Reading
Mark 8:22-26
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 even go into the village.”
Meditation
The gradual healing of the blind man probably has the same purpose to arousing the faith as the healing of the deaf-mute, narrated by Mark shortly before in his Gospel. Some exegetes have seen in these healings an image of the progressive enlightenment of the disciples towards the saving mission of Jesus.
The Pharisees who ask for a "sign" to put Jesus to the test are left in their blindness: the healing takes place "outside the village" (v. 23). The distance from the inhabited center also shows that certain miracles are realized only in an intimate relationship with God, away from the noise and glare of the world, in the solitude inhabited by his presence.
In this episode of the Gospel the healing takes place not through speech, but through a sober ritual that includes the laying on of hands. Jesus makes himself present to this man who cannot see him, coming into contact with him through the sense of touch. The Lord knows the ways to reach us, even when the darkness separates us from him.
Man progressively regains sight in two stages. He initially sees human figures in a confused and uncertain way (v. 24). The fact that the blind man claims to see men "like trees walking around" attests that he has not been sightless since birth. He recognizes something of what he could see before his infirmity. Thus also the soul regains consciousness of its state prior to the fall in a way that is not always sudden, but initially only with a vague reminiscence.
Jesus must act again to heal the blind man completely (v. 25). In restoring our sight the Lord wants us to see ourselves perfectly, to come to the full understanding of what faith shows us. His intervention allows us to open our eyes to the contemplation of his glory but also to see in men not "trees", almost inanimate beings, but creatures in his image.
Sometimes the intervention of grace in our lives is not a light that suddenly bursts, but like water slowly penetrating a closed room from under the door.
Prayer
In your light we see the light, o Lord; help us to penetrate your holy mysteries, to grow in the contemplation of your glory and to recognize you in the man shaped in your image and likeness. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
