A Plea For More

(The following is an encore Fragment.  Although written and published some time ago, I hope that it refreshes your soul today.)

“Do you see anything?”  And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.”  (Mark 8:23, 24)

Jesus’ encounter with the blind man at Bethsaida looks an awful lot like His supernatural power misfired.  Either He underestimated the force of the defect, or He misappropriated His healing power.  In either case, when Jesus asked the blind man to take a quick glance at the eye chart after He had applied His healing balm, He got a “less than satisfactory” on the report.

Was this a divine foul ball?  Had the sheer exhaustion from the pace of feeding thousands, dialoging with skeptics, teaching, mentoring, and healing finally caught up with Him?  Was He out of juice, under powered, overtaxed or unprepared?

Not a chance!  Jesus, God’s Son, spoke every word and delivered every action with the precise purposes and plans of God as His guide.  A multi-phased healing process was not a “two-swings at bat” in the game of life.

Masterfully, Jesus used this healing experience as a metaphor for life and learning.

What if this blind man, exposed to a world of darkness, had been prepared to live with the vast improvement of imperfect sight?  What if he had stopped wanting more?  For undoubtedly, seeing men that look like trees walking is a quantum leap over the chasm of nothing.  Yet his honesty became his petition, and the response of Christ became a megaphone to the body and the soul.

More of Christ.  More of His healing power.  More drink for the thirsty, more healing for the broken, more forgiveness for the shamed, more love for the bitter, more tenderness for the rigid, more holiness for the sinner. Just more of Jesus.

What if the prayer of my soul was an acknowledgment of the progress and a plea for more? What if our prayers echoed the heartbeat of the father of the boy in Mark 9:24 who pled, “I believe; help my unbelief?”

What if our bodies and souls clamored for more… not in disrespect but in expectation; not with dissatisfaction but with anticipation?

Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  (Mark 8:25)

Our hunger for more becomes His banquet table.  Our thirst invites His wellspring.

More of Jesus… I want more.