Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 701
Delivered on Sunday Morning, July 22, 1866, by C. H. Spurgeon, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
“And He came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man unto Him, and besought Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes, andputHis hands upon him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that He put His hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up. And he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” Mark 8:22-25.
OUR Savior very frequently healed the sick by a touch, for He intended to impress upon us the truth that the infirmities of fallen humanity can only be removed by contact with His own blessed humanity. He had, however, other lessons to teach, and therefore He adopted other methods of action in healing the sick. Moreover, it was wise for other reasons to manifest variety in His methods. Had our Lord cast all His miracles in one mold men would have attached undue importance to the manner by which He worked, and would have superstitiously thought more of it than of the Divine power by which the miracle was accomplished.
Accordingly, our Master presents us with great variety in the form of the miracles. Though they are always fraught with the same goodness, and display the same wisdom and the same power, yet He is careful to make each one distinct from its fellow, that we may behold the manifest goodness of God and may not imagine that the Divine Savior is so short of methods as to need to repeat Himself. It is the besetting sin of our carnal natures to stay in what is seen and to forget the unseen—hence the Lord Jesus changes the outward modus operandi, or manner of working, in order that it may be clear that He is not bound to any method of healing—and that the outward operation is nothing in itself. He would have us understand that if He chose to heal by the touch, He could also heal with a word.
And if He cured with a word, He could dispense even with the word and work by His mere will—that a glance of His eye was as efficacious as a touch of His hand—and that even without being visibly present, His invisible Presence could work the miracle while yet He was at a distance. In the present case our Savior deviated from His accustomed practice, not merely in the method of healing but also in the character of the cure. In most of the Savior’s miracles the person healed was restored at once. We read of the deaf and dumb man, that not only was his mouth opened, but, what was more remarkable for one who never had heard a sound before, he spoke plainly, receiving the gift of language as well as the power to make articulate sounds.
In other cases the fever left the patient at once, the leprosy was completely healed on the spot, and the issue of blood was stayed. But here, “the Beloved Physician” went more leisurely to work, and only bestowed a part of the blessing at first, halting by the way, and making His patient consider how much was given, and how much withheld, and then by a second operation perfecting the good work. Perhaps our Lord’s action in this case was directed not only by the desire to make each miracle distinct, lest men should think that like a magician He had but one mode of operating—but it may have been suggested by the particular form of the disease, and the spiritual infirmity of which it is a type.
Jesus would scarcely have healed some sicknesses by degrees. It seemed necessary to deal a decisive blow and end them. The casting out of a devil, for instance, must be accomplished entirely or else it is not accomplished at all. And a leper is a leper still if but a spot remains. It is possible, however, to heal blindness by degrees—to give some little glimmer at first, and then afterwards to pour upon the eyeballs the full light of day. Perhaps it may even be necessary in some cases to make the cure gradual, that the optic nerve may grow accustomed to the light. As the eye is the emblem of the understanding, it is very possible, no, it is usual, to heal the human understanding by degrees.
The will must be changed at once. The affections must be turned instantly. Most of the powers of human nature must experience a distinct and complete change. But the understanding may be enlightened by a long course of illumination. The heart of stone cannot be gradually softened, but must instantaneously be made into a heart of flesh. But this is not necessary with the understanding. The reasoning faculties may be gradually brought into proper balance and order. The soul may receive at first but a slight perception of the Truth of God and there it may rest with comparative safety. Afterwards it may come to apprehend more clearly the mind of the Spirit, and in that degree of light it may abide without serious peril, although not without loss.