Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2892
“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, and put His 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. And He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.” Mark 8:22-26.
THERE are several points in which these people who brought the blind man to Christ deserve our commendation and our imitation. They believed that Christ could open that blind man’s eyes. In like manner, may we all believe that Jesus can save our relatives, friends and acquaintances. If we are ourselves saved, let us always be firmly convinced that He is also able to save any whom we bring before Him in prayer. Let us never give way to despair concerning any person, however far he may have gone into sin. Who but the Divine Savior could open the eyes of this blind man? Nobody. Yet He could do it. So, if your friends are very sinful and hardened, no one but the Lord can save them. But He can do it, so believe that He can do it and in prayer bring your friend to the Savior as these people of Bethsaida brought this blind man to Christ.
Their faith was of a practical kind. They were not content to simply believe that Christ could heal this man and then to remain sitting still. True faith is active faith, so these people brought the blind man to the Savior in whom they believed. If you are praying for any man’s salvation, mind that you use the means that will best help to bring about that result. If there is any instrumentality which God peculiarly blesses to the conversion of souls, take care that you bring your friend under that instrumentality in the hope that God will bless it to him. Further, note that the blind man was willing to be brought to Jesus. Evidently he had at least as much faith as his friends had in the power of Jesus to open his eyes. It was a very hopeful case when the man and his friends believed in Christ’s power to heal him—it was not likely to be long, then, before the miracle of mercy would be worked!
Observe, also, that the faith of these friends of the blind man was further proved by their earnest prayers on his behalf. They brought him to Jesus, “and besought Him to touch him.” It was prayer of a very forceful kind, as the word, “besought,” clearly implies. It was also a very plain prayer—they did not make use of fine language, or beat about the bush so as to leave anyone in doubt as to what they wanted for their friend—they brought him to Jesus, “and besought Him to touch him.” They desired that the blind man should be made to see and they thought that result would follow from Christ’s touch—so they asked for that gift—and, dear Friends, whenever you pray for the conversion of anyone, mind that you pray straight for it. There are prayers that one has heard in Prayer Meetings which seem to go all round the world, but never to come to the case in hand. Let it not be so with you, especially in your private prayers, but pray for Jane, pray for Thomas, pray for your children or friends by name. Believingly, earnestly, in a business-like way put their case before the Lord Jesus Christ, just as if they were ill you would state their symptoms to the best physician you could find and ask him to prescribe for them!
In all these points that I have mentioned, these people are to be commended and imitated—they believed in Christ’s power to heal the blind man, they brought their friend to Him and they besought Christ’s favor for him. In doing so, however, they made the mistake of prescribing to Christ the way in which they thought their friend should be healed— they “besought Him to touch him.” It was quite the usual thing—indeed, it was almost universally the Savior’s rule to heal sick folk by laying His hands on them. And having seen Him do this, perhaps, on several occasions, these people had imbibed the notion that Christ healed the sick by His touch—that this was the special or the only way in which His power was manifested. They did not appear to know that it operated in any other way, so they, “besought Him to touch him.” Possibly they had more confidence in the touch than they had in the Christ who gave it! In any event, they thought that the touch was essential to the cure and did not realize that Christ could cure the sick in any way that He pleased— not only by His touch, but by His word, or, if He willed it, even without a word. Thus, they did, as it were, tie the Savior down to one particular method—and their faith, though it was real, was weak. Though it was acceptable as far as it went, it was imperfect—there was a measure of ignorance mingled with it. I am going to deal only with that point as I expect that some of us are making the same mistake that these people made.