Mk 8:22-26
Blind: After Jesus meets the blind man in Bethsaida, he leads him outside the village. Here the reader will recall the inside-outside theme which pervades this Gospel. For Mark, those who are thought to be inside are discovered to be outside, and those who are thought to be outside are discovered to be inside. After the blind man is healed, converted, he is told not to “go into the village” (v 26). Once a person is converted, Mark is saying, he or she cannot go back.
The man comes to see only gradually. Jesus lays his hands on the blind man twice. For Mark, his slow recovery represents the process of conversion for the individual. Belief in Jesus and the acceptance of his way of living and dying and the incorporation of these into a person’s lifestyle is a gradual process—not something that takes place overnight.
Also, the blind man is contrasted to the disciples, who are able to see but neither understand nor believe. Mark’s portrayal of the disciples is scandalous; they always look foolish; they never seem to understand what Jesus is trying to teach them and they never believe. So, they are contrasted to a blind man, who has never seen Jesus, but who still understands and believes.
The point of the story, then, is not the healing in and of itself but the gradual conversion process, which must be a part of the life of every person who claims to be a disciple of Jesus.