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23 And he took the hlind 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.
24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25 After that he put Ms hands again upon his eyes, and bade him look up : and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.
We do not know the reason of the peculiar means em- ployed by our Lord Jesus Chirst, in working the miracle recorded in these verses. We see a blind man miracu- lously healed. We know that a word from our Lord's mouth, or a touch of His hand would have been suf- ficient to effect a cure. But we see Jesus taking this blind man by the hand — leading him out of the town — spitting on his eyes — putting His hands on him, and then, and not till then, restoring his sight. And the meaning of all these actions, the passage before us leaves entirely unexplained.
But it is well to remember, in reading passages of this kind, that the Lord is not tied to the use of any one means. In the conversion of men's souls there are diversities of operation, but it is the same Spirit which converts. So also in the healing of men's bodies there were varieties of agency employed by our Lord, but it was the same divine power that effected the cure. In all His works God is a sovereign. He giveth not ac- count of any of His matters.
One thing in the passage demands our special obser- vation. That thing is the gradual nature of the cure which our Lord performed on this blind man. He did not deliver him from his blindness at once, but by de- grees. He might have done it in a moment, but He chose to do it step by step. First the blind man said