The FaithOfJesus2 Daily Devotional

Focus:

kjv@Revelation:14:12 @ Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

( FaithOfJesus thread begun by rRandyP )

Today's Verse:

kjv@Mark:8:22-26

kjv@Mark:8:22 @ And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.

kjv@Mark:8:23 @ And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

kjv@Mark:8:24 @ And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

kjv@Mark:8:25 @ After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

kjv@Mark:8:26 @ And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

Today's notes:

Context:

Before - perceive ye not yet?
After - Whom say ye?

Key Concepts:

What is God's righteousness observed doing?:

Taking an individual aside outside of town, restoring his sight, telling him not to go back into town nor tell anyone.

What does this tell us about God's righteousness?:

God's acts of righteousness often set individuals apart. This man will now stand out from the others because that he was healed by Jesus. kjv@Matthew:11:21 Bethsaida is a town known to have hardened and had became extremely unrepentant. He will be interrogated. He will be judged and suspected. He will be ostracized and likely cast aside anyway. It would be better for him to start his seeing life anew in new surrounds and new digs than suffer what he'd suffer staying here at this present time.

How is man reacting?:

It is the foreseen reaction of the towns folk that is making Jesus to take this man aside in advance of his restoration.

Notes:

Bethsaida is also the home town of Phillip and brothers Andrew and Peter. It is curious that home towns of Nazareth (which attempted to rush Jesus off the face of a cliff) and Bethsaida would become so hostile toward the gospel being fulfilled in their midst. Accounts suggest that this Bethsaida could also be the Bethsaida near to where the five thousand were fed, those people following immediately after to make Jesus their king only to be rebuked by Jesus, it not being according to the Father's purposes.

If all this context aligns properly as I am proposing, we may be witnessing the will of a multitude (this town) much like an that of an individual behaving as a solid entity (perhaps infantile) lashing out against He who stepped on it's own intentions. Yes they had wanted for Jesus to be king once, but that having been firmly rejected became for them reason to reject Him back with near violence.

For disciples Phillip Andrew and Peter, Jesus had warned them all that their enemies likely would become their own brethren. You can imagine the sense of these men that it was no longer safe for a blind man restored of his sight to remain in their town because he had been restored by their Jesus. It is quite possible that the man's harassment could be at the hands of their own blood.

The question remaining to this hypothesis is who are "they" that brought him to be touched? It may be as simple as the solid entity being a majority and not a unanimous block. Our hope like Abraham's is that there can at least be found ten righteous people resident to spare a town from judgment, the reality is there is probably much less. What trouble did "they" stir up by bringing the blind man here?

The alternative context is that the man being set aside and redirected by Jesus had nothing to do with the townsfolk, perhaps rather having to do with him. It is almost to dampen his new excitement saying okay you can see, now you have to leave. Where does the remainder of the context then fit in? I would have to think hard about that.

Key Messages:

What does this say about our present condition?

I have theorized upon what is not actually detailed here in this passage. Sometimes we ask these deeper questions only to find that the pursuit has only side tracked us. Other times we find an appreciable meaning we would not have found had we not challenged the passage with deeper questions. We should not forbid such experiments, but we should contain them to the truth of much broader well established context. I find today's pursuit most interesting as it would reveal a particular aspect of God's righteousness that would be skipped over otherwise. The question began "why didn't Jesus want him going back", the presumption is because it was only righteous, the pursuit became "how was it only righteous" and the exercise then was explain how it was so. I just did. Now it is your turn, how is it so?
There is one other clue to challenge my theory with. The man was sent away to his house. His house must be outside of town or close enough that he could go through town to get there. If so the man is not far away from my proposed civic trouble. Are any of us?

Further Resources:

Comment Board:Mark:8:22-26
index:FAITHOFJESUSDEVOTION - Devotional Index
strkjv@Mark:8:22-26 rwp@Mark:8:22-26 mhcc@Mark:8:22-26
FaithOfJesus2 - Devotion Index

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