NOTES for Mar 8:22-26
An important detail in the healing of the blind man, narrated to us today by the evangelist Mark, is Christ's command to the healed man to go straight home without going to those who had brought him to Jesus. This can be compared with the evangelist John's mention that the Samaritans believed in Jesus "no longer because of" the words of the woman who had met Him at the well, but because "we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ." Learning about the great and glorious works of God by hearsay is good and useful, but as people say now, "it is not the main thing." The main thing is to meet Him ourselves. That is why the feast of Christ's Nativity, which has come today for most of our brothers, is so important for us. His birth into this world is the possibility for each of us to meet the Son of God not by hearsay, but for ourselves.