Twice Blessed

 Patrick Barrett

There is a story in the Gospel of Mark about Jesus healing a blind man. The sightless man's friends brought him to Jesus and begged for healing. Jesus took him by the hand, led him outside the village, spit on the man's eyes, and laid his hands on him.

"Do you see anything?" Jesus asked the man.
"I see people, they look like trees walking around."

Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8:22-25)

I love this story for so many reasons -- Jesus responded when the blind man's friends asked for help. The blind man couldn't seem to do it on his own -- he needed his friends to intervene. Jesus took him outside the village to be alone. Then Jesus touched him and healed him, but it wasn't instantaneous. It took two tries! Healing for this man was a process. Jesus didn't seem to see the two step healing of the blind man as a failure; it was just the manner of this particular healing. Maybe some of us with darkened eyes and hearts need the touch of God more than once.

Sanctuary: The True Story of an Irish Village, a Man Who Lost His Way and the Rescue Donkeys Who Saved Him.