Jesus: The Man Who Changed HistorySample

Mark is a great storyteller, and he introduces us here to a blind man.

But this miracle is unusual, in that it happens in two stages.

This man’s sight is partially restored before he is able to see clearly.

Jesus doesn’t miss the opportunity to teach a significant lesson at the same time.

He is showing what it is like to see him.

There’s the human face of Jesus.

But there’s also the divine face of Christ.

Many have only a partial sight of him, at first. They need their eyes opening, fully.

A couple of years ago the UK’s national broadcaster, the BBC, ran a feature with a group of impersonators for the singer Adele.

Adele is an iconic figure, and these people were trying to capture her appearance and her presence as well as her remarkable voice. Each of the impersonators sang one of her songs while the others watched.

As one of the women started to sing, you could see the others’ eyes widening and their jaws dropping as they realized she was no impersonator.

It was Adele herself.

She’d been among them, talking to them, seemingly one of them - yet, the moment of truth arrived and they saw her for who she really was. It began to make sense of what they had seen and heard.

Mark shows us with Jesus healing the blind man a similar moment of truth… yet one that is much more spiritually significant.

Some of us, like the disciples, can stare at the face of Jesus for years.

And all we can see is the man.

It’s possible to spend lots of time in Jesus’ company.

And yet be totally blind to the divine face of Christ.

What have you seen as you’ve looked at the picture of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel?