Monday, January 05, 2009
Layers
By Ramone - January 1, 2009
A sister in Christ who is a former Adventist, like myself, made this comment recently on the FAF forum:
"I feel sometimes I am as the man who 'saw men as trees walking,' but I know the One who is healing me and who rescued me from SDAism. I know He is trustworthy to change me 'from glory to glory' as He continues to work in my life."She was mentioning this story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus...
A Blind Man Healed at BethsaidaPutting On or Taking Off?
Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking." Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."
- Mark 8:22-26 NKJV
When you first look at this picture, it seems to appear that something is being applied to the eye, but in fact, something is being wiped off! Something is being removed from the eye, in layers. Perhaps often we ask for that healing eye salve, or we ask for a new thing, when in fact what Jesus would rather do is just help us see Him more clearly? I believe this reflects how many of us have "put something on our eyes" that would appear to help us see clearer, but in fact it actually clouds our vision. (This was true of Adventism!)
It reminds me of the letter to Thyatira in Revelation 2. In that city the church had a special 'prophet' who was probably a leader there and was teaching them some "deep secrets", which probably came with a certain "prophetic" advertisement or credibility -- "This person is a prophet! These are special things I need to know! They're deeper things, deeper keys and secrets!" (I believe the prophet's teaching probably offered greater spiritual 'authority', that is, greater ways to control your destiny or receive blessings.)
Jesus came down really hard on them, saying He was going to punish this prophet and all of the prophet's "children", because what this person was peddling was actually death! He then said, "I lay no other burden on you." Interestingly, often people advertise "deep secrets", special knowledge, etc., and it's supposed to make things easier, take you deeper into the divine, etc. But what it does is actually make things heavier. There's more to learn, more effort to exert, and more trouble if you mess up or don't hold to and soak up the teachings. Jesus said these things are all "burdens". He came to take away our burdens, not lay more on us! All we need to do is hold onto Him, onto what He has given us freely of Himself.
Discerning the Thicker Cloud
Jesus' command to the man (not to return to the town) is interesting. The man was from the town of Bethsaida, which was one of a few places that Jesus rebuked very harshly (Matthew 11:20-24). Although He had ministered there a lot and done many miracles, as a whole they generally refused to repent and believe in Him. It seems as if there was a general unwillingness to believe in the town, a spirit of unbelief. It didn't hit everybody, but it seemed to be pretty strong. Mark doesn't say who the "they" were that brought the blind man to Jesus, but it's interesting that the first thing Jesus did was to take the blind man out of town. Could it be that He didn't want to do a miracle in front of people who wouldn't believe and repent even if they saw it, or who were looking for a show? Did He take the man away from the "they" who brought him to Jesus? Had "they" brought him to Jesus out of belief or unbelief? There aren't definitive answers to these questions, but what we do know is that the man's healing came in layers, and that Jesus wanted him to stay out of the environment of Bethsaida.
Bethsaida seemed to be a town under "a non-repentant cloud of unbelief", so to speak. So Jesus took him out of that cloud (out of the town) for his healing, and even then it took more than one touch of His hand. After that, even though he had been irrefutably healed, even though he could physically see clearly and had a great "witness" of who Jesus was, Jesus told him not to go back to Bethsaida. The "cloud" of unbelief and a non-repentant heart is more difficult to have removed than physical layers on top of your eye! Opening blind eyes was not as difficult as opening willfully blinded hearts.
The Sight We Trust In
All of us live in a kind of "Bethsaida" at times. We grow up not believing, or are in unbelieving environments. All of our spiritual "sight" can blinded in "layers". We discover something true, but it's not usually the end of things. He still has more to show us. Often we begin to discern spiritual things, but we're not seeing clearly yet. Like the man from Bethsaida, we make out fuzzy shapes but don't quite see it clearly. Paul said it was like seeing in a mirror -- that is, an ancient mirror which reflected an unclear image (see this picture & story). Though we don't see clearly, we know His touch, and that it is Him who is with us.
It's not our sight or our healing that we trust in, but rather the love of Him who is before us!
There were several times when He healed blind people, but in this case the man was not "instantly" healed. I don't know about you, but automatically it makes me think, "Was His touch not strong enough?" "What was wrong?" In praying for healing (in my own life and in others' lives today), I've known that often healings don't happen instantaneously, but take time. Somehow I hadn't realized that this happened in the Bible, as well. I don't know all the reasons for this, but sometimes it just takes time.
The important thing is that He sees us clearly, and we trust Him and know He sees us clearly. I don't necessarily like the picture of an eye up-close. Go figure, somehow it's slightly grotesque to me. But this is how I saw it. And a blue eye, at that (my eyes are brown!). I think it represents being at peace... the blue is like the waves of the sea, the peaceful waters of rest. Knowing it is He who touches and heals us, and trusting in Him (instead of in our sight), we can be at peace even though we do not see fully clearly, and/or are not completely healed. Our faith isn't in the degree of our clear-sight, nor in the degree of how much we are or are not healed. Rather, our faith is in the love in the hand and heart of Him who is with us and touching us.
Knowing He Knows
The Sovereign God knew what He was doing when He touched the man's eyes at Bethsaida. He could have taken it all off with one touch, but somehow I think He wanted the man to have the experience of seeing "walking trees", so to speak, so that he would know he didn't yet see clearly. Perhaps that first touch was given to get the man's faith rolling? Maybe seeing those "walking trees" helped him have more faith, that if Jesus touched him again, He'd see even clearer.
I have this conviction that God always knows what He's doing. He does things in a way that is perfect for us. Sometimes it's painful, sometimes we can't see clearly. Other times we think we've understood and had our eyes opened, and we don't realize it's only the beginning. It can be difficult once you think you're healed (or unveiled) to find out there's more to go. It can be difficult when you think you've learned something correctly, only to find out that you weren't seeing clearly.
But He knows what He's doing, and He tell us not to be afraid in His hands, because He will remove whatever things are keeping us from seeing Him clearly. Maybe there are certain 'layers' or beliefs we think we need, but really are clouding our vision. Maybe it's just that we think we've left it all behind, but really we haven't. His revelation that there's more healing (or unveiling) to go can be a shock to us --perhaps even painful-- but He works all things for our healing. And we trust in His clear vision of us, not in how well we see Him clearly.
# posted by Ramone @ 6:12 PM 
Comments:
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Ramone, I hadn't seen this picture (along with many others!) or your explanation about it until today. Very powerful!
I loved the following two paragraphs of yours...
"I have this conviction that God always knows what He's doing. He does things in a way that is perfect for us. Sometimes it's painful, sometimes we can't see clearly. Other times we think we've understood and had our eyes opened, and we don't realize it's only the beginning. It can be difficult once you think you're healed (or unveiled) to find out there's more to go. It can be difficult when you think you've learned something correctly, only to find out that you weren't seeing clearly."
"But He knows what He's doing, and He tell us not to be afraid in His hands, because He will remove whatever things are keeping us from seeing Him clearly. Maybe there are certain 'layers' or beliefs we think we need, but really are clouding our vision. Maybe it's just that we think we've left it all behind, but really we haven't. His revelation that there's more healing (or unveiling) to go can be a shock to us --perhaps even painful-- but He works all things for our healing. And we trust in His clear vision of us, not in how well we see Him clearly."
I understand that you are saying that trusting in Him and how well He sees and knows my heart is more important than how clearly I see Him.
As much as I want to see Him clearly, that may be an on-going process as He heals the layers/veil that has been over my eyes... perhaps for a long time.
I agree with you when you say, "It's not our sight or our healing that we trust in, but rather the love of Him who is before us!"
Thank you Jesus for your relentless love for me... for each one of us!
I loved the following two paragraphs of yours...
"I have this conviction that God always knows what He's doing. He does things in a way that is perfect for us. Sometimes it's painful, sometimes we can't see clearly. Other times we think we've understood and had our eyes opened, and we don't realize it's only the beginning. It can be difficult once you think you're healed (or unveiled) to find out there's more to go. It can be difficult when you think you've learned something correctly, only to find out that you weren't seeing clearly."
"But He knows what He's doing, and He tell us not to be afraid in His hands, because He will remove whatever things are keeping us from seeing Him clearly. Maybe there are certain 'layers' or beliefs we think we need, but really are clouding our vision. Maybe it's just that we think we've left it all behind, but really we haven't. His revelation that there's more healing (or unveiling) to go can be a shock to us --perhaps even painful-- but He works all things for our healing. And we trust in His clear vision of us, not in how well we see Him clearly."
I understand that you are saying that trusting in Him and how well He sees and knows my heart is more important than how clearly I see Him.
As much as I want to see Him clearly, that may be an on-going process as He heals the layers/veil that has been over my eyes... perhaps for a long time.
I agree with you when you say, "It's not our sight or our healing that we trust in, but rather the love of Him who is before us!"
Thank you Jesus for your relentless love for me... for each one of us!
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