Mark 8:22-26

Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22

Psalm 116:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

Mark 8:22-26

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,

people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.

He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.

Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,

“Do you see anything?”

Looking up the man replied, 

“I see people looking like trees and walking.”

Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;

his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.

Then he sent him home and said, 

“Do not even go into the village.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I praise you for all your works. You are the mighty one who can do all things. Help me to see more clearly how you guide the course of history and act in my life to bring me to a good end and safe harbor.

Encountering the Word of God

1. A Gradual Healing of Blindness: The curing of a blind man in Bethsaida concludes the Bread Section in Mark’s Gospel and begins a new section we can call “the way to Jerusalem.” The Bread Section (Mark 6:34-8:26) was about overcoming spiritual deafness and blindness to Jesus’ true identity and divine nature. The new section, which centers on Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem, is about faith in Jesus as the Christ and how to be a faithful disciple of Jesus who follows him on the way. The way to Jerusalem is framed by the healings of two blind men. The first healing in Bethsaida was gradual; the second in Jericho (Mark 10:46-52) will be instantaneous. In this way, the healings and the journey symbolize the spiritual journey of the disciples to believe more deeply in Jesus as the Christ. They will understand who Jesus is more clearly after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The gradual healing at the beginning of the journey helps us realize that when Simon Peter made his confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah, he didn’t fully understand what that meant and entailed. He was going to have to journey with Jesus, learn what type of Messiah Jesus was, and learn what it means to follow the suffering Messiah.

2. A Suffering Christ: Many Judeans and Galileans in Jesus’ day expected a triumphant, military, and political Messiah. They wanted the political restoration of the David’s Kingdom. They didn’t expect a humble and suffering Messiah. The journey to Jerusalem will be a time when Jesus emphasizes that he will go to Jerusalem not to overthrow the Romans and be crowned with gold, but to suffer, die, be crowned with thorns, and rise on the third day. The gradual healing of the blind man in today’s Gospel symbolizes how the disciples of Jesus need to grow in their understanding of how Jesus will fulfill his mission as the Messiah. On the one hand, the path of discipleship is one of redemptive suffering with Christ. On the other, we learn that we can always grow in our faith. Here, on earth, we see darkly in a mirror; in heaven, we will see clearly. Here, on earth, we suffer with Christ; in heaven, we will be crowned with him in glory.

3. A Dove Over the Waters: In the First Reading, we read about the conclusion of the flood in Genesis. In many ways, the story harkens back to the opening chapter of Genesis. Just as the Spirit of God hovered over the waters at the beginning of the world, so now Noah sends out a dove that hovers over the waters. When the earth re-emerges from the waters after the flood, this indicates that the flood is a recreation event. After the ark settles on dry land, the Lord God reestablishes the covenant of creation with Noah. When Noah sacrifices animals and birds on the altar he built to the Lord, the Lord promises to never again destroy all living beings with a flood. The covenant with Noah is a “grant covenant,” meaning that God, the superior party in the covenant, rewards Noah, the inferior party, because of his fidelity. This means that God takes upon himself the unconditional obligation – despite the persistence and proliferation of sin – to maintain the stability of the natural order (Genesis 8:22) without the threat of another flood (Genesis (9:13) The problem of sin and the evil that dwells in our hearts (Genesis 8:22) awaits its final solution in the waters of Baptism, which cleans the heart from sin and renew it with the life and love of the Holy Spirit (see Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament, p. 69).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I thank you for sending out the Holy Spirit from your heavenly throne. Your Spirit truly enlightens the eyes of the world to see who you are and what you have done out of love for your brothers and sisters.

Living the Word of God: How have I grown in my faith over the past year? What things did I see vaguely months ago and now see clearly? Do I habitually look at my life with eyes of faith or with the eyes of the world?