Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 8:24

"And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold [them] as trees, walking." — Mark 8:24 (ASV)

Why did Jesus lead the blind man out of the village? Only on three occasions did Jesus withdraw from the people to heal: the raising of Jairus’s daughter (5:35–43), where Jesus’ motive is clearly to rid himself of the commotion caused by the professional mourners; the healing of the deaf mute (7:31–37), where Jesus wanted to establish a personal contact with the man to help his faith; and the present incident, where the motive seems to be the same as in the healing of the deaf mute.

Jesus performed a double action: he spit on the man’s eyes and laid his hands on him. To Jesus’ question “Do you see anything?” the answer of the blind man here in Mark is essentially “Yes, but not clearly” (v.24). Two things seem clear: (1) the man had probably not been born blind or else he would not have been able to identify trees as trees, and (2) the return of his sight was gradual. Jesus healed gradually in this case probably to prove that he had full liberty in how he healed and was not restricted to any fixed rule.