Being Patient in an Instant World

Being Patient in an Instant World

Mark 8: 23-25
23 So 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 on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.

   We live in a world of instant this and fast that and high speed is available for a few dollars more.  Our culture desires and lives for instant gratification.  So when we read the Bible we apply our desire for quick fixes to what we read.  Jesus’ miracles feed thousands, calm storms, heal severe diseases, exorcise demons, and even raise the dead in the space of just a few short verses!  Jesus can do anything in a minute, right?  So what makes me pause when I read this passage?  Because Jesus has to double-dip this guy’s healing.  The first touch from His hand didn’t finish the job, it only began it.  He had to touch him again to finish the job.
   I confess I don’t get this idea, but here is the evidence written out here for us to see.  Jesus clearly touched him and then asked how he was doing.  The man gave a weird response that tells us he wasn’t seeing clearly.  And as a side note, when I had the first crisis with my left eye and the doctor injected some gas in it to re-inflate the retina that’s pretty much how I recall things looking through that eye for a few weeks.  Then we read that Jesus touched him again and only then was his sight restored fully.  Why wasn’t the man restored fully the first time?
   Mark wrote the shortest Gospel and uses a writing style that promotes the idea of quickness and speed.  He uses the word “immediately” some 40 times in his writing, yet he records this incident that shows Jesus doing something that was NOT immediate.  I read a study of Mark that suggests that this account is different because the author records more details than usual.  He suggested that maybe some or many of the other stories in the Gospels also were not instant miracles either, but the details weren’t recorded so we don’t know for sure.  When we see one of the recorded miracles, what we see is the need followed by the answer.  Here we see the need and then the process and then the answer.
   Anyway, I looked at some of the other recorded miracles in the Gospels and there are hints that not all miracles were instant miracles.  In Luke 17 Jesus healed ten lepers, who were healed “as they went.”  And it says further that one turned back to thank Jesus “when he saw that he was healed.”  In Luke 8 and Mark 5, Jesus delivers a demon-possessed man but lets the demon negotiate before leaving the man.
   Did the blind man feel disappointed when he wasn’t healed the first time?  Jesus had taken him aside and had touched him.  But his vision was still not restored.  Referring again to my experience, there was fear and frustration and anger all waltzing around my head.  Many times I thought, “what if this is as good as my vision will get?”
   Did this man feel that way?  What if the man had been satisfied with his partial sight and just thanked Jesus and let it go?  He would have been justified by what little had been done and been thankful for that much.  His situation was improved, so why not just let it be at that?  He could have done that, but would have missed the fullness of the healing Jesus intended for him.
   Whether out of frustration or complacency, leaving God’s presence without the answer to your need will result in you missing whatever God has intended for your life.  I’ve learned to stay there and keep asking if I don’t feel I’ve received a complete answer from God.  This man in Mark 8 is remembered for all eternity because he stayed with Jesus until Jesus was finished.   Are you willing to stay and keep asking for a complete answer to your needs?
Luke 11:9 NKJV
So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Stephen Cram                            January 29, 2012                Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8