Mark 8:22-26
22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
23 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.
24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.
In this every interesting and somewhat strange miracle, that seems to be just dropped into the middle of chapter 8 of Mark, we have Jesus doing a progressive healing. This particular miracle is not mentioned in any of the other gospels. Most of the healings that Jesus did, were immediate, instantaneous. But this and the healing of the 10 lepers on the roadside are the notable exceptions. With the lepers, they were first cleansed, then one of them was later made whole.
Jesus performed tens of thousands of healings, in many gatherings, and towns he healed everyone, but the scripture carefully allows us to only get detail on a small number of these. The reason is somewhat of a revelation in itself. Jesus words, his parables were miracles in words, and his miracles were parables in action. This is one of the keys to interpretation of scripture, the other is that you take all scripture literally, unless it is impossible to do so, and if it is symbolic, or metaphorical, then you allow the scripture to interpret itself. It may take patience, but the Holy Spirit will lead you to find the key to understanding the symbolism.
The question: Do you see anything?
This is the key to the parable in this miracle. What do you see, what do you perceive? The blind man responded, “I see men as trees, walking.” This response speaks to both areas of interpretation of the scripture. We know that men are not trees, walking. But symbolically they have been compared to trees in the prophets and psalms.
Isaiah 2:12-13 For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty
And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan,
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalm 92:12-13 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
In each of these areas, we are to take every word literally, except for the key, the metaphor. We are to be righteous, we must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, we are warned about being proud and lofty. If we get in to a habit, of spiritualizing everything in the scripture, we fall into a trap of not just misinterpreting the scripture, but we can fall for distorted doctrine, or worse heresies that contradict time tested teachings of Christianity; justification, sanctification, salvation, eternal judgement, brotherly love.
The answer the blind man provided after Jesus laid his hand on him is interesting as well. Mark 8:25-26
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.
This is the other key to this miracle in action. He sees men clearly, and is told to tell no one.
We will find out, why this is in the 8th chapter. Immediately after this Jesus asks, “Who do men say that I am?”
28 They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”
29 And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”
30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him.
Did you notice, the told them “tell no one”, that was the same thing he told the blind man.
Who do men say that I am, what do you see? What do you perceive, from the outside, with human blind eyes, Jesus looks like another tree, another man, like one of the prophets of old. But to see Jesus clearly, you must be touched by Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. It requires God to reveal his Son to our hearts, mind and eyes. In the parallel scripture in Matthew, Jesus goes on and says, that Peter is blessed, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to him, but the Father in heaven. He could “see” by revelation.
Now lets look at the preceding event to the miracle of the blind man. Mark 8:13-21 occurs after the feeding of the four thousand.
And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.
14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.
15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.
17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?
18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.
21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?
Jesus asks them, “how is it that you do not understand?” What do you see, what do you perceive? Notice that Jesus asked them, “Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?”
There are times we cannot see what is in front of us, even what we believe we know. Jesus’ warning about the leaven of the Pharaises, was taken literally by the disciples, when it was not possible to do so, here it had to be understood symbolically, metaphorically. Again teaching us how to correctly interpret scripture. Leaven is interpreted in the parallel scripture in Matthew chapter 16 again, in the 12th verse;
Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Why use a metaphor at all? Why does the scripture use these symbols? First to test our eyes, are we relying on our natural eyes, our interpretation alone? Second to show us our great need to hear from heaven, to have the Holy Spirit reveal truth to us. A small amount of leaven or yeast, affects the entire dough of bread, a small amount of the teachings of Pharisees, Sadducees and of Herod, can affect everything.
The teaching of the Pharisess, focused on legal application of human tradition, that combined with the truth of God accommodated their view of God, religion and life. God’s truth was interpreted by their traditions. The teaching of the Sadducess, rejected the supernatural, eternal, and direct influence of God into the normal affairs of men. The teaching of the Herodians, was political accommodation and manipulation of the ruling governmental powers, and personal gratification of my needs, desires and lust, at anyone else expense. Truly, we are to beware of these from infecting our relationship with God, our church, and the doctrines of Christianity.
Once more back to the miracle of the blind man, what do you see? “I see men as trees walking.”
In these last days we do not want to be like earthly trees. A tree is alive, it is rooted in its environment, it experiences rain, sunshine, wind and cold. But it cannot hear, it does not feel the bird that just landed on it’s branch, it does not hear the children playing at it’s trunk, and it does not know when the lumberjack will cut it down.
We do not want to be trees walking, we are citizens of heaven, and must receive a constant flow of communion, revelation, life and direction from the throne of God, through the Holy Spirit. We must allow God to purify us, and abide in His presence, love and power. We must be living branches of the True Vine, Jesus Christ, receiving life and nourishment directly from the source of all life.
In Him I live and move and have my being. In him is safety, and then I shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; my leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever I doeth shall prosper. I will be planted in the house of the LORD, and shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Minister Franklin Mayfield
Director of trueGOD Television Networks
9-7-2015
