"Blind in Bethsaida" (Conclusion)

"Blind in Bethsaida" (Conclusion)  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  46:58
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Mark. 8.22-25

“Blind in Bethsaida” (Conclusion)
K. Adrian Scott
January 5, 2025
Contextual Introduction.
Only Mark's Gospel account gives us this story. All the previous healings by Jesus, for the most part, were instantaneous, or as in the case of the ten lepers, the healings were progressive healings or gradual, except this one. As I mentioned last week, we are not sure what was on Jesus’ agenda for that day, but we can draw great comfort and encouragement in knowing the Lord Jesus not only made time to attend to this man’s need, but the Lord always makes time for my our needs and yours as well. Christ’s disciples, brought a man to him and wanting Jesus to ‘touch’ him, that is, heal him, through a divine and miraculous touch. Jesus is, like His Father, is always at work - “My Father is working until now, and I too am working” (John 5. 17).
‌ v. 22; “And they came to Bethsaida.” Bethsaida means ‘house of hunting’ or ‘fishing.’ And this makes sense since Bethsaida was a small fishing village on the northeast coast of the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida is mostly known because the Lord sternly reprimanded the people there for their general lack of faith the village despite of them having witnessed several miracles that the Lord Jesus performed there (Matthew 11).
‌v. 22b; “And some people brought to him …”
‌”some people” obviously followers of Christ who would remain nameless because they were not to be praised as ‘heroes’ beause this is the job of disciples of Christ. This is evangelism in its purest and simplest form. This episode not only shows us what Jesus will do when we bring others to Him, but it also shows us what the Church or followers of Christ , must do! The parable of the Great Banquet recorded in Luke 14.23 gives us this - “Go out to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in, so that my house will be filled” (NET Bible). We, that is, you and I, are the formerly blind who should be telling other blind persons how they can also see by telling them our experience with Jesus when He changed our lives. This is how the people knew to take the blind man to Jesus - it is because of their own witness or experience! They merely shared what they knew because of an experience with Jesus.
‌This movement called Christianity can and will see a great crowd of the formerly sick, paralyzed, hungry and now blind people who were wonderfully helped if we, the Church, would simply bring them to Jesus. No degree in theology necessary - just bring them. Fill your cars up! Help us establish home Bible Studied. Just bring people to Christ and Christ will do the rest!
‌However, we should not under-emphasize ‘where’ the people took the blind man. The text does not say the people took him to the temple, a revival service, or any other event, but instead, they took him to Jesus. We must not convert people to our church, our denomination, or any spiritual (human) leader, but we must lead people to Jesus who alone can heal the hurting. Our Lord does not care if His work is being done at Bethlehem Church, 1st Baptist, 2nd Presbyterian, St. John, or any other church. Because it is the church who is faithfully discharging our responsibilities to evangelize, that is, telling others about Christ, that will be grow and be blessed, while those churches who are not obedient to Christ’s commands will constantly struggle to exist.
‌v. 22b; “a blind man.” They brought a man who could not see. The man is physically without sight; but is there something else he is blind to? Are there other things he cannot see? Isn’t the man also blind to the person and work of Jesus? Yes. After all, he didn't seek out Christ, but the disciples brought the man to Jesus! Is it fair to ask if he was blind to Jesus’ presence or His nearness? Yes, he is. Is he blind to the nature of personal salvation and the possibility of a personal "walk" with Christ? Yes. Is he blind to the Lord's saving grace? Yes, he is. He knows nothing of it. Is he blind to the comfort found in the words of Christ? Yes, he is in the dark when it comes to understanding the person and the work of Jesus Christ! But that still is not all he is blind to. It is true, this man cannot see the Savior, which also means he also is blind to his own sin. Being aware of our own sin is the key factor to any of us ever being saved. Unless one becomes aware of and becomes convicted of their own sin, and has genuine contrition or regret because of their sin, there is no possibility of being saved. A person cannot repent (having a change of heart/mind and going a different direction because of it), unless they are aware of the presence and dominance of sin in their lives. “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts. 2.38).
‌The man’s blindness reminds us of the severity of sin upon an unconverted person. He is bound by his blindness and that blindness is permanent except by a miracle of God through Jesus Christ. As sad and hopeless as it is, we are all examples of people whose spiritual condition was such that only God can help. An optometrist is not what this man needs. His need is beyond human help.
‌v. 22b; They brought a blind man to him.”
‌In our business, kingdom business, this is absolutely the right thing to do - especially bringing the spiritually hurting, spiritually needy people to Jesus! Cannot we see the importance of not only ‘telling’ but ‘bringing’ (“they brought”) people to Jesus. There is only so much that we can personally do, but each of us can and must tell and bring! Perhaps one could make the point that the ‘telling’ is evangelism or spreading the Good News, while ‘bringing’ is discipleship which requires a personal investment.
‌ v. 22c; and begged Him to touch him.”
‌These persons who brought the blind man to Jesus we’re passionate about the man’s condition and desperately wanted a better life for him. They ‘begged’ Jesus to “touch him.” These disciples of Christ were convinced of two things - they were convinced of the man’s sincere need for healing, and they were also thoroughly convinced that Jesus can heal him! Do you believe Jesus can save anybody? It is evident here that the people that brought the man to Jesus had a heart for the man’s life that was burdened by his condition and they wanted him to also be able to see! Are we burdened for those who don’t know Jesus, i. e., spiritually lost? Burdened because those who are spiritually blind cannot see Him? Here is another proof point about regeneration: to be spiritually blind means you cannot see Jesus, which is what our text is teaching us. So, Jesus first starts the regeneration process by touching us, then and only then can we see. Without Jesus’ touch, we cannot ever see Him or be saved.
‌v. 23; “He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village.”
‌The people brought the (blind) man to Jesus and Jesus took him by the hand. They could not have put the man in better hands. The Lord knows the way; He knows where we need to be, and Jesus knows how to get us there. This experience is between you and Jesus. Walk with Him! Take the Savior’s outstretched hand! Trust Him and follow Him! We are a group of people that have something in common; we all should be leading people to the Lord Jesus as the solution to the world’s problems, not to a strict theology, not to political ideologies, but to Jesus, the beginner and the finisher of our faith. In our story the followers of Jesus made the correct decision, they brought the man to Jesus. We won’t spend more time talking about Jesus if we spend too little time talking to Jesus!
‌I mentioned to you last week that there were a lot of blind people in addition to this man. Spiritually speaking, the Jews were blind because they did not recognize or accept Jesus as Messiah. John 11.57 tells us the Chief Priests were also blind to the person and work of the Messiah. Those who worshipped in the synagogues and were vehemently opposed to Jesus and openly rejected Him as Savior (Luke). The entire generation of people who lived during the time of Christ’s earthly ministry was blind. Luke 17.25 says, “But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.And the world (that) was made through Him, yet the world did not know him” or was blind to him (John 1.10). Jesus’ own people rejected him due to their blindness: “He came to his own and his own people did not receive him” (John 1.11). And blindness continues to this day because Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (Johm 3.3).
‌The Romans were blind. Herod Antipas, the Roman Ruler during Jesus’ ministry who killed John the Baptist, he was blind. He too could not see who Jesus actually was and rejected him (Luke 13). Caiaphas the high priest was blind and became a bitter enemy of Jesus. Pilate, the Roman Governor was blind. The Sanhedrin, the Jewish judicial high counsel was obviously blind in their determinations regarding Christ at the time of our Lord’s arrest and eventual crucifixion. One of the two thieves who hung on a cross next to the Lord Jesus and in his last hour on earth sadly was also blind and did not see Jesus for who He was - the Savior. So, it is possible to be close to where Jesus is at wok and still be blinded to the reality of Christ! Everyone one of us was also blind to the person and work of Jesus, God the Father’s only begotten Son. The things of God had no appeal to us. We bore no interest in the sacred scripture or more generally, things spiritual. Church attendance nor the worship of holy God in any meaningful way was of no importance to us. We rarely prayed and were generally unthankful and most of us did not give a moment of His time to the Lord’s work. Yes, we were all dead, blind, out of touch and completely estranged from the living God too! We were born estranged from God, were not only blind, but it was more critical than that; we were ‘dead’ in our sinful misdeeds, but somehow someone “some people” like the blind man, brought us to Jesus!
‌V. 23b; “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?”
‌First, to be led by Christ is never a bad thing but is a good thing. What results we would all experience if everyone had the testimony that we were being led by Christ. Jesus is leading the man away from the village of passive onlookers, skeptics and perhaps some sympathetic supporters to a place where Jesus can talk with the man and eventually touch him for healing purposes. Get alone with Jesus. Don’t be afraid to leave your village, your comfort zone. God has something in mind here. Take His outstretched hand; walk with Him; Trust Him! Follow Him! There Jesus would be able to minister to the man one-on-one without distraction and to not turn this man’s healing into a “circus.” The integrity of Christ in this instance is quite the opposite of what we often see in some religious services today, particularly some featured on television and social media where a so-called healing service is turned into a sideshow. There are only two alternatives: either we walk with Jesus or we walk blindly alone! Would he rather stay blind in Bethsaida or go with Jesus and see? The man has chosen to walk with Jesus although he doesn’t know where he is going. All he knows at this point is, he is walking with Jesus! And that is all he needs to know! Jesus will tell him every and anything else he needs to know as they walk. Don’t be guilty of wanting to see too much too soon! Christianity is a marathon and not a sprint. As they walked, did the man have a song in his heart? I don’t know, but if he did he may have sung something like this - “I want Jesus to walk with me!”
This I know; it appears like they did not walk too far! Jesus will not delay attending to your needs.
v. 23b; “And when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him.The two of them are now in a place where Jesus was apparently alone with the man. Sometimes the Lord must move us to help us. He moves us away from the distractions in our lives so the Lord can do the work that is needful to us. Jesus took saliva and put it on the eyes of the blind man and laid his hands on him. To put saliva on his eyes requiring touching, so we must conclude when the Bible text says he put saliva on his eyes and laid hands on him, that touch was different. The touch by Jesus was a purposeful touch. Applying saliva to the man’s eyes was different, but that act alone did not heal the man’s blindness. The ‘laying on of hands’ was with the purpose of healing the man’s blindness. ‌Note, the Lord Jesus never has laid his holy hand upon anyone, and they remain the same. No one has received that holy touch, been given access to the divine virtue of Christ Jesus the Lord and has left Christ’s presence the same as when they entered His presence. In essence this is how we know we are Christians, because we have been touched and changed by the touch of God’s hand! It is no longer me or you, but it is the Christ that is in us. And if you have not been touched by the Savior, you can ask him to touch you right now and that blessed Son of God will not turn you away: “whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6.37).
‌v. 23c; he asked him, Do you see anything?” The man to whom Jesus is ministering to now has an opportunity to testify to what he is experiencing. This act of testifying is not for the Lord’s benefit, butit is for the benefit of the man receiving his healing as well for the benefit of those might have been with him or see him after his healing, that they will hear and see and know and hopefully experience this same power of God that is at work in this man’s life for themselves! “Do you see anything?”
v. 24; Yes, “And he looked up and said, I see people, but they look like trees walking.”
And he looked up” - When the Lord Jesus is at work in your life, you can most assuredly look up!
Do you see anything, Adrian?’ Yes, I saw Christ and Christianity as a legal system where I saved myself because I believed I had to ‘come to myself’ like the Prodigal Son rather than the love of the Father drawing the Son home. The text does say the Prodigal “came to himself” but it does not say he “came by himself.” It was his thoughts of the love of his father that brought him to his senses. By his own will, he was estranged from the father, but by the power of the father’s love, he was brought back to the father. ‘Do you see anything, Adrian?’ Yes, I see that once I am saved I must keep myself saved. Somehow I must keep myself free from any sin, no matter how big or small it is, because if the Lord was to return before I had a chance to repent of that sin I would be lost. I did not apply this text to myself - “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10.28). Yes, I did see some things. But it wasn’t clear to me; things were fuzzy, blurred. Now I like this man was walking with Christ, confessing Him, and that was certainly a big improvement, but my perspective was wrong. Thank God the man was honest in admitting he was not seeing as clearly as he needed or wanted to see. He still couldn’t pass the Driver License exam! I say to you this morning, do not settle for some of what God has for you, but wait and pursue Christ’s full blessing! His full revelation or the complete resolution to your condition and what God has in mind for you!! “Wait on the Lord.” Thank God, the man could see some things now, where prior to this, he could see nothing! This two-stage healing was intentional by the Lord. Here we also see progressive revelation because sometimes we cannot understand it if we get it all at the same time! It happened to me and my journey in Christianity. I believe progressive revelation requires progressive faith. We will grow spiritually no further than our personal faith will take us. If you are a shallow Christian spiritually speaking, you will not have a deep understanding of the faith because you are not a person of the Word. The depth of your dive into the Word of God will dictate the depth of your walk with Christ.
Preaching Point. Now we know God is at work because prior to this meeting with Jesus, the blind man saw nothing. But now by his own admission, he sees something. Apparently, for the first time the once blind man sees people. In its simplest form our text is telling us, Jesus gives sight to the spiritually blind. This is a start and God is not finished with him yet!
Remember, partial sight is also partial blindness! 1). The nation Israel, for example, who can see religion and Temple worship, but he cannot plainly see the Redeemer. They see the Law, or at least the spirit of the Law, but as a nation cannot grasp the doctrines of grace. Who else might this blindness apply to? 2). Perhaps this blindness applies to the people of Jesus' day - those of his own hometown of Nazareth, for example (Luke 4 and, 3). maybe even the disciples of Christ who don't have the complete revelation of who Jesus is or at least lacked a clear picture of the mission of Christ on earth, clearly seen in Peter's rebuke of Jesus the Christ in (v.32). It's proven because in the following verses (v. 27-30) Jesus asks His disciples "who do men say that I am?" And “whom do you say that I am”?
‌Prophetically speaking, is this passage hinting to or pointing to the present state of Israel who is blind to the truth of the Gospel? Blind that Christ was among them, but they didn't see him. Blind that they don't know that the Messiah they say they are looking for was already among us by His Spirit? This bears some thought because Israel’s eyes, that is, National Israel, like this blind man’s eyes, will one day become opened and they will see Romans 11.25: “that a partial blindness or hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in (NET Bible). Also, like this blind man, Israel will clearly see the One whom they pierced. This partial healing provided some hope of the possibility of complete sight. Seeing something is progress and is certainly better than seeing nothing! The man knew what he was seeing wasn't right, however! His perspective was off. The fact that he knew men should not look like trees was a revelation within itself!
There is the natural phenomenon of Jesus literally and physically healing a men who is absolutely blind, and for that we can attest to Christ as God for certain. But there is also a spiritual application to this miracle, as well. The progressive nature of this healing should remind all of us that this is indeed the way the Lord Jesus has spiritually healed our blindness also. Regarding our personal salvation, ‘everyone one of us were given our spiritual sight like this man progressively’, (Sproul) or in stages. We saw then and now see incrementally, spiritually speaking, ever leaning about Christ through His word and progressively seeing more clearly as the Holy Spirit gives us light. One doesn’t learn everything about God, the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit all at once. If you are a Christian however, you are not where you were in terms of your spiritual growth, five, ten years ago.
‌v. 25; Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
Preaching Point. We can take from this text that the Lord wants us to see clearly, that is, to experience the full revelation of His person and work. This is God at work in us. 1) We were blind to the patience of God.
2) blind to the love of God that caused God the Father to spare no holy expense but sent the fulness of God in Christ to die for the sins of the world. We were blind to the vast love of God that with the currency of grace bought sinners forgiveness through the blood of God’s Son.
3) we were blind to the goodness of God that desires the best for God’s image-bearers.
4) I was blind to my own sin, my own spiritual blindness, and the deep grief that sin had brought upon our Creator as we willfully walked away from God’s goodness and rather ran into the arms of sinful rebellion.
5) my blindness had left me helpless to see the distance my sin had put between me and the Savior. When the brightness of God’s glory shown in my heart; when the reality of God’s perfect holiness, God’s pure character uncompromised by sin; when the radiance of the Son of God, God’s nearness, God’s personal nature; when God touched me, when God touched my eyes, my eyes were opened, and I saw as I had never seen before. And I have seen ever since that day!
‌Now here are three things I see differently, more clearly now that my eyes had been opened by the power of God’s Spirit:
‌I see myself as I appear before God, hopelessly blind and in need of God’s forgiveness; blind to my arrogance and my personal ignorance in thinking that God had to bend to my demands before I would serve Him.
‌Since God has opened my eyes, I now see others differently. We don’t see color differences, nationalities, gender or ethnicity first and foremost, but rather see others equally made in the image of God, and equally needing God’s forgiveness, and another sinner needing to be redeemed by the blood of the cross of Christ.
‌I now see others as no more guilty and no less guilty than I of offending the very God of heaven and earth. I now see that “in Him” there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free person division; no male-female separation, but I see as believers we are all one in Christ Jesus! Finally, I see God through the Son of God, the Lord Jesus standing before me, more beautiful than I ever imagined. I now see the Lord more kind, more just and more holy than I ever could have imagined when I was blind. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! The reality of the depth of God’s love that would reach out to me, the generosity of Christ’s forgiveness, the freeness of God’s grace, and the abundance of God’s mercy is all clearer to me than ever before. I was blind, but now I see!
‌God doesn’t do anything half-way; nor does God start something God cannot finish. God desires us to see things as they really are. Discernment is not in abundance within the body of Christ, unfortunately. You nor I have “arrived.” God is still working in and on each one of us, healing us through good and bad experiences, through our growing knowledge of God’s Word and prayer; and by healing our spiritual sight and expanding and perfecting our spiritual perspective and making the will of God clear to us.
Conclusion.
‌The takeaway from this text: A person can 'see' when they encounter Jesus. A spiritually blind person can receive their sight, but it will only be because of the work of Jesus who alone can open our eyes!
‌Now that you see, what is next for you in the body of Christ? It’s exciting to think of what God has for each of us next!
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