Here's Spit in Your Eye

(photo courtesy: google images)

“They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, ‘Do you see anything?’ He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”- Mark 8:22-25

We live in a society that easily neglects the broken. We can overlook their needs because our needs, at the time, are more important. We could help the hungry, but we are hungry. We could pay for a new pair of shoes for an orphan, but we need the newest pair of shoes. The list could go on and on. However, I also know that we live in a society that is waking up to the needs of others. We just don’t know exactly what we can do, especially when we do live in times that are financially uncertain.

The thing is, God had a plan for that. He wanted us to open our eyes to the needs of others. This is why we see the interaction between Jesus and the blind man in Mark 8. This blind man was blind for who knows how long. He had probably been a beggar and possibly passed by many times by others. Luckily, he had some friends that knew he needed to be healed and Jesus was the only way to make this happen. However, he did it in steps.

Step 1: A Spit ball- I think this shows us that sometimes it’s going to be nasty. Sometimes we will experience something pretty extreme to get us to the point of recognizing the need.
The spit in the eye wasn’t necessarily the cleanest object lesson, but it was necessary to start the process.

Step 2: A dry hand- Then, when we get to the point of having clearer vision, we realize it doesn’t take that much to see what is needed to be seen. We will see what’s necessary, but when we get clear vision it is time to take action and use that sight to make something happen. When we see the needs of others there is a possibility we will need to put them above our own.

Right now, God is wiping our eyes clean. There is pain in this world that we are all becoming more aware of. It might be the plight of human trafficking, hunger, poverty, or some other issue. Right now, some of you might just be seeing trees. You might not fully see what God is trying to do. That is fine. Jesus didn’t push the blind man away after the first try. He did it a second time. This is for you to know that it is a process. Some of you might be seeing full people! Awesome! That doesn’t make you any better than the people seeing trees, but it does add some responsibility. This means you are going to have to step up even more to be the movement.

Let’s think about what would happen if this world could see? What would happen if we could all have our blinders lifted and see what we might be passing up? Imagine communities with people seeing the needs of each other and responding. Imagine a nation that saw the resources they had and used them to change the lives of others. Imagine, that after we saw our needs met, we allowed for our excess to overflow into someone else’s life?  We will be serving because we have been served. We will be loving because we have been loved. We will be seeing, finally, because we have a Savior that took the time to wipe some spit in our eyes and give His dry hand to give us clear vision. Let’s use it to change the world around us and the lives of people who feel unseen.