Navarre Bible Commentary:Wednesday, 6th Week in Ordinary Time

Source: Second Touch Productions

Mark 8:22-26

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Jesus Cures a Blind Man at Bethsaida

22 And they came to Beth-sa′ida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men; but they look like trees, walking.”25 Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly.26 And he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 699, 1151 and 1504.

Commentary

Curing of a blind man at Bethsaida

8:22–25. Normally the cures which Jesus worked were instantanteous; not so in this case. Why? Because the blind man’s faith was very weak, it would seem, to begin with. Before curing the eyes of his body, Jesus wanted the man’s faith to grow; the more it grew and the more trusting the man became, the more sight Jesus gave him. He acted in keeping with his usual pattern: not working miracles unless there was a right predisposition, yet encouraging a good disposition in the person and giving more grace as he responds to the grace already given.

God’s grace is essential even for desiring holy things: “Give us light, Lord. Behold, we need it more than the man who was blind from his birth, for he wished to see the light and could not, whereas nowadays, Lord, no one wishes to see it. Oh, what a hopeless ill is this! Here, my God, must be manifested thy power and thy mercy” (St. Teresa, Exclamations of the Soul to God, 8).

8:23. Cf. the note on Mk 7:32–33.

Note from Mk 7:32-33

7:32–33. Holy Scripture quite often shows the laying on of hands as a gesture indicating the transfer of power or blessing (cf. Gen 48:14ff; 2 Kings 5:11; Lk 13:13). Everyone knows that saliva can help heal minor cuts. In the language of Revelation fingers symbolized powerful divine action (cf. Ex 8:19; Ps 8:3; Lk 11:20). So Jesus uses signs which suit in some way the effect he wants to achieve, though we can see from the text that the effect—the instantaneous cure of the deaf and dumb man—far exceeds the sign used.

In the miracle of the deaf and dumb man we can see a symbol of the way God acts on souls: for us to believe, God must first open our heart so we can listen to his word. Then, like the apostles, we too can proclaim the magnalia Dei, the mighty works of God (cf. Acts 2:11). In the Church’s liturgy (cf. the hymn Veni Creator) the Holy Spirit is compared to the finger of the right hand of God the Father (Digitus paternae dexterae). The Consoler produces in our souls, in the supernatural order, effects comparable to those which Christ produces in the body of the deaf and dumb man.

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

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