In Mark 8:22–26, we see Jesus heal a blind man at Bethsaida. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t completely heal him all at once. Instead, Jesus heals him in stages. Recall the story:

And they came to Bethsaida. 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 on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Jesus lays his hands on the man the first time and only halfway heals. Only after this first stage of healing does Jesus then fully heal the man. What gives? Why does this miracle play out in this way? Is this just a harder case? Or, is it a problem with Jesus’ power—was Jesus just not quite feeling it that day? Well, I think we can eliminate those options. In fact, it might be helpful to first point out what is not happening here based on what Mark has revealed about Jesus.

Not a Harder Case

This is not just a harder case. Mark has shown Jesus to have absolute authority and power over demons, disease, nature, and even sin and death (Mark 1:25–26, 34, 40–42; 2:5, 8–12; 3:1–6; 4:35–41; 5:1–20, 21–43; 6:30–52; etc.). In fact, every miracle up to this point that Jesus has performed has been instantaneous. No matter how you rank the difficulty level of these cases here—of course, sin and death are the obvious choices of “most difficult” though, but you knew that—none have stood up to Jesus’ authority. Therefore, we can eliminate the notion that this is just a harder case.

Not a Problem with Power

This does not indicate a problem with Jesus’ power. Mark has made clear at the outset that Jesus is the Son of God.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

The same logic we applied above to the first question (Is this a harder case?) applies here as well. Jesus has indicated by his actions that he operates with divine authority. Demons, disease, nature, and death all bend to his will. Jesus himself reveals by his self-proclaimed title the Son of Man that he is the one who receives all authority and dominion straight from God, the Ancient of Days himself (Mark 2:10; 28; cf. Daniel 7:13–14). This two-stage healing, then, does not point to a problem with Jesus’ power.

A Problem with Faith

So it is not a more difficult case and Jesus is not having a problem with power here. In fact, Jesus has shown nothing but absolute authority and control up to this point. So based on this, what is going on? Well, the logical conclusion is that Jesus, who has all power and all divine authority, must be in control here as well. That is, he must be doing this on purpose. Why? Because there is a problem present here. The problem is faith.

This faith problem is not Jesus’, and it is not the blind man’s. The faith problem is the disciples’ faith problem. Unlike most of us, Jesus is an extraordinary multi-tasker. Here, Jesus is not just compassionately addressing the issue of this man’s blindness, he is also compassionately addressing the issue of his disciples’ lack of faith in him. In fact, just a few verses before Jesus rebukes the disciples for unbelief and asks

Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?… (Mark 8:18)

The point is driven home even further by the fact that right before saying this, Jesus healed a deaf and mute man (Mark 7:31–37). That point is this: the disciples are spiritually like this blind man. They see Jesus, but not clearly, not fully. They don’t fully grasp who he is and what he has come to do. They don’t fully believe in him for who he is…yet. Peter illustrates this spiritual reality in the very next scene.

A Confession and A Rebuke

Immediately on the heels of this miracle, Jesus poses the question of the ages to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). Peter, ever eager, gives an answer that proves to be the confession of the ages: “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29). Peter at the very least believes that Jesus is the promised son of David who would restore the kingdom of Israel, rout their enemies, and reign on the throne as king in justice and righteousness (2 Samuel 7:12–13; Isaiah 9:6–7). He might even have a sense of this king’s special nature in that in some way he would be considered God’s son (2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13). And he might have a sense that his reign, his kingdom would endure forever in some way shape or form (2 Samuel 7:13; Chronicles 17:12, 14). Perhaps he believes his throne would endure forever through an unbreakable line of kings that followed. Regardless of the full extent of Peter’s knowledge here, Peter knows the promise of the coming Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed, a son of David who would restore God’s kingdom and be king. And Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. But in what follows, it becomes clear that Peter gives a halfway confession. That is, Peter does not fully know the way the Christ will restore the kingdom. He only sees partially in that he does not understand the messianic mission. There is more to this confession than Peter knows.

After Peter’s confession, Jesus begins to teach them the path he, the Son of Man, the Christ, must take to the throne. And power in any earthly sense does not mark this path. Pain marks this path.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31)

This does not fit into Peter’s category for the Christ. So he immediately takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. This earns him nothing but an even fiercer rebuke from Jesus.

He [Jesus] rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Peter only halfway sees who Jesus is as the Christ and what Jesus will do as the Christ. Peter does not fully see that the Messiah has come to destroy sin and Satan, not earthly enemies (1 John 3:8). And Peter does not fully see the way that the Christ will do it—through suffering. The Christ is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

The Christ Suffers in order to Save

Jesus makes clear that you cannot confess him as the Christ who saves without confessing him as the Christ who suffers in order to save. Jesus the Christ “was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him” (Isaiah 53:10). Because, as the perfectly righteous one, he will “make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). Jesus the Christ, “bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).

Peter’s ignorance and partial spiritual eyesight is on full display here. But the Christ would not leave him in his partial blindness and halfway confession. Indeed, it is the very path Peter disagrees with, that ends up saving him and restoring his sight. Because the Christ suffered, was rejected, was killed, and rose, Peter’s “sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” Jesus heals Peter’s half sight so he that he no longer holds to a half confession. There is no confessing Christ without confessing the suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection of the Christ. Don’t take my word for it, take Peter’s.

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it…Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Jesus is the Christ. And he is the Christ who suffers in order to save his people. Like Peter and the rest of the disciples, we were spiritual blind, but the Christ has come in order to restore our sight. And while our battle with this sinful flesh will often blur our vision again, the promise of the Christ is that through his suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection, he will save us. He will restore our sight fully, and we will behold the son of David, the Son of God, reign forever over God’s kingdom that never ends. And our lips will utter this confession in all it fullness: Jesus is the Christ.