Countryside Vineyard Church
Mark - Seeing Clearly Pt. 45
  • Every Move I Make
  • I Know A Name
  • Father of Lights
  • I Speak Jesus

      • Mark 8:14-16ESV

      • Mark 8:17-18ESV

      • Mark 8:19-21ESV

  • Seeing Clearly

    Good morning, and welcome to Countryside Vineyard. My name is Joe Fager, and I’m one of the pastors here.
    Today we are continuing our series through the Gospel of Mark.
    Please turn with me to Mark 8:22–26, which is where we will be studying this morning.
    [Paul’s dad joke.]
    Before we begin, let’s pray.

    Mark 8:22–26

    And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
    I’ve entitled this message:
    Seeing Clearly
    Last week we talked about the disciples’ failure to understand what Jesus was doing, what he was capable of, and who he really was.
    Mark is now bringing us closer to the moment when that begins to change. Immediately after this passage, Peter will confess that Jesus is the Messiah. He will become the first disciple to say clearly who Jesus is.
    But even then, Peter will not see everything clearly. He will see something real, but his understanding will still be incomplete.
    What interests me this morning is the way Mark has been leading us toward that moment.
    Mark has arranged the events of the last two chapters in a very intentional way. There is a pattern here. Once you see it, it is difficult to unsee it.
    But the real question is not simply, “Can I find Mark’s pattern?”
    The real question is, “Why does this matter?”
    Why should the way Mark arranged these stories make any difference to us?
    This morning, I want to show you the pattern Mark has been building and why I believe it leads every one of us to ask:
    Do I See Jesus Clearly?
    Do I have eyes that see and ears that hear?
    Or am I moving through the story without understanding what is happening right in front of me?
    By the end of our time together, I hope we will understand why Mark placed this unusual healing exactly where he did. More importantly, I hope we will see what Jesus does for people whose vision of him is still unclear.

    I. Two Miracles - One message

    The first thing we need to notice is that this healing sounds very familiar.
    If you were here a few weeks ago, you may remember another unusual healing in Mark 7. Some people brought Jesus a man who was deaf and had trouble speaking.
    Jesus took him away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then Jesus spit and touched the man’s tongue.
    It was strange.
    Now, only a few verses later, some people bring Jesus a blind man. Jesus takes him away from the village. Then he spits on the man’s eyes and places his hands on him.
    It is strange again.
    Jesus used spit in both miracles.
    That should get our attention because these are the only two miracles in Mark where Jesus uses spit. These two stories are also found only in Mark. Matthew and Luke do not record them.
    That spit made me wonder if they weren’t connected in some way. That spit worked like a highlighter. So I read and reread both healings then I cut and pasted them next to each other and noticed something fascinating.
    Mark wants us to connect them.
    Once we put them beside each other, the similarities become difficult to miss.
    In both stories, the man is brought to Jesus by other people.
    The deaf man is brought to Jesus, and the people beg Jesus to lay his hand on him.
    The blind man is brought to Jesus, and the people beg Jesus to touch him.
    In both stories, Jesus leads the man away from the other people.
    Jesus takes the deaf man aside privately, away from the crowd.
    Jesus takes the blind man by the hand and leads him outside the village.
    In both stories, Jesus uses spit.
    In both stories, Jesus uses physical touch.
    He touches the deaf man’s ears and tongue.
    He touches the blind man’s eyes.
    In both stories, Jesus opens something that was closed.
    The deaf man’s ears are opened, and he begins speaking clearly.
    The blind man’s eyes are opened, and he begins seeing clearly.
    Finally, Jesus sends both men away with instructions meant to keep the miracle from being spread around.
    These stories follow the same basic movement:
    They are brought. They are led away. Jesus touches them. Their senses are opened. Then Jesus sends them away.
    These similarities are too close to be accidental.
    Mark has placed a man who cannot hear at the end of one group of stories and a man who cannot see at the end of another. In between them, Jesus says this to his own disciples:
    “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” —Mark 8:18
    There is the connection.
    Mark gives us a deaf man whose ears need to be opened.
    Then Jesus tells the disciples that they have ears but are not hearing.
    Mark gives us a blind man whose eyes need to be opened.
    Just before it happens, Jesus tells the disciples that they have eyes but are not seeing.
    The deaf man and the blind man have a clear physical problem. But the disciples have a deeper problem. Their ears work. Their eyes work. They have heard Jesus teach. They have watched him perform miracle after miracle. Yet they still do not understand what they are hearing and seeing.
    They see Jesus, but they do not yet see him clearly.
    So these are two miracles, but together they carry one message:
    Jesus is able to open ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see.
    That is true physically, but Mark is using these healings to point us toward something deeper. The disciples need Jesus to do for them inwardly what he has done for these two men physically.
    They need Jesus to open their understanding.
    And maybe we do too.
    And those two healings are not the only parts that match. If we zoom out a bit more we can see even more.

    II. Two Cycles: One Problem

    This healing is part of a larger pattern in Mark.
    Jesus feeds the five thousand, crosses the lake, confronts the Pharisees, talks about bread with a Gentile woman, heals a deaf man, and the crowd declares, “He has done all things well.”
    Then the pattern begins again.
    Jesus feeds the four thousand, crosses the lake, confronts the Pharisees, talks about bread with his disciples, heals a blind man, and Peter declares, “You are the Christ.”
    Mark is showing us more than a series of miracles.
    The Gentile woman understands the bread. She believes that one crumb from Jesus is enough.
    But the disciples have Jesus and a whole loaf in the boat, and they are worried that they do not have enough bread.
    The outsiders are hungry for what Jesus offers, while the insiders still do not understand what they have.
    That is when Jesus asks the disciples:
    “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?”
    Then Jesus heals a blind man.
    The placement is not accidental. This man is a picture of the disciples.
    At first, he cannot see. Then he sees, but everything is blurry. Finally, Jesus touches him again, and he sees clearly.
    That is where the disciples are.
    Peter is about to say, “You are the Christ.” He sees who Jesus is—but his vision is still blurry. He recognizes the Messiah, but he does not yet understand the cross.
    The good news is that Jesus does not give up on people who are slow to see.
    He keeps teaching them.
    He keeps correcting them.
    He keeps opening their eyes until they can see him clearly.
    Now i”ve spent all this time and haven’t even touched the text really.
    That is like sacrilege to me, so let’s get to the actual passage, and hopefully i can bring this all together for you.

    III. Two Touches: One Healing

    Verse 22 says:
    “They came to Bethsaida. And some people brought a man who was blind to Jesus and begged him to touch him.”
    Just like the deaf man, this man is brought to Jesus by other people.
    He cannot find his own way to Jesus. Someone has to lead him there.
    Then Jesus takes the man by the hand and leads him out of the village.
    Mark 8:23 “And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village,
    Jesus could have healed him immediately. He could have spoken one word in front of the entire crowd.
    Instead, Jesus takes him by the hand and walks with him.
    This is slow. It is personal. Jesus is not merely dealing with blindness. He is caring for a blind man.
    Then Jesus spits on the man’s eyes and lays his hands on him.
    The spit is not magic. The power is in Jesus.
    But the spit is something that comes directly from Jesus himself. Just as with the deaf man, this healing involves close, personal contact with Jesus.
    Jesus then asks him:
    “Do you see anything?”
    The man looks up and says:
    Mark 8:24 “And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.””
    He can see—but he cannot see clearly.
    Now, did Jesus try to heal him and fail?
    No.
    Mark has already shown us that Jesus has complete authority over sickness, demons, nature, and even death.
    This healing happens in two stages because Jesus is showing us something.
    The man can see, but his vision is blurry.
    That is exactly where the disciples are.
    Jesus has just asked them:
    “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?”
    They are not completely blind anymore.
    Peter is about to confess, “You are the Christ.”
    Peter sees who Jesus is—but he does not yet see clearly.
    He can see the Messiah, but he cannot yet see the cross.
    As soon as Jesus says that the Messiah must suffer and die, Peter will rebuke him.
    Peter sees people like trees walking around.
    He sees something real, but he does not yet understand what he is seeing.
    Then verse 25 says:
    “Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again.”
    Again. — sweetest word in the passage.
    Jesus does not leave the man with blurry vision.
    He touches him again, and this time the man sees everything clearly.
    That is the message of this miracle.
    Jesus does not give up on people who are slow to see.
    He keeps teaching.
    He keeps correcting.
    He keeps touching the places in us that remain blind.
    Mark 8:26 “And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.””
    Here again, just as in the story of the deaf man, Jesus sends the man away.
    Jesus sends him home and tells him not even to enter the village. That seems to suggest that the man did not live inside Bethsaida.
    Why did Jesus tell him to avoid the village?
    We are not told.
    Perhaps Jesus wanted to prevent another crowd from gathering and turning this man’s healing into a public spectacle. There may have been another reason.
    We simply do not know.
    In fact we don’t know why Jesus used spit, why he led them away from the crowd, or why he sent them away after they were healed.
    There is nothing wrong with asking questions or considering possibilities.
    The problem comes when we take something the Bible never explains and build an entire doctrine around our guess.
    Good Bible study requires us to know the difference between what the text says, what the text suggests, and what we are only assuming.
    And sometimes we need to allow a mystery to remain a mystery.
    Be careful not to fill in what you don’t know with assumptions the text doesn’t lead you to. It happens way more than you think it does.

    Conclusion

    Let me end with the question Jesus asked the man:
    “Do you see anything?”
    I love the honesty of the man’s answer.
    He did not pretend that everything was fine. He did not give Jesus the answer he thought Jesus wanted to hear.
    He simply said:
    “I can see, but I cannot see clearly.”
    Maybe that is where some of us are this morning.
    Maybe you can see enough of Jesus to know that you need him, but there are still parts of your life that you do not want him to touch.
    Maybe you believe that Jesus is Lord, but you are still trying to decide which parts of his teaching you will obey.
    Maybe you have become so familiar with the bread that you have forgotten how many hungry people are still outside.
    The answer is not to pretend that we see more clearly than we do.
    The answer is to remain honest and stay in the hands of Jesus.
    That is the difference between the Pharisees and the disciples.
    The Pharisees were certain that they could see, so they resisted Jesus when he challenged them.
    The disciples could not see clearly, but they stayed with Jesus. They allowed him to question them, correct them, and continue opening their eyes.
    So where is your vision still blurry?
    Where are you trying to correct Jesus instead of allowing Jesus to correct you?
    Who have you decided is too far outside to receive the bread?
    And who might God be asking you to bring to Jesus, just as these people brought this blind man?
    We do not have to open anyone’s eyes. We cannot.
    Our part is to bring people to Jesus.
    And when Jesus shows us that our own vision is still blurry, our response should be simple:
    “Jesus, touch my eyes again.
    Show me where I am wrong.
    Show me what I have refused to see.
    And help me to see you—and the people around me—clearly.”
    And maybe you’re here today and you’ve never submitted your life to Jesus.
    I encourage you not to wait.
    The gospel is an offer of peace.
    Every one of us has sinned.
    Sin is more than making mistakes or breaking a few rules. Sin is taking the throne of our lives and saying to God:
    “I will decide what is right.
    I will direct my own life.
    I will be my own lord.”
    That rebellion separates us from God. We cannot fix it with good works, church attendance, or promises to become better.
    But here is the good news:
    The King we rebelled against came to make peace with us.
    Jesus lived the faithful life we failed to live. On the cross, he took our sin and its judgment upon himself.
    Colossians says that Jesus made peace through the blood of his cross.
    Then, on the third day, God raised him from the dead.
    Jesus is alive.
    He is the rightful King and Lord of all.
    And today, he is offering you forgiveness, peace with God, and a completely new life.
    You cannot earn this peace.
    You receive it by turning from your self-rule, trusting what Jesus has done, and surrendering your life to him.
    This is not surrender to a cruel ruler.
    This is surrender to the King who gave his life for his enemies.
    He is not asking you to clean yourself up before you come. He is asking you to lay down your weapons, stop running, and come home.
    If you are ready to surrender to Jesus, you can tell him in your own words:
    “Jesus, I have lived as the lord of my own life.
    I have sinned against you.
    I believe that you died for my sins and rose from the dead.
    I turn from my old life, and I surrender to you as my King.
    Forgive me.
    Make me new.
    My life belongs to you.”
    The promise of the gospel is that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
    Today, peace with God is being offered to you.
    The question is whether you will receive his peace and surrender to the King.
    Let’s pray.
Countryside Vineyard Church
admin@countrysidevineyard.org
888-681-2248
http://www.countrysidevineyard.org/
11 members • 15 followers