Faith to Believe

This morning I was reading from Mark 8:22-26. This passage is about the healing of the blind man from Bethsaida. This healing is a little unusual. Generally, Jesus did his miracles in a public setting. This one is unusal in that it is only one of three that Jesus did privately. Why?

The incident begins with some people bringing this blind man and begging Jesus to heal him. Could it be that these people were more interested in seeing a miracle than they were in seeing Jesus meet a need? Could it be that Jesus recognized that those present were not interested in the man but in a show. It may have been more like a circus atmosphere with everyone waiting for the show to begin.

Instead of responding to the those that had begged Jesus to heal the blind man, Jesus chose to take the blind man "by the hand" and led him outside the village, some distance away from the crowd. There would be no show the people. Jesus wanted to establish a one-on-one relationship with the individual in need.

I think this is an inportant element that we in the church cannot overlook. If we want to impact people's lives and make a difference in their circumstances and situations we must first establish a one-on-one relationship. Relationships with people will encourage the person in need to have faith to hope and faith to believe for in Jesus for their healing.