December 28

Smacked right in the middle of the Gospel of Mark we find this passage where Jesus heals a blind man. What is odd about this account is that the healing is done in two stages. It's almost as if the first stage "didn't work properly"; so, Jesus went at it again. We are fully aware that if Jesus had wanted to, He could heal the man immediately. So, why this progression? And further, why the oddity of using "spit" to heal the man? Like the disciples, our spiritual eyes often only see partially ... almost a skewed perspective ... of what true discipleship is. If we only believe that Jesus is Messiah and that the Christian life is about getting that ticket to heaven, then like the blind man, our spiritual eyes see things askew. As Jesus placed His hands on the man's eyes a second time to restore His sight fully -- granting him 20/20 vision, if you will -- Jesus was inferring to His disciples that there is more to the life of discipleship. To grasp a 20/20 spiritual vision, they must not only acknowledge Jesus as Messiah (which the disciples did), but also as the Messiah that has to undergo suffering and a shameful death (which they didn't). Do our own spiritual eyes need some healing and restoration? What does having spiritual 20/20 mean and how do we get our eyes restored to that capacity?