Revealing the Messiah
Mark wrote a Gospel about the life and ministry of Jesus for a Gentile audience. He described how Jesus took a blind man out of the village to be healed. After he spit on the man's eyes, he was only partially healed. He then laid His hands on the man again. The man was completely healed and was told not to go into the village, presumably so that he would not tell anyone about what just happened.
The healing is another allusion to Isaiah 35:5 where the blind would see and the deaf would hear. Notice the admonition of the disciples in verses 17-21 that they do not see. Mark crafted his Gospel to make Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah (v 29) the central point of the book. All the supernatural acts that Jesus performed up to this point built up to Peter's confession.[1]
Jesus was the Messiah that was promised in the Hebrew Scriptures, although the Jewish people (including the disciples) had the misunderstanding that the Messiah would be an earthly king. The healing if the blind man was another proof of Jesus' anointing and authority as God's chosen representative to redeem and atone for humanity. Salvation to the Jewish people not only included afterlife but the present life as well. Not all were healed for various reasons, but many were.
Jesus is the Lord, Messiah, Savior, and Healer. When we acknowledge that in word, heart, and deeds, He becomes known to others as well. Our lives have to reflect this reality of God's revelation of His Son. God still heals physically, emotionally, and spiritually. While we may not live a life of luxury, we will have a life of joy and peace regardless of our circumstances if we put our complete trust in Him regardless of our circumstances.
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[1]William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1974), 283-8.
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