Steps

              They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 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?”

He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” (Mark 8:22-26)

Among the many stories in Scripture, this one is one of the strangest. Half-a-miracle at a time? A miracle in stages? What? More importantly, why? I can think of no other miracle like it.

The possibility that, somehow, this was a more difficult miracle doesn’t help. What would make a miracle more difficult for God? If a demon had been involved, Jesus had cast them out without difficulty many times before. If the problem were the man’s failure of faith, Jesus said nothing to him about it. Why did Jesus take the man out of the city? Why the spit and the hands? Maybe there were many two- (or even three-) step miracles that we didn’t hear about. But we heard about this one.

Actually, I can think of one other miraculous healing that involved steps. In II Kings 5, Naaman was miraculously cured of leprosy after bathing in the Jordan seven times. I suspect the steps involved addressed Naaman's ego problem. We don’t get enough information in the case of the blind man to draw that conclusion, but I think it’s safe to consider at least a few possibilities.

First, God chose it. It was the manner He decided would ultimately be wisest and in the person's best interest. It also shows us that God is God. He is free to do things as He chooses, for His own reasons.

Secondly, Naaman and the blind man had some needs met by the step process. Whether it was the step down of pride, a step up of faith, or some other step, they needed it.

Thirdly, we need it. When God doesn’t instantly make everything all better, we are tempted to doubt, to believe that God doesn’t love us, or can’t do it, or that there’s something wrong with us. Of those, the third is a possibility but not a necessity. Why bother believing any longer? It didn’t work - or didn’t work well enough. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” (Mark 5:35) But the dead daughter wasn’t a problem. Not bothering the teacher anymore would have been.

Fourthly, just as we need the example of Naaman and the blind man, other people need to hear our stories, including the ones that weren’t all tied up nicely with a ribbon and bow in a half an hour or less.