When Faith Needs Focus

After sailing across the Sea of Galilea & arriving on the northeastern shore, Jesus & the disciples made their way to Bethsaida, near the place where Jesus had miraculously fed 5,000 men plus women & children (Mk 6:41-44). Evidently, news of the Lord’s arrival to Bethsaida would spread quickly & some of the locals would seize the opportunity to take a blind man to Christ for healing. Ironically, Jesus would not heal the man in public view but instead led him outside of the town to heal him. Once there Jesus performed a unique miracle in stages. Jesus touched this blind man twice to completely heal him: first to impart sight & again to focus it. This is significant because it is the only account in the Bible where Jesus performed a progressive miracle; all of His other miracles resulted in a perfect healing requiring no further action. Obviously, this raises several interesting questions. First, why did Jesus lead the man out of the town before healing him? Second, why didn’t He heal by simply touching the man instead of using such an unconventional means as saliva? And finally, why didn’t the man receive perfect sight immediately after Jesus touched Him the first time?