Dear New Hope,
My brother is much bigger and stronger than me. As kids, he would pin me down, kneel on top of me, and threaten to spit in my face. He had the remarkable ability to generate a gelatinous saliva that would string down toward my face. Often times he would slurp it up just before it reached me, like he was pulling up a Yo-Yo. But then there were times when the spit would fall right onto my face. I would scream: “Mom, Victor spit in my face!” And Victor would typically claim innocence: “I didn’t touch him!”
The point is: Getting spit in the face was never a good moment for me. Indeed, look at any culture in the world and you will discover that spitting in someone’s face is the pinnacle of humiliation. But, in Mark 8, something remarkable happens. Jesus not only spits in a blind man’s eyes, but his spit is not humiliating, but healing.
This week I contacted an ophthalmologist. He confirmed that spitting in someone’s eyes is more likely to cause infection than healing. Dr. Clay wrote: “Saliva is filled with a host of more than 700 bacterial enzymes. Spitting in the eye to heal an eye infection is like marching around a city for 6 days and 7 times on the 7th day, yelling and expecting the wall to fall.” And yet, in Mark 8, the wall does fall, and his eyes are healed. What’s going on here? Why does Jesus spit? Have you ever wondered why this miracle is recorded? Have you ever been dumbfounded about the things Jesus does?
Our Elder Brother, Jesus, is full of surprises in the Scripture. And I pray that on Sunday you join us at New Hope where we gather in an assembly to worship Him.
You are loved,
Craig Trierweiler
