The Village People

Mark 8:22–26 (NIV) 22They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” 24He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 25Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

John 9:1 (NIV) – As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.

John 9:6–7 (NIV) – 6After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. In the first story in the Greek, it makes us aware that his vision was restored. In other words, he once could see, but something happened that he became blind. We don’t know what that was,
but he once could see now he can’t.