Do you remember when Jesus spit into a man’s eyes?
It’s a strange Gospel story that appears twice in the Gospel of Mark at 8:22-26 and in 7:31-37.
Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
He[Jesus] took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
Mark 8:22-26 (ESV)
Jesus spit in a John Gospel story
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth . . . As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
John 9: 1-7 (ESV)
What’s with the spitting, Jesus?
The love of God.
How could that possibly be? The idea of spitting on someone–even to heal them–is repugnant to most people
It always seemed a curious and inexplicable thing for Jesus to do–even if it did result in three men being healed.
Many scholars have tried to explain these incidents and I’m not going to belabor them here.
Jesus spit. Men were healed. That’s what happened. Did it matter what method Jesus used?
1900+ years after Jesus spit, Spitters hear the story.
In her wonderful memoir of life as a pioneer missionary with Wycliffe Bible translators, Marilyn Laszlo shared a story about the effects of Jesus’ curious healing methods.
In Mission Possible, Laszlo described the challenges she faced with the Sepik Iwam people who lived deep in the New Guinea tropical rain forest. (500 miles up the Sepik River from the ocean).
Laszlo and a colleague arrived in the village in 1967. Over the first seven years, a series of miraculous healings led most of the villagers into a relationship with Jesus, but one group remained skeptical.
Four traditional medicine man cared for the village’s health using traditional methods which often worked well. They were called “Spitters.”
You can watch a Spitter in action in Laszlo’s film Come By Here, part two.
In one case, family members brought an ailing child to the Spitter.
He chewed on gingerroot and “with ritualistic precision and genuine compassion.” Marilyn watched in horror “as he cut tiny slits in the child’s chest, then spat gingerroot juice into the bleeding cuts.”
Sometimes spitting into the wounds worked.
Too often it did not.
Surprised to learn Jesus spit, too.
Seven years and plenty of adventures later, Marilyn was busy translating the Gospels into the Iwam language.
Among her translators on one particular day was a group of Spitters–the only members of the community who had not become Christians.
As Laszlo explained the John 9 passage, the men became excited.
“What is it?” she asked.
“He’s just like we are, only he has much more power.”
You can see the story here, at 7 minutes into the film.
“I believe God put that story into the Bible just to touch the hearts of the Sepik people,” Laszlo said.
How much does God love each of the people He created?
Enough to have Jesus spit into the mud, or onto a tongue, to heal someone.
The story puzzles most of us.
But, the Spitters finally saw in those stories that Jesus was like them.
Jesus knew their lives and understood their traditions, and thus became knowable to them.
Isn’t it wonderful how God meets each of us in a way we can understand and thus shows He knows who we are?
Then what?
Wikipedia reports 95% of people in Papua New Guinea claim to be Christians.
Hauna Village, where Marilyn Laszlo served the Sepik Iwam people for 24 years, is a vibrant Christian community today.
Thanks to Laszlo and her sister, along with many other helpers and translators, the Hauna people have a Bible and many walk with God.
For more information about the Laszlo Mission League in Hauna, Papua New Guinea, see their website here.
I first heard Marilyn Laszlo story on the Women Worth Knowing podcast.
Tweetables
Why did Jesus spit into the mud and put it on the man’s eyes? Click to Tweet
How Jesus spitting on a man’s tongue led men to the Lord. Click to Tweet
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