The gospel of Mark tells us the wonderful story of Jesus’ miraculous healing of a man’s blindness. Unlike other recorded healings, this one involves a “second touch”: Jesus touches the blind man, and he can see, but poorly-people look like walking trees; when Jesus touches him again, his sight is fully restored-he sees “everything clearly.”

Mark does not tell us why the healing is only partial after the first touch, but it is unlikely that the One who has calmed the wind and the sea, exorcised demons, cleansed lepers, and raised a little girl from the dead would have to try twice to heal blindness. Rather, the context in Mark suggests that the man’s partial sight is symbolic of the disciples’ limited understanding. Although they are not blind to Jesus as the Christ, they have not yet seen that He has come to suffer and die, that being His disciple means to participate in His suffering, that it is about self-denial and surrender.

Following Jesus is always a process. If we have “eyes to see,” we will continually experience new insights, new realities. We, like Peter, must confess Jesus as the Christ, but we must go on to discover the profound meaning of that truth in our lives.