Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
September 20, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(342)
1901 ASV
8:22 And they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him.
8:23 And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught?
8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold
them as trees, walking.
8:25 Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly.
8:26 And he sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village.
- I. Their Entrance Into Bethsaida.
- A. The verb is a "present tense" within "historical narrative"...another example of "focus".
- 1. Mark uses this verb in 83 texts; only in 12 of them is it in the "present tense".
- 2. This "event" is supposed to catch our attention.
- B. That they are entering into Bethsaida is interesting in the light of the only other reference to this city by Mark (6:45).
- 1. In that prior text, Jesus sent them to go to Bethsaida, but they never got there: they disembarked at Gennesaret.
- a. Mark's record of the activities in Gennesaret is a record of many, indiscriminate healings.
- b. This record is the introduction to the "Pharisee" material of 7:1-23. After that detailed account of "the leaven of the Pharisees", Jesus left to go to Tyre.
- 2. In this current text, they "are entering into" Bethsaida.
- a. It was quite a long geographical loop outside of "the land" before Jesus actually got His disciples to Bethsaida.
- b. In this text, Mark records the "ultimate healing" of a blind man. It is this "healing" in two stages that is so directly connected to the "problem" of hard-hearted disciples who do not even "get" the very basics of what Jesus is attempting to do. They are stumbling around like blind men in the dark because they have not dealt with their "status lusts" and, thus, are fixated on their "physical appetites". When men focus upon "status lusts", they are absolutely incapable of "seeing".
- 3. In other texts in the four Gospels, "Bethsaida" is mentioned in seven of them.
- a. In Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13, the context is Jesus' pronouncements of "Woe" upon cities which were filled with people that were just as "blind" as this blind man.
- 1) In Matthew 11:21, the issue is Jesus "denouncing the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent". The issue here is a focus upon John (11:7) and his message and the refusal of many in the named cities refusing to "hear" him. Then, there is His follow-up "praise" to the "Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth" that He had hidden the truth from "the wise and intelligent". This, very likely, is at the root of Jesus' refusal to allow those in "Bethsaida" to understand His message and the meaning of His miracles.
- 2) The Luke 10:13 passage is very much like the Matthew 11:21 text.
- b. In Luke 9:10, Bethsaida was the general location of the feeding of the 5,000. There are multiple similarities in this text to Mark's record.
- c. In John 1:44, Philip was from Bethsaida (as were Andrew and Peter), and in 12:21 we are told that "...Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee..." had some "Greeks" approach him to attempt to "see" Jesus. These two texts in John are focused upon "Come and see" (1:46) based upon Jesus' "seeing" Nathanael and his "faith" upon that small "sight".
- 4. Over all, "Bethsaida" is one of the cities that Jesus "hid" His truth from because they did not want to "see".
- 5. In Mark's record in 6:45 it is all about "being blind" because of a hardened heart.
- II. "They" Are Bringing To Him A "Blind Man" And "They" Are Calling Upon Him To "Touch" Him.
- A. This is a record of "the blind leading the blind" -- seeking physical sight when it is "true understanding" that ought to be their pursuit.
- B. But it is also a record of the blindness of The Twelve and all of the preceding material leading up to the strong warning regarding "the leaven".