to go back to same place.
    I have lived in a particular place now for over 7 years and which people have told me to try and pack out that it doesn’t suit me. Am aware of this too but do to finance am yet to gather myself and move out. Am still praying to God for blessing.
    As Christians, the environment we leave matters and we have to be alert and sensitive enough to interpret our environment vis a vis our progress in spiritual life and physical well-being. May God deliver all Christians who found themselves at wrong places in Jesus name.

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