Chapter 8 of St. Mark’s gospel is the “hinge” around which the story turns. It begins with Jesus being frustrated with the disciples. “You have eyes, but you do not yet see!” They weren’t getting what he was about. In the next scene there is a miraculous cure of a man recovering his sight. Certainly St. Mark places the story in this place as a metaphor for coming to faith. The gradual nature of the miracle — the spittle, the “walking trees,” the laying on of hands — reminds us that faith is not a one time thing that you either have or don’t have. We grow into faith, we deepen our faith over time, we come to trust God more and more as we mature as Christians.
