This is obviously something of very great significance. What happened in this case was not accidental. We have other examples of Jesus healing blind people, and it is very clear that He could have healed this man instantly by just saying to him, "Receive your sight." Christ had that power. Nothing was impossible for Him. He had done that in another case, and He could have done the same here.
So what He did here, He obviously did with great forethought. He knew what He was doing, He did it for a specific purpose in mind. Christ did nothing haphazardly or accidentally. All His actions were deliberate, and when He varied his technique, He always had a very good lesson and very good reason for it.
Now there was nothing difficult about the case, and the variation in the treatment was not due to chance. It was due to Christ's determined plan to do the work of God in this way so that He could teach a lesson and give a special message. In other words, all Christ's miracles are more than events. They are, in a sense, parables as well. That does not mean we do not believe the incident actually happened. I am simply emphasizing that a miracle is also a parable.
And if that is true of all miracles, it is especially true of this one because Christ obviously varied the procedure here in order to emphasize an important and essential lesson. The lesson was primarily meant for His disciples, which includes you and me.
It seems that He dealt with the blind man as He did to give them a picture of themselves. He adopted this technique here in order to enable the disciples to see themselves as they were spiritually. They had a lack of clarity and they were still somewhat spiritually blind. Nonetheless, the lesson goes beyond that. It is a permanent lesson for God's people. It is a disturbing message.
Sadly, there are many people like this man. Many seem to be in the first stage the blind man passed through in the process of spiritual healing. Christ put spit on his eyes and asked, Do you see anything? And in verse 24 again says, "And he looked up and said, 'I see men like trees, walking.'" He lacked clarity. Things were foggy.
Obviously the man was no longer totally blind, but we hesitate to say he can see since he sees men as trees walking. So is he blind or not? He is not one thing or the other completely, is he? That is exactly the condition we want to examine here. This concerns those who are anxious, unhappy, and miserable because of this lack of clarity. Their minds are in a fog and so their faith wanes.
These people have come to see something. Nevertheless, they still remain confused. They still cannot see clearly. They have merely seen men like trees walking, and they reason that they are not confused, just relatively uncertain.
This miracle highlights essential spiritual truths. Although the man may still perceive light, he remained practically blind. His blindness symbolized spiritual or moral blindness, signifying someone who cannot see the spiritual truths that are obvious to those God has called. This healing by stages pictures the maturation of a believer's spiritual understanding and the conversion process each Christian experiences.
This miracle highlights essential spiritual truths. Although the man may still perceive light, he remained practically blind. His blindness symbolized spiritual or moral blindness, signifying someone who cannot see the spiritual truths that are obvious to those God has called. This healing by stages pictures the maturation of a believer's spiritual understanding and the conversion process each Christian experiences.
Jesus turned to the healed, formerly blind man, and He asked him if he saw anything. And the man said, "I see men like trees, walking." The man's honest answer made it known to Christ that he needed more help to see clearly. Christ knew that, but so the man needed to know as well, and the rest of us for the last 2,000 years who have been in God's church, we need to know this principle.
Jesus did not heal the blind man in stages because He lacked power, but because He intended to teach a lesson, and the miracle was a mirror. "I see men like trees, walking." Not blind, but not seeing clearly; not lost, but not not secure; not outside, but not fully in. And that is where some stand today.
