Mark 8:22-26: Adjusting Our Vision
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Written on January 11 and posted today as a favorite . . .
The January 10 Noontime struck a chord with a number of people; today the theme continues: We look at how we must give ourselves time to adjust to the newness of something. Before we leap into action, clutching our new gift of sight, we must first allow Jesus to verify that what we are seeing is what is actually before us to be seen. We must calibrate our vision with God’s reality.
I love to watch Jesus heal; and I try to learn from his gentle, three-part triptych of interchange. Jesus moves us forward through a process of deep and significant change, if we remain open to possibility.
Jesus often enters into dialog with us by asking, “What is it you want from me?” He is humble enough to give us think-time and to genuinely ask about our own perception of who we are and what we believe we need from him.
He regularly makes certain that the newness of his healing is not overwhelming, that it does not throw us out of balance. He is loving enough to know that we are easily knocked off center and confused when there is a change in our surroundings or in our method of interacting with the world.
And finally, Jesus makes certain that we know where to go and what to do next with our newness. He is wise enough to know that we are most vulnerable when we are taking our first steps at anything. Sometimes he warns us to say nothing to anyone. At other times he recommends a visit to the priests for a final blessing. Most often, there is the request that we allow the newness in us to change our lives and the lives around us for the better.
Today we see Jesus heal a blind man. Being God, he knows that the miracle has taken place yet – he asks for the man’s impression: Do you see anything? When the man replies that people look like trees walking, Jesus lays his hands on him again. This time the sight is true. He could see everything distinctly.
I am thinking about all of the times Jesus has brought me through a kind of blindness to see what is obvious. What was once walking trees becomes people. A fuzzy uncertainty becomes crystalline reality – God’s reality. I must remember to always allow God to adjust my vision – for I do not want to mistake people for trees.
A re-post from August 10, 2011.
Image from: http://horizonproject2008.wikispaces.com/CWeb+Science_Health
The Noontimes 