Are You Seeing Clearly
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
Good Morning
Coach Tee
I went to the aquarium the other day. I didn’t stay very long though. There is something fishy about that place.
Last time we were in Mark we talked about the warning Jesus gave to His disciples. He warned them about the leaven of the pharisee’s and of Harod. He was warning them about the danger of false teaching and the danger of hypocrisy. We have to guard our ears and hearts. We need to make sure that whoever is teaching us about the Bible, they are someone who is trustworthy and is actually teaching us what the Bible truly means. Any time I hear someone calling themselves an Apostle or a Prophet, it makes my spidey senses start to tingle. I don’t feel like someone who is wanting people to call them a prophet or an apostle is a very humble person. What does that gain them other than the approval of man. Humility is a sign of a true believer. A doctor that has graduated and passed all their licensing exams has earn the right to be called doctor. The best doctors I have ever seen are the ones who don’t require you to call them doctor. They are humble, they care more about the patient. I am the pastor at Liberty, I could require you to call me pastor Jason. What would that gain me or us? I am a sinner just like everyone else. We must be checking everything that people are teaching about the Bible with the actual Bible. Never blindly follow or believe someone. That is how we become deceived. This is very important. If we are not being feed the true word of God, then we will not become mature believers. We will have a false maturity. We live in such a biblically illiterate time, that it is easy for the false teachers to survive and thrive. We must know the Bible and we must check what we are taught with what the Bible says.
Today we are going to look at another healing that Jesus does. This healing is different from all the other healings.
Please stand as we read God’s Word.
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought a man who was blind to Jesus and begged Him to touch him. 23 Taking the man who was blind by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting in his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, for I see them like trees, walking around.” 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. 26 And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Let’s pray.
Jesus and the disciples return to Bethsaida, this is the home to Peter, Andrew and Philip. Jesus had done many miracles in the town of Bethsaida. When they got there, people brought a blind man to Him. They were begging Him to touch him. They knew and had seen the power of Jesus. These are the kind of friends I want around me. The ones that when Jesus is around they are going to get me to Him. This is the kind of friend we should be. Coach Tee talked about it last week, we are to tell people about Jesus, we need to have the urgency that these friends had. People need to hear about our King and what He has done for us.
What a beautiful picture we have next of Jesus. He takes the blind man by the hand and leads him out of the village. This blind man would have been considered unclean. They thought back then that blindness and other sickness were a result of some type of sin in a persons life. It would have been a while since someone he didn’t know touched him let alone took him by the hand and led him somewhere. Jesus is a compassionate and caring King. He loves us and wants a personal relationship with each one of us. He is a personal Saviour. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He takes us by the hand and walks with us through this tough life.
Why did He lead him out of the village? I am glad you asked. It is because Jesus has already reprimanded Bethsaida. Matthew 11:21-24
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment, than for you.”
Just like Jesus told the Pharisee’s that He would not give them a sign, He was no longer doing miracles in Bethsaida and Chorazin. Tyre and Sidon were wicked places. They were the equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus was done with the unrepentant people of the region. This is a shift in the gospel of Mark. From this point on Jesus is no longer focused on the crowds but is solely focused on teaching the disciples and preparing them for His upcoming death. Jesus spent over a year in the region teaching and doing miracles. The people did not repent and believe. They were still as far from God as they were before Jesus came to them. They had hardened their hearts to the truth.
Next we see that Jesus spat in His eyes! That is not a type o. However weird and gross it sounds to us, it was not an uncommon practice back then. I promise that if you were blind and Jesus spit in your eyes and you could start to see, you would not care either! This is where this healing is different from all the others. Jesus asks the man if he saw anything. Jesus has never done that before. He always said get up and walk or see or go. He never asked if a person was better. The man said he saw men like trees. This tells us that the man was not born blind. If he was born blind, he would not know what a tree looked like. This is another difference in all the other healings. This was not a complete healing the first time. This is the only time that Jesus didn’t heal the person completely the first time. Jesus had to touch the man’s eyes again and then they were completely healed. 20/20 vision. Jesus told the man to go home but to not go into the village. Again Jesus was done with Bethsaida. He didn’t want the man to go into the town and stir the people up. They had their chance and they turn away from Jesus.
So, why did it take 2 tries for Jesus to heal this man? Do not fall for any false teachings that might say that Jesus was feeling His humanity that day, or that it had something to do with the mans faith, or that Jesus was experiencing a power shortage because He was tired. Those are all lies. Jesus has all authority over everything and everyone. He could have just said see and that man’s eyes would have been perfectly healed. He did this for a reason.
There is a rule that we should always follow when we are reading the Bible. Context, Context, Context. We have to know what is going on to understand what it means. So I think if we look back and head, we can get a good idea of why Jesus did what He did.
Looking back we see that Jesus just got through warning the disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Harod. When He did this, the disciples immediately began to think about lunch! They were worried about the fact that they only had one loaf of bread! Remember that they had just watched Jesus feed 4,000 men with 7 loaves of bread. They had also seen Him feed 5,000 men with 5 loaves of bread. They had all seen him feed over 40,000 people with 12 loaves of bread. Yet they were worried about only having 1 loaf for themselves. They were not seeing clearly! They were seeing Jesus through blurry eyes. Even though they had been with Jesus every day for over a year and have seen all the miracles and heard all the teachings that He had done, they were out of focus. They were true believers, but they had an immature faith. They were seeing like a baby sees. Babies do see well until their eyes develop and they learn to be able to focus their eyes. We are the same when it comes to our spiritual eyes. We need to have them mature and develop so that we can see Jesus clearly. So that we can truly understand who He is. It isn’t over when we believe, that is just the beginning. If all we were supposed to due is believe, then God would just take us home when we did. We are to mature in our faith so that we can tell others about Jesus.
Jesus healed this man in 2 touchings to make a point to His disciples. It wasn’t enough that they believed and were following Him everyday. They needed Jesus to “touch” them again so that they could see Him clearly and understand who He is. They need Jesus to help them mature their faith and grow spiritually. They were still seeing things through man’s eyes and not through Jesus’ eyes. We all need to pray for God to let us see through His eyes, to see people the way He sees them.
Looking forward to next week, Jesus is going to ask them a question that we will all have to answer at some point. It is the most important question we will ever answer. How we answer will determine where we spend eternity. Who do we say Jesus is!
Jesus used this healing to teach His disciples a lesson. They needed their eyes fixed also. They were not seeing Jesus clearly. They were only seeing Jesus as a blurry tree. They knew it was Jesus, but they could see His details. We must be able to see completely. We must be able to know who Jesus is. It is not enough to just believe. That belief must move us to maturity and action. We must have a faith that draws us closer and closer to Jesus every day.
Who knows everything about the Bible?
Who knows everything about Jesus?
We all need Jesus to touch us again. To give us clear sight in Him and His word.
Close.
