Mark 08:22 (AV)
And He cometh to Bethsaida;
and they bring a blind man unto Him,
and besought Him to touch him.
Other translations:
And they came to Bethsaida. And [people] brought to Him a blind man and begged Him to touch him. [AMP] And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. [ESV] And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. [KJV] They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. [NIV] When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch and heal the man. [NLT] Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. [NKJV]
Some further information
He cometh to Bethsaida.
Bethsaida Julias, on the northeast side of the lake.
From here He proceeded to Cæsarea Philippi ( Mark 8:27 ).
Bethsaida was near the mouth of the upper Jordan into the lake. It was upon the eastern bank of the river.
The account of the miracle that follows is only given by Mark.
And they bring a blind man unto him.
The people, maybe friends, maybe neighbors, but probably not the disciples, brought him.
▪︎ Maybe he was brought because he could not find the way alone (as he was blind),
▪︎ Or maybe because he had not the faith that would induce him to go, and so was brought by the faith of his friends.
This man was probably not born blind.
As he had evidently seen men and trees before (Mark 8:24).
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In the portion that begins here (Mark 8:22-26), tells Mark of the healing of a blind man at Bethsaida (cf. Mark 10:46,49,51). This story is closely related to that of Mark 7:31-37.
Mark begins by telling that after the crossing over the Sea of Galilee the Lord Jesus came to Bethsaida, a number of manuscripts read instead of ‘He comes’, ‘they come’, ie Jesus with His disciples (see Mark 8:14, compare Mark 1:21, 9:30, 10:46, 11:15,27),
Betsaida is already mentioned in Mark 6:45 as the purpose of that trip. This place was on the northern shore of the already mentioned lake.
It had recently become a city at that time (see John 1:45), but popularly it was stille called a village (Mark 8:23,26).
In the other Gospels we read that Jesus performed many miracles there (see Matthew 11:20-22; Luke 10:13-14). What Mark tells in this verse fits in that context.
A blind man was brought to Jesus (cf. Mark 7:32, 2:3, 6:55, 10:13). The ‘they’ who brought him were likely family members, friends or acquaintances of the person concerned. They implored Jesus to touch the blind man in order to heal him (cf. Mark 7:32; to lay hands on, see also Mark 8:23).
Now let us reflect on this
They brought a blind man to Him and begged Him to touch him. (Mark 8:22)
We do not know whether it were friends or acquaintances who brought the blind man to the Lord Jesus. And while there is speculation about this, it really doesn’t matter. Marcus also saw no reason to elaborate on this.
What is certain is that these people have known,
▪︎ that Jesus was in their town
▪︎ and that Jesus could heal the blind.
And so they brought him to Jesus.
No one could help the man, but Jesus could.
This becomes clear to us in this Bible passage.
As those people did then, so should we do as well.
Bringing the blind, the spiritually blind to the Lord Jesus.
When we ourselves have been made seeing by Jesus and have received in Him everything that serves for our eternal peace, it is a work of gratitude to point out the Savior in word and deed to those who are still blind.
And let us not forget to pray.
He who is delivered from the utmost evil will ask the Lord to be worthy of bringing others to Jesus, that he may work a great miracle on them also. If the Lord has been able to redeem us, He can do the same for others.
He gives the blind the light in the eyes and in the heart.
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