It is a disgusting thought for us to imagine Jesus spitting on the ground, mixing it with the dirt to produce mud, and applying this concoction to the blind man’s eyes, but saliva was regarded in the ancient world as as a remedy, particularly for diseases of the eye. There is a well-known account of a blind man seeking healing by obtaining the spittle of the Roman emperor Vespasian. Jesus used spit on at least 2 other occasions to heal (Mark 7:33, 8:23). So why would Jesus use saliva to heal this man’s blindness? Was it necessary for the cure? No, but it may have been necessary for the man to receive the healing. Jesus knew the man and the absolute best method of meeting all of his needs, both physical and spiritual.

Mark 7:33  After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat and touched the man’s tongue.

Mark 8:23  He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spat on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

Our tendency is to make a tradition of healing blindness by applying spit to the eyes, but Jesus was just meeting the present need in the best manner. Thoughout the gospels, He uses a wide variety of methods to heal and so do we. But we don’t need to lay hands on someone to get them healed. We don’t need to anoint them with oil, or sit in proxy for someone, to point our hands at them, or to pass around handkerchiefs. These are all just crutches that God gives us to help us overcome our unbelief. They have no life or power in themselves. All healing comes from God, not from methods. It is not the clay, nor the spit that heals this man — it is Jesus! The physical things and methods God gives us are to help us to apprehend the spiritual. This is true of healing and of other things, such as communion, a physical church, worship, etc. God knows our weaknesses as we live our lives in a physical world and He meets those needs in helping us break through to the spiritual, but don’t set your eyes on the methods; keep them fixed on God.

So how do we determine what is the best means of healing or of doing anything else, for that matter? By prayer, which involves both requesting and listening. If we are doing things because that is the way we have always done them, we may be keeping God from moving in the way He wants and our eyes may be more on the method than on the Healer.

clay = the use of clay may have been a reference to (Gen 2:7) where man is made out of the dust of the earth. If this is so, then this act of Jesus is an act of creation, but a creation of what? Eyeballs!

Genesis 2:7  the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

There are several breaches of the Sabbath by Jesus: the making of clay (kneading), its mixing, putting it on the eyes (prohibited kind of anointing), and healing (only allowed if the life was in danger).