A Quiet Place

Mark 8:23 KJV

And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

I had not noticed before that, when Jesus gave sight to this blind man, He first led him out of the town.  The Bible does not tell us why. But the commentaries offer us at least three possibilities:

First it is suggested that He did this

To show He had deemed the city unworthy of such a miracle

Second they say He may have done this

To avoid exciting the Pharisees to anger any more than He already had

I cannot judge the credibility of either of these speculations but find the final one more in character with what I believe I know about Christ.

He might have taken Him outside of the town

To avoid the ostentatious nature of such a miracle in a large crowd

We have idolized bigness to the point that we don't believe that God works in the

·         Small

·         Faithful

·         Quiet

places of life.

We believe that Christian success is measured in the size of the crowds we attract. I don't see that quality in Christ. Though He could have hung around large crowds He tended to minister to just twelve, and especially to just three of the twelve. At His crucifixion the final outcome of His ministry was one hundred and twenty. We like to pull out passages that indicate larger numbers, but Jesus just didn't spend His most important moments in the crowds.

We would do well to concentrate on what happens in the quiet moments of life and let the crowded moments care for themselves.