The Blind Man of Bethsaida is the subject of one of the

miracles of Jesus in the Gospels The miracles of Jesus are miraculous deeds attributed to Jesus in Christian and Islamic texts. The majority are faith healings, exorcisms, resurrections, and control over nature. In the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), Jesus r ...

. It is found only in

Mark 8 Mark 8 is the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains two miracles of Jesus, Peter's confession that he believes Jesus is the Messiah, and Jesus' first prediction of his own death and resurr ...

:22-26.''The Miracles of Jesus'' by Craig Blomberg, David Wenham 2003 page 419 The exact location of Bethsaida in this pericope is subject to debate among scholars but is likely to have been

Bethsaida Julias Bethsaida (; from gr, Βηθσαϊδά from Hebrew/Aramaic ''beth-tsaida'', lit. "Beth (Hebrew), house of hunting" from the Semitic root, Hebrew root ; ar, بيت صيدا), also known as Julias, is a place mentioned in the New Testament. Julias ...

, on the north shore of

Lake Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

. According to Mark's account, when

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

came to Bethsaida, a town in

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

, he was asked to heal a blind man. Jesus took the man by the hand and led him out of the town, put some spittle on his eyes, and laid hands on him. "I see men like trees, walking", said the man. Jesus repeated the procedure, resulting in clear and perfect eyesight. "Neither go into the town," commanded Jesus, " nor tell anyone in the town." ( New King James Version). Even though the story is found only in Mark, its authenticity may be supported by the

criterion of embarrassment The criterion of embarrassment is a type of historical analysis in which a historical account is deemed likely to be true under the inference that that the author would have no reason to invent a historical account which might embarrass them. Cer ...

, since it could be argued that early Christians would not have been happy that Jesus had to give two blessings to achieve a proper result.

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

argues that "by this miracle, Christ teaches us how great is the spiritual blindness of man, which only by degrees, and by successive stages, can come to the light of Divine knowledge".Bede, ''On the Gospel of Mark'', quoted i
Pulpit Commentary on Mark 8
accessed 25 November 2017 The New Testament describes only one other miracle performed in Bethsaida, the

feeding of the multitude In Christianity, the feeding the multitude is two separate miracles of Jesus reported in the Gospels. The first miracle, the "Feeding of the 5,000", is the only miracle—aside from the resurrection—recorded in all four gospels (Matthew 14:13 ...

Luke 9 Luke 9 is the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the sending of the twelve disciples, several great miracles performed by Jesus, the story of his transfiguration, Peter's confession and t ...

:16, although

John 21 John 21 is the twenty-first and final chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains an account of a post-crucifixion appearance in Galilee, which the text describes as the third time Jesus had appeared ...

:25 states that many more things were done by Jesus than have been recorded. According to Matthew 11:21, Jesus cursed the city for its lack of belief in him despite "the mighty works done in you".

References

JESUS {{DEFAULTSORT:Blind Man Of Bethsaida Blind people Gospel of Mark Miracles of Jesus People from Bethsaida People in the canonical gospels Unnamed people of the Bible

See also

References