Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Jesus’ healing of a blind man is recorded in Mark 8:23-25: “And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when He had spit on his eyes, He asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, ‘I see men as trees, walking.’ After that He put His hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” As we studied yesterday, this man’s friends expected Jesus to “touch him” in order to heal him (verse 22). However, when “He took the blind man by the hand,” healing did not take place immediately. We learn, as did the friends, that Jesus is free to work as He chooses. Whatever He does is good, consistent with His character; but we can never dictate to Him how His goodness will be manifested. Still, this man knew that Jesus was personally interested in him as He “led him out of the town.” This is the third time in Mark that Jesus healed in private (the first two being the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of a deaf and mute man). This miracle is distinctive in that it is progressive (over just a few moments), perhaps drawing out this man’s full faith and providing complete healing. We do not know exactly what our Savior God will do today or how He will do it, but we can be certain that it will be good.