Mark 8:22-26
And [Jesus] cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): This miracle, which is only recorded by the Evangelist Mark, has about it several very peculiar features.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We see Jesus taking this blind man by the hand, leading him out of the town—spitting on his eyes—putting His hands on him, and then—and not till then, restoring his sight. And the meaning of all these actions, the passage leaves entirely unexplained.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): First, our Lord led the man out of the town, before He would heal him; and, when the cure was performed, He forbad him to return thither, or so much as to tell it unto any who lived in the town.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): It would be difficult to find out the reason which induced our Lord to act thus.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Had He herein only designed privacy, He might have led him into a house, into an inner chamber, and have cured him there; but He intended hereby to upbraid Bethsaida with the mighty works that had in vain been done in her, Matthew 11:21.
THOMAS CHALMERS (1780-1847): The conversion and regeneration of a sinner is a noble, yet a secret work.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It is in the heart that the Spirit works.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): As to the secret work, who knows how the Spirit works? “The wind blows where it lists and you hear the sound thereof but you can not tell from where it comes nor where it goes: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit,” John 3:8.
A. W. PINK: There is something about the wind which defies all effort of human explanation. Its origin, its nature, its activities, are beyond man’s ken. Man cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. It is so with the activities of the Holy Spirit. His operations are conducted secretly; His workings are profoundly mysterious.
MATTHEW HENRY: Christ used a sign; He spit on his eyes and put His hands upon him.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Why did He do that?
MATTHEW HENRY: This spittle signified the eye-salve wherewith Christ anoints the eyes of those that are spiritually blind, Revelation 3:18.
ADAM CLARKE: There is a similar transaction to this mentioned by John—“He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing,” John 9:6,7.
C. H. SPURGEON: It seems to me that the use of spittle connected the opening of the eye with the Saviour’s mouth, that is to say, it connected in type the illuminating of the understanding with the Truth of God which Christ utters.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): And, generally speaking, in the illumination of a sinner, the word of Christ’s mouth is a means—the Gospel, and the truths of it, which are the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, are the means of conveying the Spirit of God, as a spirit of illumination and sanctification, into the hearts of men, and of quickening sinners dead in trespasses and sins.
C. H. SPURGEON: You will further perceive that when He had spit on his eyes it is added He put His hands upon him. Did He do that in the form of heavenly benediction? Did He, by the laying on of His hands, bestow upon the man His blessing, and bid virtue stream from His own Person into the blind man? I think so.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): He did so most probably for the purpose of proving that He had full liberty as to His method of proceeding, and was not restricted to a fixed rule.
C. H. SPURGEON: We must not attempt to tell the Lord Jesus Christ how He is to work, for He has various ways of working in the blessing of men. For instance, when this blind man was brought to Him, He did not open his eyes with a word. Often, when the sick were brought to Him, He spoke and they were at once cured. He might have done so in this case…But there came out of Christ’s mouth—not a word—but spittle!
THOMAS COKE: In giving sight to this blind man, Jesus did not, as on other occasions of the like nature, impart the faculty at once, but by degrees.
JOHN CALVIN: He does not all at once enlighten the eyes of the blind man, and fit them for performing their office, but communicates to them at first a dark and confused perception, and afterwards, by laying on his hands a second time, enables them to see perfectly. And so the grace of Christ, which had formerly been poured out suddenly on others, flowed by drops, as it were, on this man.
C. H. SPURGEON: So is it with the first sight that is given to many spiritually blind persons.
J. C. RYLE: Conversion is an illumination, a change from darkness to light, from blindness to seeing the kingdom of God. Yet few converted people see things distinctly at first. The nature and proportion of doctrines, practices, and ordinances of the Gospel are dimly seen by them, and imperfectly understood. They are like the man before us, who at first saw men as trees walking. Their vision is dazzled and unaccustomed to the new world into which they have been introduced. It is not till the work of the Spirit has become deeper and their experience been somewhat matured, that they see all things clearly, and give to each part of religion its proper place. This is the history of thousands of God’s children.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Where the eyes are divinely enlightened, the soul’s first views of itself and of the Gospel may be confused and indistinct, like him who saw men as it were trees walking; yet this light is like the dawn, which, though weak and faint at its first appearance, “shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” Proverbs 4:18. It is the work of God; and His work is perfect in kind, though progressive in the manner. He will not despise or forsake the day of small things. When He thus begins, He will make an end.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): But we must not, from hence, conclude that our being in Christ is obtained in a progressive manner, though our enjoyment of that being in Him is increased by an increasing knowledge.
J C. RYLE: Finally, let us see in the gradual cure of this blind man, a striking picture of the present position of Christ’s believing people in the world, compared with that which is to come. We see in part and know in part in the present dispensation…In the providential dealings of God with His children, and in the conduct of many of God’s saints, we see much that we cannot understand—and cannot alter. In short, we are like him that saw “men as trees walking.” But let us look forward and take comfort. The time comes when we shall see all “clearly.” When the day of the Lord comes, our spiritual eyesight will be perfected.
