This Healing of the Blind man of Bethsaida (Mark 8v22-26) is a puzzle to many readers. Why did Jesus have to pray over the man twice if he was all powerful? Why did the Healing appear not to go right the first time? Why did the blind man see "men, but I see them like walking trees". Modern ophthalmology may give us some answers.
Mark 8v22 He came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spat on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. 24 He looked up, and said, “I see men, but I see them like walking trees.”
25 Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He looked intently, and was restored, and saw everyone clearly. 26 He sent him away to his house, saying, “Don’t enter into the village, nor tell anyone in the village.” World English Bible
Christ and the Pauper by Andrey Mironov, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Seeing Trees
A few years ago, I read Mark 8v24 the morning before an Optometrist's appointment in South West London. The optician examined my retina with an ophthalmoscope as I focussed on the eye chart in front of me. As the light moved across the back of my eye, I saw delicate twigs and branches in my own vision. The Optician noticed my excitement and I told him about the blind man of Bethsaida seeing men walking, looking like trees. "Oh that's interesting", he said. "You are seeing the blood vessels of your retina and we should see them all the time because they cover the photoreceptor cells. The tree shape should show as a mask, but the brain compensates so we don't notice."
Photo: Ophthalmoscopy. NIH, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Vision of the Purkinje Tree
I later learned that I had seen a Purkinje Tree Vision of the retina. Did the blind man of Bethsaida see this too? I also learned that vision is not just an image in the eye, but is an interpretation in the brain. There are two factors to eyesight. Is that why the healing took place in two parts? Did Jesus heal the eye first, giving him a new retina? After asking what the man could see, did he then tune the brain to the new retina mask? See the next page for an ophthalmologist's opinion of this healing.
Have you seen a Purkinje Tree image of your retina? Do you think the blind man saw this? Leave a comment below.
Image by Brad Macario, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
