What the Bible Says - Religion New Testament: Exegetical Paper Mark 8:22-26

Religion New Testament: Exegetical Paper Mark 8:22-26

Who is the text for and what does it mean?

To me, as a college student, this story tells of Jesus and his mission, and how Mark uses certain aspects such as sight and the blind man as symbols of meaning in the text. The miracle contains various symbols that are pointing to something beyond just the healing incident alone, such as representation of faith. In this passage we see Jesus taking the blind man by the hand and leading him out of Bethsaida, spitting on his eyes and putting His hands on him. Once Jesus does, his sight is restored his sight. From reading the passage we can see that the cure Jesus performed is that of a gradual nature. He did not make him see all of a sudden, but in parts. Through Jesus' great power, we would have been more than capable of doing this, but he chose not to.

At first the blind man said that he only saw "men as trees walking." Following this, his eyesight was restored, and he "saw every man clearly."Here, although the miracle seems to stand alone, we know it has a deeper meaning. I believe this meaning to be the meaning of faith. The gradual notion of the story seems to represent a spiritual meaning, that faith takes time and has to be proved, and that it is able to teach us a life lesson. To me, the gradual restoration of mans faith says to me that we are both blind and ignorant to matters of the soul, and this sees us come from the dark into the light. As a college student myself, the faithless people represent the blind man in the passage, who at first saw men as trees walking , in which their vision is nonexistent to the world and certain beliefs. Until the belief of faith and spirit are deeper and more experienced, therefore seeing things clearer, religion cannot have an ample meaning.

As a college student, it is often too easy get involved with the wrong crowd and start viewing things with a distorted perception. As the story says, they start seeing men as trees walking, then, once they realize that what they are doing is not what is right and not the beliefs of God and find their faith, they will end with seeing all clearly. In college, most people just want to go with the crowd, seeing things that we cannot understand nor alter. This provides a good comparison to the line of the passage where we are like the blind man that saw "men as trees walking." However, until we know that we can stand up for what we believe and put this faith to practice, we don't really know who we are.

Through looking at this passage from the perspective of a college student, I feel this passage is deeper instillation to possessing and practicing both belief and faith. In college, some people lose sight of faith and what is right, and do things that they know are not right and they may later on regret. College is a stage in our life where we have many life choices and transitions. It is a time when we are sometimes pushed into something that they know in their hearts is not right, but because of peer pressure and a need to fit in, they succumb and lose sight of their faith, just as the blind man lost his sight. This series of events may occur over a period of time without us really realizing that we have lost sight of our faith. In relation to the passage, the blind man was healed in stages, probably because his faith was imperfect. Through Jesus partly healing him, he strengthened his faith. Once Jesus believed the man's faith was adequate, it was then he completed the cure. This supports the belief that this gradualness of healing is closely linked to the act of spiritual healing

As we see from reading the story, some friends lead a blind man to Jesus. Without their help he could not have found Jesus, who is the only person capable of restoring his sight. Jesus understood the fears and hopes of this blind man who begged him to touch him. The blind in a special way perceive the power of touch. Jesus shows considerateness in bringing this man to a place away from the people who doubt Jesus and the Lord. His sight is restored in stages as he responds to Jesus' healing touch. Mark describes the miracle in three stages: He looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home with a warning to avoid the company of those who are lacking in faith. The gradualness of the healing could also be seen as a symbol just as sight is used as a representative of faith. Spiritual healing and belief takes time and is a gradual process. A second symbol could be the blind man is a symbol of Jesus' disciples, "ever in need of his enlightening touch".

The biggest insight I got from reading and translation in the text is that sight can often be a common metaphor for understanding This blind man represented them in their inability to understand what Jesus was teaching and showing them. With this, Jesus could make them whole, just as He physically healed the blind man. Jesus had compassion on people who had been following Him so that they could listen to Jesus' teaching. The stories of healing are extremely closely related to the event of Christ, as Jesus is healing people, he is taking away their problems and restoring their belief, just as he died on the cross to take away our sins.

Bibliography

Alexander Maclaren. The Gradual Healing of the Blind Man. Expositions of Scripture: Mark. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Calvin College. 2005.

Gordon D. Fee, New Testament Exegesis. 3rd ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002.

Joel B. Green, ed., Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation. Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Richard N. Soulen & R. Kendall Soulen, Handbook of Biblical Criticism. 3rd revised and expanded edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.

Mark 8:22

Mark 8:23

Mark 8:24

Mark 8:25

Mark 8:26

Collin Brown. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. 1989.

Philli Van Lindern. Mark. cited in Robert J Karris, The Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament. Seattle. 1992.

James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson. Healing of the Blind Man. Eerdmans commentary on the Bible. Cambridge: Eerdmans

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