“Zero Publicity!”

“Zero Publicity!”(Mk.8:22-26).
Africans ought to be more at home with the gospel, not because they have been brainwashed, but because there’s a lot of commonalities between both cultural contexts.
Yesterday our focus was on Namaan who was cured of leprosy by dipping himself in the Jordan seven times.
Today we are told how Jesus gave sight to a blind man by spitting in his eyes.
Spit has potency in African culture as well. African parents bless their children by spitting in the palms of their hands. In “tontins” members are asked to spray the money with spittle before the money is handed to the beneficiary.
When an elder sends a child on an urgent errand, the elder spits on the ground and tells the child, “if you come back after the spit is dried up, your growth will be retarded.” This is to make the child return quickly.
Let me repeat myself with this story which is quite significant to my bloodline. After eight years of marriage my mother was without child. When she visited her maternal grandfather, he asked her to show him her chest. When she did so, he spat on her chest and asked her to go. A year after that blessing she gave birth to her first child.
Jesus knew that the balm in Gilead was still useful for healing, but he healed sick people through words or spittle or spittle and mud and water. He also used his hands and the air of his breath.
Interestingly Jesus did not use anointing oil as a curative, although his disciples “anointed many people with oil and healed them”(Mk.6:13). James also proposed the use of anointing oil for healing purposes(Jm.5:13-15). Of course, Jesus did not have to use anointing oil because he was anointed with the Holy Spirit (Lk.4:18, Acts 10:38).
It is also important to note that Jesus did not want any publicity for healing people.
In the case of today’s text, when the blind man was brought to him, “he took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. ” And when the man gained his sight, “Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Don’t go to the village.'”
I suppose that if Jesus walked the earth today he wouldn’t want paparazis around him during healing sessions.
The people who brought the blind man begged Jesus to touch him, but Jesus did not only touch him; he gave the man sight.
An allegorical interpretation is that we are blind to spiritual things until Jesus spits on, and puts his hands on the eyes of our hearts twice. His first touch makes our vision blurring but with his second touch we see clearly.
May the Lord Jesus Christ put his hands on the eyes of our hearts and take way our spiritual blindness!
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ give us fresh insights into rediscovering the potency of natural elements for healing. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.