“I see men as trees, walking” (Mark 8:24)
There was a remarkable miracle performed when the Lord Jesus met a blind man in the town of Bethsaida. Remarkable because only Mark tells us about it (8:22-26). And remarkable because it was the only two-stage physical miracle recorded in our Lord’s ministry. Obviously the miracle’s second stage was not to make up for failure on the Lord’s part, nor because the man’s condition was especially challenging for Him.
We might find it interesting to hear about Post-Blind Syndrome, where blind people who benefit from surgery still struggle to make sense of what they see. They gather fragments, but are not able to “form a complex perception.” But those who read the context find an answer more immediate than one illuminated by a fact of modern medicine.
In the early part of the chapter, Jesus fed a multitude with seven loaves and a few fish, and the twelve saw it. Or did they? In the very next incident, we find them worried because they had left home without lunch. The Master rebuked them: “Having eyes, do you not see?” (v. 18). He reminded them of His feeding of the 4000 and the 5000, then quizzed them on how many leftovers there were! When they told Him, He sadly responded, “How is it you do not understand?” (v. 21).
Now comes the story of the blind man, who illustrates for us the humbling fact that we may have sight and yet not have clarity. It was not only the Israelites who would fall under the divine prognosis, “Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not” (Isa. 6:9). The disease is with us to this day.
I’ve met people who have evidently had a divine touch on their lives, yet they still seem to have a confused outlook on life. To see “men as trees walking” must mean that the details are blurred. Two legs meld into one trunk; facial expressions are as meaningless as a mass of green leaves. It is this inability to discern that leaves a person with the unsettling impression of rootless trees and faceless men. Something is there, but what is it?
And yet it is not only new believers who struggle with this condition. I recently was asked: “Since God’s Holy Spirit comes to reveal the truth, how do we who call ourselves Christians come to so many different views on Scripture?” In part, I answered as follows:
1. Some who call themselves Christians are not even saved. Of them the Scripture says, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). Some of these are so-called Bible scholars but they are unsaved and do not have the Holy Spirit to teach them. No wonder they disagree! megatruth God’s BIG ideas
2. Some people live for their desires and turn their ears away, hiring preachers who tickle their fancy. “And they…shall be turned to fables” (see 2 Tim 4:2-4).
3. Some people simply have made a mistake: Of Hymenaeus and Philetus Paul said, “Who concerning the truth have erred.” Taking Bible ideas out of context or out of balance or out of proportion leads to confusion. But perhaps the most common danger is presuming we know something when we really don’t.
There is no verse that says we should just agree to disagree. Paul writes, “If in anything you are otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this to you” (Phil. 3:15). The Lord is eager to reveal His truth to us, and His desire is that we might “come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Ultimately what saved this fellow was his honesty. When Jesus “asked him if he saw anything” (v. 23), he could have responded, “This is much better; that will do me just fine.” But if he had said that, his world would have been like an outof- focus Giuseppe Arcimboldo nightmare. His honesty gave him the clarity he did not have. And I daresay there is good reason why the Lord “made him look up” (v. 25). Where else will we find help to see things clearly?