Mark 8:26 — Community Reflections

MARK 8:26 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”

Jesus sent him home, saying, don't even go into the village — the Messianic Secret command is attached to the complete healing: don't go into the village, which means don't publicize the healing. The instruction is not explained but follows the established pattern. The route home without going into the village ensures the healing does not become the basis for premature public proclamation.

Church Fathers on Mark 8:26

Knowing that the touch of the Lord could give sight to a blind man as well as cleanse a leper.
Bede · 8th century · in Marc., 2, 34

For Bethsaida appears to have been infected with much infidelity, wherefore the Lord reproaches it, 'Woe to thee, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.' [Matt. 11, 21] He then takes out of the town the blind man, who had been brought to Him, for the faith of those who brought him was not true faith.
Theophylact · 11th century

Mystically, however, Bethsaida is interpreted, 'the house of the valley', that is, the world, which is the vale of tears. Again, they bring to the Lord a blind man, that is, one who neither sees what he has been, what he is, nor what he is to be. They ask Him to touch him, for what is being touched, but feeling compunction?
Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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