Blind But Now I See

Introduction

If you’re familiar with the Scriptures then you’re most likely familiar with the story of God redeeming His people from slavery in Egypt in the book of Exodus. And even if you’re not familiar, here’s a high-level view of what took place throughout that book.

God’s people, the Israelites are enslaved in Egypt and facing horrific conditions. And they’re crying out to God to deliver them, to save them. Well, at the end of chapter two, we read that God hears their cries and groaning, He remembers his promise and his covenant he had made with Israel’s forefathers and sends Moses with this message to Pharaoh to let God’s people go, set them free.

Pharaoh refuses and so for several chapters you see God do mighty works through Moses before Pharaoh to reveal the power of God. And so, you’re probably familiar with the ten plagues. God turns the Nile river to blood. He sends frogs and gnats and flies. He afflicts the Egyptians with painful boils. He sends hail which destroys Egypts crops and livestock. Even people. The final plague brought upon Egypt took the lives of every firstborn of Egypt. It’s here that we’re first introduced to the Passover. The Israelites were instructed to spread the blood of a lamb over their door at which God would passover them and not take the life of any firstborn. It was a painfully, beautiful picture that pointed to the death of Christ on the cross.

But from this moment, the Israelites were set free. Pharaoh released them. God had delivered them from slavery. The Israelites worshipped God, praised Him for his deliverance. But they quickly forgot his deliverance. Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues the Israelites to take them back. They see the Egyptians coming for them and they complain to Moses that God had just brought them out into the wilderness to die. That it would have been better to be slaves in Egypt than to die in the wilderness.

But it’s here that God delivers them once again by parting the Red Sea for them to walk through. And they witnessed with their own eyes the Egyptians chasing them and the waters crashing down on them killing all who pursued them. Once again they are grateful to God but quickly revert back to complaining.

They complain about the bitter water in the wilderness and God miraculously makes the water sweet so they can drink. They complain about not having any food and God miraculously delivers them bread from heaven to feed them.

This is the rhythm we see throughout the Exodus. God delivers, the people rejoice, and then quickly forget and complain again when the next trial comes, to which God responds miraculously, they rejoice, then complain again.

Problem

I used to read Exodus and would get so mad and frustrated with the Israelites. Like, what a bunch of fools. That’s what I would think. God split the Red Sea in half. How could you ever doubt his goodness, his faithfulness, his love for you? It’s so clear. It’s all around you. You’re seeing it every day. What’s wrong you people? So, arrogant.

Until one day, God knocked me over with a Holy Spirit punch and said, “That’s you!”

If my story were to be written down on paper for all to read of what God has done in my life, how he’s provided, how he’s been faithful and you were to read my responses to trials, to difficulties, to suffering, you’d see a lot of complaining, you’d see a lot of grumbling, and you’d see a lot of faithlessness in me too. At which, you all would look at me and say, “You fool!” “How do you not see God’s faithfulness all around you?” “How are you missing his provision?” “How are you forgetting his care and love for you?”

This is all of us. We’re forgetful people and so we need to be reminded often of God’s faithfulness. And praise God, he’s faithful. Praise God, he’s patient. Praise God he’s longsuffering. Praise God he doesn’t just crush us because of our faithlessness but rather, as we celebrated last week, Jesus was crushed for us so we could be redeemed.

Main Aim

Repetition is a very helpful teacher in our lives. God knows this. It’s evidence of our creatureliness. Evidence that we are finite. We need reminders. We’re forgetful beings. Quick to grumble and complain.

As you heard this text read this morning you might have had a case of deja vu. If you’ve been with us throughout this series of Mark, what you heard read this morning should sound familiar.

And that’s because these 26 verses in chapter 8 mirror or parallel Mark 6 and 7.

In Mark 6:30-44, Jesus feeds the 5000. Here in verses 1-9 Jesus feeds 4000.

In Mark 6:45-56 Jesus and the disciples take a boat trip across the sea of Galilee. Here in verse 10, they’re doing the same thing, getting into a boat and crossing to another side of the sea.

In Mark 7:1-23 Jesus gets into a confrontation with the Pharisees. Here in verses 11-13 we see another confrontation with these religious leaders.

In Mark 7:24-30 Jesus has a conversation about bread; what truly feeds our soul and satisfies forever. We see Jesus in chapter 8 talking with his disciples about the same thing.

In chapter 7:31-36 Jesus heals a deaf man. Here we are in chapter 8 with Jesus healing a blind man.

Chapter 7 ends with this confession that Jesus does all things well. Next week, Pastor Dan will preach the next passage which begins with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ.

These parallel passages are here by no accident. But Mark, led by the Holy Spirit recorded these events very intentionally and purposefully. In fact, Jesus’ life was of course lived out very intentionally. These parallel moments in Jesus’ life were done, I believe to prepare us for the confession of Peter that we’ll get to next week. That Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the one sent from God. He is the great deliverer.

Knowing who Jesus is helps us endure and persevere through adversity and trouble. Knowing who Jesus is keeps us on mission. When we remember who Jesus is, what he has done, what he has accomplished for us on the cross then we remember that we are to live for no other name, no other glory, no other reason than to make much of our great God and King.

However, we are forgetful people. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness we are hard-hearted as well and in need of grace and constant reminders of God’s character and sovereignty. And even often, just like the disciples, we just don’t get it, or we just don’t fully believe in God’s total goodness for us.

You know what I mean? Like, we may remember how he’s provided in the past but will he really provide and work things for good now, in the present? Yes! Why, because he is good and works all things for good.

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

We need to be shaped by this text today. We need to be reminded today of God’s goodness, his faithfulness, his sufficiency and we need to repent today and be warned today of ways in which we so often forget or fail to see who he is, what he is doing, what he has done for us, and who we are in Christ.

It is by no accident that we’re going through the same rhythm of Christ’s life in Mark 8 that we walked through a few weeks ago in chapters 6 and 7. We need to be reminded once again of Jesus’ goodness and character because we’re prone to forget. We’re prone to wander. We need to know and hold deeply ourselves the confession that Jesus is the Christ. He is our Redeemer.

I have four reminders for us today.

Body

Reminder number one: Jesus is the great provider

Page 699.

Mark 8:1–9 (ESV)

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

Now, aside from just the miraculous feeding of the 5000 in chapter 6 and the 4000 here in chapter 8, there’s one main similarity between the two, one main difference, but one primary characteristic it reveals to us about Jesus’ mission on earth.

The main similarity we see is the compassion of Jesus for the people.

Mark 6:34 (ESV)

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Well, what do we see here? The same thing.

Verse 2.

Mark 8:2 (ESV)

“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

But there’s one main difference as well.

The feeding of the 5000 was done primarily among a Jewish crowd and here, the feeding of the 4000 is done primarily among a Gentile crowd.

And so, what’s the one thing this reveals to us regarding Jesus’ mission? He is for all people. All people groups. All nations. Jesus loves the Jewish people and so should we. And Jesus loves all other tribes, languages, and nations and so should we.

He is the long-awaited Jewish Messiah who has come to be the Savior of the world.

We’re reminded here, once again of the great provision of Jesus for all people when all else seems hopeless.

The disciples’ response here is different than it was with the feeding of the 5000. In that feeding, the disciples look to their own resources and ask Jesus if they’re suppose to go into the towns and buy food for everyone. Now, they know they don’t have the full resources to buy it, but it was at least an option.

It’s different here though. There was nothing they could do. They were in a desolate place. There was nothing around them. No close towns or villages. No resources whatsoever. They were powerless and hopeless and so their response to Jesus here wasn’t necessarily one of unbelief but rather just a lack of resources. They were saying, “We can’t do anything here Jesus, you’re going to have to step in and be the provider.”

And that’s exactly what Jesus does. He provides when all else seems hopeless.

This is a good reminder for us. We may think that we are self-sufficient, that we can handle things ourselves. We may think our intellect, or resources, or skills are enough to provide, but we need to remember that we are absolutely helpless apart from the grace of God.

We need to be reminded of Jesus’ words in John 15.

John 15:5 (ESV)

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

We have nothing. He has everything and everything we have is ours only because He has given it to us. Remember that.

The quickest way to evaluate whether your dependence is upon Christ or yourself is to evaluate your Bible intake and prayer life. What’s it look like? If it’s anemic or barely existent, then you’re depending on yourself and not Christ. You cannot say you are resting in the sufficiency of Christ as your great provider if you are never hearing from him in his Word and crying out to him for your help.

And what do we see happen here to those who depend upon Jesus to provide? He satisfies completely.

Mark 8:8 (ESV)

And they ate and were satisfied.

He gives us what we need for our good and his glory.

Remember that Jesus is our provider.

Reminder number two: Jesus is the true sign from heaven

Mark 8:11–13 (ESV)

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

Now, you may be thinking, Jesus had been giving them all types of signs through all the miracles. What are they talking about?

But remember that the religious leaders, the Pharisees had accused Jesus’ miracles of being powered by Satan back in chapter 3. So, they’re not neglecting that mighty works are being done by Jesus, they’re just saying these are all done through demonic influence.

Their minds were already set. They did not believe Jesus no matter what he was to do or say. They’re not asking Jesus to validate his ministry here, they’re trying to discredit him.

And so, Jesus sighs deeply and says, “No. I’m not going to play your game.” In essence he was saying, “If you want a sign, read the Scriptures and you’ll see who I am and who has sent me.”

Do you remember how Jesus began his ministry as recorded in Luke 4? He goes into the temple, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him to read, and he read this passage in Isaiah 61.

Isaiah 61:1–2 (ESV)

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

And Luke says, after he read this. He rolled up the scroll and sat down and that all the eyes in the room were on him. And he said,

Luke 4:21 (ESV)

“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Do you remember what Jesus did on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection? He’s walking down this road and enters into this conversation with two guys were were talking about all the things that had just taken place in Jerusalem with Jesus’ death. And they didn’t recognized Jesus and they didn’t understand what was going on and why Jesus had been killed.

And what’s Jesus do?

Luke 24:27 (ESV)

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

The demand for a sign was an expression of unbelief.

William Lane says their demand for a sign...

Represents the attempt to understand the person of Jesus within categories which were wholly inadequate to contain his reality. The call for a sign is a denial of the summons to radical faith which is integral to the gospel. Jesus rejects the way of signs as fundamentally wrong because it precludes personal decision in response to the word of revelation.

Jesus calls us to radical faith in him. We either believe in him or we don’t. Now, I believe there is a mountain of evidence for the resurrection of Christ which leads us toward him, but Christ, in the end, calls us to faith in him.

We are justified by faith. It is what brings peace and reconciliation with God.

Romans 5:1 (ESV)

Therefore, since have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We’re justified by faith, not through signs. Not through, “Well, if God would do this, then I’ll believe. If he gives me what I’m asking for, then I’ll turn to him.” No, we look to Jesus and say, I have faith in you. You are all that’s needed for me to believe. You are the true sign from heaven.

Reminder number three: Jesus is the all-satisfying bread for our souls

In verse 14, Jesus and the disciples are on a boat and the disciples, most likely in their haste to get away from the Pharisees only brought one loaf of bread with them after they had seven baskets full after Jesus fed the 4000. And so, they’re probably doing a bit of finger pointing and blaming. “Who’s job was it to bring food?” “There’s 12 of us plus Jesus, how is one loaf going to feed us.” It’s interesting they didn’t just go to Jesus asking him to multiply it. What’s happening here? They’re forgetting who’s on the boat with them.

You know though, before we mock or chide the disciples, we really need to recognize that that’s us as well. We’re so often slow to understand. Slow to see what God is doing among us. We’re so often hard-hearted like they were. They, like us struggle with unbelief.

And that’s where Jesus chimed in in verse 15.

Mark 8:15 (ESV)

“Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

He’s saying, “guys, what did we just see with the Pharisees? Unbelief. Don’t let the leaven of unbelief creep into your heart and destroy you. Remember who I am.”

But they still don’t get it because verse 16 says they just start talking about the fact that they had no bread. Again, they’re thinking temporary. They’re not thinking eternally. Not one of them stops and says, “Jesus, you’re right. We just saw what you can do. We just saw your power and greatness. We know you are from God, that you are God in the flesh and that you’re all we need. You’re sufficient, not this loaf of bread. This bread will satisfy for just a moment, you satisfy our souls for eternity.”

Jesus is trying to draw their hearts and minds to see his sufficiency. That he’s enough. You hear it in his questioning.

Verse 17.

Mark 8:17–21 (ESV)

Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

He’s so patiently trying to get them to connect the dots. Why’s he drawing their attention to how much bread was left over after each feeding? He doesn’t ask them, he do you remember that everyone was fed? He’s asking, how much was left over? Why? Because he’s trying to show them that he gives more than we need. That he is all-satisfying. That his provision is abundant, that it’s overflowing, it’s abounding. Our cup overflows with God’s grace.

What’s Paul say in Ephesians 1?

Ephesians 1:7–8 (ESV)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished [“perisseuo” - to shower, to provide abundantly, to abound, over and above, more than enough] upon us, in all wisdom and insight

He is the all satisfying bread for our souls. Do we believe this? Do we believe what God has said to us through his word?

Luke 1:37 (ESV)

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Philippians 4:12–13 (ESV)

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

So, often, like the disciples we’re slow to learn, slow to see. We witness and see the goodness of God all around us but many still fail to fully understand and trust him.

Far too often we look to the things of the world to satisfy us only to be disappointed time and time again. We must be reminded that Jesus is sufficient and more than enough for our souls to be satisfied.

Friend, if you have not yet tasted and seen the goodness and sufficiency of Jesus I invite you to come and find all-satisfying eternal life in him. New life, eternal life comes through repentance and faith. Turning from the things of this world to satisfy us and turning in faith to Jesus as the one supreme treasure of our souls.

Reminder number four: Jesus open the eyes of the blind

In these final verses, Jesus and the disciples enter the town of Bethsaida. It was a town on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was actually where Jesus had fed the 5000 and so it’s almost as though this rhythm in Mark’s gospel is coming full circle to emphasize a point.

It’s here that a blind man was brought to him. And you see here the same compassion that Jesus had for the deaf man in Mark 7 but somethings different here. Whereas in Mark 7, the deaf man is healed instantly, here, this blind man is healed somewhat gradually.

Did you see that in verse 23 and 24? Jesus lays his hands on him and then asks the man if he can see anything. What’s the man say?

Mark 8:24 (ESV)

“I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”

And so, verse 25 says that he laid his hands on his eyes again and then his sight was restored.

What’s with the gradual healing here? Could he have healed him instantly? Of course. He doesn’t though because Jesus is teaching something to his disciples.

What have we seen in the last 20 or so verses? That the disciples are slow to see, slow to understand. And Jesus is slowly bringing them along helping them to see and understand who he is.

Verse 18 when he’s on the boat with them.

Mark 8:18 (ESV)

Having eyes do you not see?

Verse 21.

Mark 8:21 (ESV)

“Do you not yet understand?”

And so, here we have this blind man who Jesus could have opened his eyes immediately. Why didn’t he? Because he was leading his disciples and showing them that spiritual understanding would come gradually. All of this right here is leading to Peter’s confession of Christ as the Messiah that we’ll get to next week. A moment in Peter’s life where he begins to see more clearly. Not fully, in fact, they won’t fully understand everything until after the resurrection. But Jesus is slowly and gradually opening up their eyes to see him for who he is.

What’s so beautiful about this interaction between Jesus and the blind man is we see Jesus’ patience and steadfast love for us as well. At one point, you and I were blind and unable to see the beauty and worth of Jesus. And it was the grace of God that opened our eyes to see and behold our King and Savior.

Even today in our journey together toward holiness and Christlikeness we’re going to stumble along the way. We’re not going to be able to see perfectly. The remnants of sin in our life still often blind us to fully beholding his glory and beauty and yet, Jesus is patient with us and like with the blind man, he continues to graciously and lovingly open our eyes to see him more clearly. He doesn’t abandon or forsake us. He’s with us and he is sanctifying us.

But church, where do we see him? In his Word. If you want to see Jesus you must feast upon the Word of God. This is where he’s been revealed to us. Now, there’s coming a day when our faith will become sight. When we will see Jesus with our own eyes, but until that day, he’s seen in His Word.

Conclusion

So, church we must abide in him. We must be reminded of who he is and what he has done for us on the cross. We must remember who we are apart from him, yet, who we are because of him.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.

(Puritan Prayer - Need of Jesus)