Mark 8:24 Commentary and Bible Study

He must have been enormously encouraged, even at this defective sight, having seen nothing before. His sight was restored but it was indistinct; there was something missing. I'm sure you and I would have been. If we had been blind and something happened and suddenly we could see light and shapes and movements, even if we couldn't yet make head nor tail of it. That would be to us a tremendous change and miracle. So this man must have been fairly overwhelmed. When we read the passage, we are used to sight, and we say, ‘How disappointing!’ Not to him. There was something there, and he would be overjoyed. What do you see? He answers candidly and honestly, ‘I see men as trees, walking.’ He knew they were men, because they were vertical and they were moving, and probably he could hear the voices. But they are like trees. They are so indistinct; they are so blurred. After regeneration you see your sin. Some people see everything at once. Others don't see everything so clearly immediately; they are not fully illuminated, just as the disciples weren’t fully clear about Calvary and the resurrection. They did not fully grasp the price paid, exactly what was done to deliver them.