The Holy Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius (249-51), Philemon, Apollonius and Callinicus (284-305)
Hebrews 9:8-10,15-23; Mark 8:22-26
Nativity Fast.
Read Mark 8:22-26
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In today’s gospel, Jesus heals a blind man. However, unlike most other miracles in which healing happened instantly, Jesus laid His hands on the eyes of the blind man twice before sight was fully restored. Why this incident? Was Jesus not powerful enough to heal the man in one go? Jesus is Almighty God; of course He was powerful enough!
Two of three accounts of Jesus using His saliva to heal can be found in the Gospel of Mark. In Chapter 7, we read an account where a deaf man with a speech impediment was healed after Christ “put His fingers into the man’s ears” and then “spit and touched the man’s tongue” (Mk. 7:33). In the account we read today from Chapter 8, Jesus put saliva on the man’s eyes and then laid His hands on him before laying His hands on the man’s eyes a second time. In the Gospel of John, Jesus anointed the eyes of a man blind from birth with clay made from His saliva and instructed him to wash his eyes at the pool of Siloam.
In all of these instances, we are told the physical process by which Jesus performed some of His miracles. However, we know that Jesus also healed by the power of His word alone. The gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us the story of the centurion’s servant who was healed without Christ even having to enter under his roof. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us the story of the healing of a woman with an issue of blood. When she simply touched Jesus’ cloak in the midst of a crowd, He felt power come out of Him and the woman was healed. She had faith that simply touching the hem of Jesus’ garment would be enough to heal her, and healing was granted to her according to her faith.
Shortly after today’s gospel reading, in Mark 9 we see the emphasis on faith continuing. When a possessed boy’s father brought him to be healed, he was not convinced that Jesus could heal him. We read: “Jesus said to him, ‘If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believe.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mk. 9:23-24). It seems that whenever Christ performed miracles, He was first looking for a faith-response. Perhaps Christ used mud and spit to restore the blind man’s eyes to evoke a faith-response from him. After he was partially healed with Christ’s saliva and His touch, Christ touching His eyes a second time was enough to complete the healing. It shows that the power of the healing flowed from Who Christ is.
When we ask God to heal us, remember that we must cooperate with Him. Often, we may pray and want an instant result to “prove” that our prayer was heard. However, God does not always work this way. Most times in our life when we seek healing from a physical injury or emotional trauma, we improve only gradually over the course of time. Just as all the miracle stories required a faith response, we must also have faith. We must approach Christ.