Mark 8:26 - Don't Go Back

"Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.” (NLT)

This verse comes at the end of one of the many stories about Jesus healing someone, and at first glance, this just seems like a concluding verse, but there is something I want to pull out of it and highlight.

Before I dive into this verse, allow me to place it in its proper context. Jesus has just arrived in Bethsaida and some people have brought a blind man to him. Jesus takes this man out of the village and then heals him of his blindness. Jesus then sends him home as stated in this verse. This is a short story but there are plenty of teachings in these verses which I may cover in a later blog post, but for now, we are focusing on verse 26.

Something important to realise about this verse is that the blind man isn't from Bethsaida. I won't speculate why he is in Bethsaida but the text makes it clear he isn't from there. This is shown in that Jesus takes him out of Bethsaida, heals him, then tells him to go home without entering into the village (Bethsaida). This would have been a logically impossible command if he lived in Bethsaida, therefore he must live somewhere else.

Now the main question remaining is: why didn't Jesus want him going back into the village? Surely he would have been able to proclaim how great Jesus was to the people there, but Jesus wanted him to avoid going back in. Of course, there is no way to know for sure the specific circumstances of the man, but allow me to make an educated guess. As a blind man, he wouldn't have been able to work. He would have had to sit on the streets begging for money from anyone who would pass by. As a blind man in society, he would have faced many trials and difficulties. People would have been mean to him, people would have stolen from him, people would have hurt him. Jesus was telling him not to go back to that place of hurt and pain.

There are two points I want to draw from this verse. Firstly, when Jesus takes you out of a place, don't go back in. When Jesus rescues you from a trial, don't put yourself in a place where you will suffer through it again. Jesus took you out of that trial for a reason, and he doesn't want you to go back. Now obviously, some people would read that and wonder why it even needed saying. Of course you won't go back into a place of suffering when you have been rescued from it. Others, however will completely understand that familiar suffering, although painful, can feel safer than unknown joys. Alternatively, you might not realise you are putting yourself back into that place of suffering. If God rescued you from an addiction, avoid places where others indulging in that activity. If God saved you from depression, don't go back to situations that triggered it. God wants you to be free.

The second point I would like to draw from this verse is that you don't need to go back through suffering in order to be where God wants you to be. Some of you may not know God at all, and others may have moved away from his goal for your life. You may have indulged in worldly pleasures and numerous sins. Jesus is wanting to pull you out of that. You don't need to go backwards, experiencing more suffering in order to get back to him, nor do you have to clean yourself up to get back to him. He is right beside you, waiting for you to ask him for help, and when you do, he will pull you out and lead you around the suffering back to where you belong.

Whether God has pulled you out of suffering, or if you have nurtured sinful habits, God is telling you right now, come to me and don't go back into that village. God wants you to experience joy, peace, and life. He has always been by your side, and he will never leave you.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I thank you for all that you have rescued me from. I ask that you would help me to not return to the place of my suffering and to lead me along your path to my destiny. Amen.