32. Mark 8:22-26: A Double Touch
Now in Bethsaida, a blind man is brought to Jesus for healing. A number of links to the healing of the blind man in 7:31-37 tie these stories together. They are unique to Mark, allude to the Jubilee/New Exodus promise in Isa.35:5-6, involve touch and spit, and Jesus removes the person to be healed from those who brought him. [1] A story of blindness needing healing just prior to the great revelation of Jesus’ identity to the disciples can hardly be about anything else than their spiritual blindness. Jesus has harped on this theme incessantly leading up to Peter’s moment of insight. In particular, the two feeding stories, one J ewish, the other Gentile, correlates with the two touches the blind man in our story requires. I suspect the touch and spit have the same allusion to Jesus’ restoration of the healed person to their original status and vocation as God’s image-bearer as we saw in the 7:31-37. In all these ways this episode draws the major thrust on Jesus’ identity...