Jesus’ healing of the blind man in this passage illustrates how we are able to see and experience the Kingdom of God. Jesus spits on his eyes and places His hands on him. But the man’s sight is only partially restored – he sees people as trees walking. Then Jesus laid His hands on the man again and this time he could see everything clearly. While we might receive revelation of who Jesus, just like Peter who was able to say the Jesus was the Christ in Mark 8:29, that does not mean we believe it with our whole heart. We might simply see Jesus in a distorted and unclear way, just like Peter did when he rebuked Jesus for explaining what must happen to the Christ in order to effect God’s salvation and bring the reign of God into the lives of people who believe. Jesus fills up the word believe by saying we must lose our lives for His sake and the gospel, that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. It is a correct inference from this passage that living under the reign of Christ will look like this.

Lessons on the Kingdom Part 1. Mark 8:22-26