“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?”
–Mark 8:23, NIV
Here I can imagine the gentleness and the kindness of Jesus–we see Him leading this man out of town to a quieter place. Showmanship? Not on your life. Jesus has made the decision to avoid the theatrics of a blind man given sight, and ducked the paparazzi for a moment to touch this man.
In a way, we are all like this blind man. We stumble around and try to make our way. But it is raucous confusion– the fields of philosophy, religion, psychology, politics and art are not much more than a blind men tapping with his cane, trying to find their way into the light. This may be rather simplistic, but I believe it’s more true then we care to admit. The entire social history of humans is based on confusion and conflict.
We grope in the gloom, and there is none to take our hand and lead us out of the darkness. We stumble and fall, and come no closer to understanding then when we first started. It is hopeless. Our striving borders on madness and insanity.
The blind man in Mark 8 entrusted himself to Jesus’ care. He willingly went with Jesus, following down the path and out of the village. Jesus carefully leads him by the hand, which is quite remarkable. (I guess I’m envious.) Jesus would have led this man past every obstacle.
Each of us have to encounter Jesus for ourselves.
We are born blind, having no awareness (zero, zilch, nada) of spiritual truth. We must be taught to see. At the airport in Salt Lake City recently, I saw a young blind man being led through large crowd. I was fascinated by his trust in his guide as people jostled to try to make their connections. There was a quiet composure in him. (In his place, I would be terrified.)
We must trust Jesus, with that same composure and grace. When we cannot see, we must trust.
“I do not try to see my way,
Before, behind, or left, or right;
I cannot tell what dangers gray
Do haunt my steps, nor at what height
Above the sea my path doth wind:
For I am blind.
“Yet not without a guide I wend
My unseen way, by day, by night;
Close by my side there walks a Friend,——
Strong, tender, true: I trust His sight;
He sees my way before, behind,
Though I am blind.”
by an Unknown Author
Broken Believers 
I probably am working too hard. I just felt like I heard the hushed sound of someone hawking up a loogie. Unless that really IS Jesus preparing to give me spiritual insight! Pass the Lithium, please!
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Did Jesus “teach” a blind man to see, or did he give him the gift of sight? Apparently you are comparing the blind man’s act of trusting in Jesus to safely lead him out of the city to being taught to see. I don’t see that as a valid comparison. If I did, I would then ask what is “sight?” Haven’t we been taught to walk by faith, not by sight? What is this “sight” that you speak of? Is it something other than the faith by which it is acquired?
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Sorry James, your logic is just too subtle and I can’t understand the point you want to make. Forgive me, dear one. I’ll try harder, lol.
The blind man had, 1] Trust to follow. 2] A handicap. 3] A confidence to let Jesus “lead”.
Jesus had, 1] The compassion to change someone else. 2] The power to do something miraculous. 3] Discernment and wisdom not to create a scene.
You remembered your Bible! Yes, we do “walk by faith, and not sight.” Our sight is what we need to use in this physical life. The sight I hint at in my post is that which parallels our situation. In a sense it is having the audacity to see, using the faith we’ve been given. You could say that faith is being able to see what is invisible/spiritual as in Hebrews 11:1, 6. I would like to suggest that faith is now the new “organs” we use in the spiritual world. We see what is real when we use our spiritual sight.
“NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].” Hebrews 11:1, Amplified Bible
You mention “acquiring” in you last sentence. Faith is acquired, in a certain and real sense, by hearing God’s Word” to us. That is what causes us to grow faith. In some sense, we “copy” the blind man (or is he is our example?)
I encourage you to put this on the “proverbial” back burner to simmer a bit. Your working through this, and that is fantastic!
ybic,
Bryan
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