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The blind man at Bethsaida

Mark 8:22–26 · Later ministry in Galilee

Scripture

Mark 8:22–26

nd he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23And 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. 24And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. 26And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

King James Version · public domain

Marku 8:22–26

asandaj vjen në Vithsaidha; edhe i bjenë një të-verbërë, edhe i lutenë t’a preknjë. 23Edhe si e preku prej dore të-vërbërinë, e nxori jashtë fshatit; edhe si pshtyti ndër syt t’ati, vuri duartë mbi atë, edhe e pyeste, ndë sheh gjë. 24Edhe ay si hapi sytë, tha, Shoh njerëzitë se ecëjnë posi drurë. 25Pasandaj përsëri vuri duartë mbi syt’ t’ati, edhe e bëri atë të hapnjë sytë, edhe ushërua, edhe shihte kthjellëtë të-gjitha. 26Edhe e dërgoj ndë shtëpit t’ati, dyke thënë, As ndë fshatt të hyjsh, as t’j’a thuash këtë njeriu ndë fshatt.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

This is the only healing the Gospels record as seed in two stages. After Christ touches his eyes the man first sees "men as trees, walking," and only after a second laying on of hands does he see all things clearly. The Fathers read this gradual cure as a figure of the gradual opening of spiritual sight: faith and understanding ripen by degrees, through catechesis and the patient work of grace, rather than all at once. The dim first sight, in which men appear like indistinct shapes, is the partial knowledge of beginners; the clear sight is the full illumination given to those who persevere.

The tradition lingers on the means Christ uses. He spits, lays his hands on the man's eyes, and touches him a second time. He could have healed with a word, yet he heals through the touch of his own flesh and his own spittle to show that his sacred humanity is itself a wellspring of healing, and to accommodate himself to a faith still weak that needed something tangible to lean on. The double touch matches the double seeing: Christ measures his gift to the man's capacity, drawing him on step by step.

Christ first leads him by the hand out of the village, away from Bethsaida, a town he had rebuked for its unbelief, as Theophylact observes; healing is found apart from the company of those who will not believe. At the end he sends the man home and forbids him to return or tell anyone there. The whole sign teaches the soul to be led out of its old unbelief, to bear with the slow clearing of its vision, and to trust the hand that does not let go until it sees clearly.

The Blind Man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22–26)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

At Bethsaida they bring Christ a blind man and beg Him to touch him. He takes the man by the hand, leads him out of the village, spits on his eyes, lays His hands on him, and asks if he sees anything. The man looks up and says, "I see men as trees, walking." Christ lays His hands on his eyes again and makes him look up; he is restored and sees everyone clearly. Then Christ sends him home, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town." This is the only healing in the Gospels that Christ works in two stages, and it is recorded only by Mark.

Because Matthew and Luke both omit it, there is no homily on it from Chrysostom's series on Matthew, nor from Cyril's on Luke. The verbatim witnesses below are drawn from the Catena Aurea, the "Golden Chain" of St. Thomas Aquinas, each quoted exactly as it appears in J. H. Newman's 1841 English translation (public domain). The Latin commentary of Bede and the Greek commentary of Theophylact are the underlying sources.

St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673–735)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Mark 8, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena2.iii.viii.html

On the power of the Lord's touch:

Knowing that the touch of the Lord could give sight to a blind man as well as cleanse a leper.

On what the man saw at the first stage:

Seeing indeed the shapes of bodies amongst the shadows, but unable to distinguish the outlines of the limbs, from the continued darkness of his sight; just as trees standing thick together are wont to appear to men who see them from afar, or by the dim light of the night, so that it cannot easily be known whether they be trees or men.

On why Christ healed him by degrees rather than all at once:

But though by one word He could cure the man wholly and all at once, still He cures him by degrees, that He may shew the greatness of the blindness of man, which can hardly, and only as it were step by step, be restored to light; and He exhibits to us His grace, by which He furthers each step towards perfection.

On the spiritual blindness this pictures:

Again, whoever is weighed down by a blindness of such long continuance, that he is unable to distinguish between good and evil, sees as it were men like trees walking, because he sees the deeds of the multitude without the light of discretion.

Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055–1107)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Mark 8, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain.

On why He led the man out of the village:

For Bethsaida appears to have been infected with much infidelity, wherefore the Lord reproaches it, "Woe to thee, Bethsaida..." He then takes out of the town the blind man, who had been brought to Him, for the faith of those who brought him was not true faith.

On why he did not see perfectly at once:

But the reason why he did not see at once perfectly, but in part, was, that he had not perfect faith; for healing is bestowed in proportion to faith.

On where Christ finally sends him:

Or else, after He has healed him, He sends him to his home; for the home of every one of us is heaven, and the mansions which are there.

Note on sources and other Fathers

The two Fathers read the two-stage healing as a deliberate sign, not a limit on Christ's power. Bede's heart is in the central observation that "though by one word He could cure the man wholly and all at once, still He cures him by degrees," both to show how deep and stubborn human blindness is, "which can hardly, and only as it were step by step, be restored to light," and to display the grace "by which He furthers each step towards perfection." The half-sight, men seen "as trees, walking," he reads as the soul that perceives shapes in the shadows but cannot yet make out the truth, and as the conscience that sees "the deeds of the multitude without the light of discretion." Theophylact supplies the reason for the slow cure on the man's side, "healing is bestowed in proportion to faith," explains why Christ first led him out of faithless Bethsaida, and lifts the closing command into a promise, that Christ sends each of us home to heaven, "the mansions which are there."

On this passage the Catena also carries comments under the names of Pseudo-Chrysostom (the catena of Victor of Antioch on Mark), who reads the hand as the symbol of working and the spittle as the word from the mouth, and Pseudo-Jerome, who allegorizes Bethsaida as "the house of the valley," the world. Because their attributions are not secure, they are noted here but not quoted as the words of Chrysostom or Jerome. For a continuous verbatim treatment in the public domain, the Catena's excerpts from Bede and Theophylact are the most substantial witnesses to this miracle.

Patristic sources