GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 8:24
A Strange Lesson
Learning opportunities sometimes come from unusual experiences. As I prayed one morning about a task that needed to be accomplished, I saw a column of ants along the wall of the auditorium. I could have gotten a broom and swept them into the wastebasket, or brushed them out the door. But my attention focused on their task—they were carrying a much larger, dead insect. I supposed it was their lunch. The dead insect, a beetle, was many times larger than an individual ant. I looked more closely at the process and saw ants crawling under the insect and moving a short distance. They crawled out, and other ants crawled under the insect and continued the process. It was as if there were a circle of worker ants rotating their work. When the workers became weary, they yielded their place to another worker ant, and the project continued. Aha! Maybe I needed to recruit more than one person for the task at hand. That way, when one person grew tired or needed a rest, the other person could step in and the work would continue. Later in the day, I went back to the place where I saw the column of ants, but they were gone—no ants or beetle—yet the lesson taught by the ants remained.
When Jesus was in Bethsaida, some people brought their friend, a blind man, to Jesus. According to Mark, Jesus spat, used the spittle to anoint the man’s eyes, placed his hands on him, then asked the blind man if he could see. “And looking up, he said, ‘I see men, that is, as trees I see walking.’” (Mark 8:24) This is one of the few occasions in the Gospels where a miracle happened gradually, in stages. Without adding to the voluminous body of literature attempting to explain the theology behind this unique miracle, it is permissible to ask what the lessons it conveys.
From one perspective, this event could be a lesson about conversion. No convert understands God’s truth all at once. Even experienced believers are constantly discovering new ways to serve God. From another perspective, this could have been a lesson about the disciples’ status: they saw Jesus, but they didn’t see him clearly at that point. From yet another perspective, it could be a lesson about patience. When the blind man opened his eyes, he saw movement that he took to be something like trees walking about. At that point, he could have thrown up his hands, given up hope of having his sight fully restored, and walked away only half-satisfied, but he didn’t. The lesson then is to be patient, continue to trust the Father, and build on hope and faith. That ancient lesson never loses relevance.
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