Mark 8:11-26
“Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again…” (Mark 8:25)
Listen. I’m preaching this to myself as much as anyone reading this because it is a hard lesson to learn – especially if you have even the faintest streak of perfectionism in your soul. (Also, I think all people are perfectionists in some manner or another. After all, we were created to live in utter perfection with God and sin has disrupted that at the moment, but that inclination for perfection, utter beauty, order, reason, and goodness still courses through our veins and taps out its yearning in our every heartbeat). But here’s the thing, perfection doesn’t mean getting it right the first time, every time. And I present to you as evidence, Example A – our scripture reading today.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8:23-25)
Even Jesus had to try something twice in order to get it to work! Jesus! The one whom Hebrews calls “the author and perfecter of our faith.” Even this Author has to do a re-write; even this Perfecter has to dip back into that healing power a second time.
So, listen, your last mistake is okay. If it was a sin, it’s been forgiven. If it was just a lapse of judgment or folly, it can be corrected. (Also, not every mistake is a sin, though all sins are mistakes. There’s no reason to heap added spiritual pressure on our every error by acting like it has marred our relationship with God).
This is maybe especially true right now when knowing what the “right thing” to do is is really difficult to understand. Our normal patterns, routines, and habits have been put on a 10-month (nearly 11-month) hiatus. They’ll come back to us in all their utility someday, but right now, we’re all groping around a little bit. And so, if we find that we need to try something and then try it again in order to get it right, well, at least we’re in good company. Amen.
