Fr Matthew Reese

And they came to Beth-sa′ida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him. 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?” And he looked up and said, “I see men; but they look like trees, walking.” Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. And he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
—Mark 8:22-26

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today’s lesson from Mark gives us a sense of the breathless pace of this, the shortest Gospel.

Mark’s account, widely believed to be the first written, has little of the soaring theological rhetoric of John’s version. It does not have the rich infancy narrative of Luke or the wealth of Hebrew scriptural reference in Matthew.

Mark’s account is distinguished by its journalistic brevity. “Kai euthus” (καὶ εὐθύς)—“and immediately,” or “and straightaway”—is one of the most recognizable turns of phrase in the Gospel. Here, we are propelled from miracle to miracle, scene to scene, with often little or no preparation.

Mark gives us the sense that Jesus is on the move, that he has work to do, and—tellingly—that he feels compelled to do much of it in secret. Jesus is not interested in worldly fame or political power. In fact, after most of his miraculous healings, he strictly charges the recipients of this grace to say nothing. “Do not even enter the village.” Of course, most of them immediately run off to tell everyone.

This is another central facet of Mark’s Gospel: the “Messianic Secret.” It is only in Jesus’ death and resurrection that the truth of his Divinity will be made manifest.

Today’s lesson illustrates both this breathless pace and tendency towards the Messianic Secret.

What is it that the disciples really know about Jesus? Can they see what is coming? Can they grasp the totality of the change that He is bringing into the world? Surely not.

The disciples here are no different than the blind man. As Jesus first lays his hands on him, he begins to see, but only in part: “I see men; but they look like trees, walking.” (I love the dreamlike ambiguity of this phrase.) But as Our Lord touches him again, suddenly he sees “everything clearly.”

So it is with us. Every encounter with scripture, every encounter in the Eucharist, every encounter in prayer, brings us one step closer to God, one step closer to clarity.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew