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Eyes to See
Mark is making a big shift in his gospel beginning with our passage here this morning.
We are halfway through the gospel of Mark and we have seen Jesus traveling, healing, preaching, telling parables and he has been doing this in many different geographical locations.
Chapter 1-8:21 is Jesus’ Galileeian ministry.
But as we come to Mark 8:22 we see his focus is no longer on traveling to different areas.
But rather he is now traveling to Jerusalem, where he will be crucified.
This section takes us from 8:22-10:52 and is bookended by two healing stories of blind men.
In these chapters there is a Three-fold pattern:
3x passion predictions
3x misunderstandings
3x teachings on discipleship
1:1-13 Introduciton: in the wilderness
1:14-8:21 Ministry in Galilee and beyond
a. 1.14-3.6
first phase of Galilean ministry
b. 3.7-6.6a
second phase of Galilean ministry
c. 6.6b-8.21
third phase of Galilean ministry
8:22-10:52 On the way to Jerusalem
Framed by the healing of blind men 8.22-26 and 10.46-52
Three-fold pattern: passion prediction, misunderstanding, teaching on discipleship
11:1-16:8 Ministry and death in Jerusalem
Mark has been presenting Jesus as the great king who has come to save his people.
And now this great king will make his way to Jerusalem to receive his crown
Mark is presenting Jesus as the great king who has come to save his people
Isa 35:
According to Isaiah when the king comes he will,
In the context of our passage this morning we see
Loosen the tongue of the mute
7.33 -
He will open the ears of the deaf
And open the eyes of the blind
In we see Jesus healing the deaf and mute man.
And now this morning we will see him open the eyes of the blind.
Thus presenting himself as the YHWH’s messiah, the chosen one, the great king who was promised.
Yet, in between these two healings we hear Jesus telling his disciples that they are in fact, deaf and blind to the reality of Jesus’ kingship
Jesus contrasting his own disciples with the people he is healing.
In the context of our passage this morning we see
So lets look at Jesus healing of the blind man.
We see this man go from being blind (unable to see), to seeing, yet he couldn’t see clearly.
His sight was blurry.
To finally being able to see everything clearly.
This is an outline of the disciples lives in the gospel of Mark.
When Jesus called these men he called them as spiritually blind.
They had no idea who it was that they were following.
They thought it might be a revolutionary
They thought it would be a new King for Israel
But they had no idea that this Jesus they were following was the prophesied Messiah - let alone God himself.
Jesus calls them out on this blindness in 8:18
(this is also in contrast to the healings of the deaf, mute and blind men - the fulfillment of )
However, its going to take more than healings to open the eyes of the disciples, its going to take the resurrection of Jesus himself for them to truly see clearly.
So throughout the gospels the disciples go from being blind, like the man in the passage - to seeing blurry - to finally seeing clearly.
Lets look at vv.22-23
So whats going on here?
Some faithful friends wanting to see their blind friend healed?
maybe, or perhaps some people grabbed this blind man and brought him to Jesus so they could see one of these famous healings they have been hearing about.
Jesus disappoints by not putting on a show, rather Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village.
Jesus’ actions struck me this last week.
Jesus took the blind man...
What would it be like to be this man?
To live a good part of his life blind, having to battle the chaos that is all around him without being able to see.
Then to have the hand of the creator, the king of peace take hold of your hand and lead you out of the chaos into the presence of peace.
To be constantly disconnected with the people around you.
Being treated like less than human, not having relationships that are emotionally connected, not experiencing the warm compassionate moments that come from being in harmony with loved ones.
Then, to have the compassionate hand of Jesus take you by the hand, lead you out of that place isolation and into his loving presence.
This is what Jesus does,
He takes the broken hearted and gives them love
He takes the sinner and give him righteousness
He takes the sad and gives them joy
He takes the tormented and give them peace
He takes skeptic and give them truth
and he takes the empty and gives them an unfading glory
He takes the blind and gives them sight
It is good to be taken by Jesus - and if you are in relationship with him this morning it is because he has taken hold of you and has called you his own.
I went through the entire book of Mark finding where Jesus takes people compared to when people take Jesus.
and this is what I found.
When Jesus takes people - there is blessing
when people take Jesus - it is evil.
We should not get this principle confused.
The Christian life is about us being taken by God for his glory.
It is not about us taking God for our glory.
So what did Jesus do when he took this man?
Mark 8:23-24
This is a two part healing,
We see here that he goes from being blind to seeing blurry.
This miracle demonstrates that it is Jesus who begins the work, and it is also Jesus who finishes the work.
As Jesus has begun the healing for this man, and as Jesus has begun a work in the disciples lives, so Jesus has begun a work in our lives.
And he is faithful to continue this work from being blind, to seeing blurry, to seeing clearly.
Jesus again puts his healing hands on this man’s eyes and brings complete healing.
He is now able to see everything clearly!
Jesus then tells the man to go home, but not to go back to the village.
We see Jesus healing this man in two stages.
The Man goes from blind, to being able to see, but its blurry, to finally being able to see clearly.
This healing is intended to echo the disciples and their spiritual blindness.
Remember in 8:18 Jesus told the disciples they were blind, and what we see next is a movement from being blind to seeing blurry
We see in verses 27-30 Peters blurry confessio
The Blurry Confession
Here Jesus asks his disciples two questions
Who do people say that I am?
Who do you say that I am?
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