ReNewed Sight for Living

Mark 8.22-26

English Standard Version Chapter 8

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 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?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

The Faith of Friends...

They brought the man to Jesus

They interceded for the man to Jesus

What the Friends could not do:

they cannot give the man their faith.

they cannot help God do the healing.

they cannot answer for him.

The Faith of the Man...

He surrenders to the leading of Jesus

He has to be passive, let Jesus do his thing...

He has to be honest, sincere in his own desires of seeking Jesus. Maybe the first part was a test of the sincerity for genuine faith.

The Sending…Home.

not to the village, where he was. the question is “why”? . Jesus does not want to be known as a miracle-worker; and so (as in 7:36) he forbids the man to tell others. He is to go straight to his home: he is not to go even into his own village first, for fear the news spreads. In a village, there are no secrets: the alternative manuscript reading, warning him not to speak about it to anyone in the village, therefore comes to the same thing. Whether the man obeyed or disobeyed, we do not know: but certainly the story of the healing made a great impression on the disciples, and found its way into the tradition, perhaps because of the incident which followed.

Cole, R. Alan, Mark: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), II, 204

in this short story of an encounter with Jesus we thus have 3 main elements to connect:

Faith of Friends.... Intercession, has limits.

Faith of the Person.... surrender the will, go privately with Jesus...

Restore the maimed sense. (sight) see life in a new way. Paul, We no longer see man in the old way…The Message, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

MEV

4. Listen. Not only were the mans eyes tested for sight, His ears are also tested. He was given specific instructions. Weather or not he knew, understood etc the instructions was not the point. The man who opened his eyes, is now the one sending him into life. Will he listen?