The Gospel of Mark #20 – “Open the Eyes of My Heart”
Mark 8:1-26
Intro –
1. VIDEO – “Field of Dreams” They really can’t see it…
2. There are some people in this world that cannot see for looking. The evidence could be as clear as the nose on their face, but they cannot see it, because they simply refuse to see it.
3. ILL – I love Archie Bunker, but I hate it when people use words wrong. I have actually taken people to the dictionary & showed them definitions, but they refuse to see it!
4. In our text today, we run into some people who couldn’t see Jesus for who He really was.
5. Mark 8:1-26 (Read)
6. How many of you have every made a cake before? I have not!!
7. PIC – Red Velvet cake…You need many parts (ingredients) to make the whole cake! You need - Vegetable oil, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, buttermilk, eggs, red food coloring, white distilled vinegar, vanilla extract, Cream Cheese Frosting, & Crushed pecans, for garnish. Put it together & you have heaven on a plate!! (OT – Manna?)
8. In this section of Mark’s gospel, we find several different parts that make one whole.
a. Jesus feeding of the 4,000 – vs. 1-10
b. The Pharisees question Jesus & ask for a sign from heaven – vs. 11-13
c. Jesus teaching of the yeast of the Pharisees & Herod – vs. 14-21
d. The healing of a blind man at Bethsaida – vs. 22-26
9. All of these parts are joined by one thread – Jesus is dealing with blindness. He deals with both the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees and the disciples as well as the physical blindness of a man from Bethsaida.
I. How Jesus Handled Spiritual Blindness – Vs. 1-21
What is spiritual blindness? I could offer many definitions, but for our purposes it is simply “not being able to see who Jesus really is.” 2 groups of spiritually blind people in our text –
A. The Blindness of the Pharisees – vs. 11-13
1. Their blindness was willful – they chose not to see who Jesus is.
a. Acts 10:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”
b. However, everywhere He went He also dealt with the opposition of the Pharisees who refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
c. Jesus called them “blind leaders of the blind” in Matt 15:14.
d. ILL – Have you heard about the elderly woman on a busy street corner who was confused & hesitant to cross because of the heavy traffic? Finally a gentleman came up to her & asked if he could cross the street with her. Gratefully she took his arm, but grew progressively more alarmed as he zigzagged randomly across the street, to the blare of horns & screech of locked brakes. Finally on the opposite curb, she said angrily, “You almost got us killed! You walk like you're blind.” “I am,” he replied. “That's why I asked if I could cross with you.”
e. Unfortunately, these were the ones making the “spiritual” decisions for the nation of Israel – no wonder they missed it!
2. Jesus rebuked them and refused them.
a. They came to him as the “spiritual” police squad & demanded that He perform some type of sign from heaven to prove Himself (they actually wanted to trap Him into being found a liar & false prophet – Duet. 13 & 18).
b. Jesus refused their demand because He knew that even this kind of miracle would not convince them. They had already decided not to believe!
c. Hearts can become so hard that even the most convincing facts & demonstrations will not change them (Ex - Pharaoh “hardened his heart”…).
d. Sometimes, we are so stubborn that we fail to see God’s plan for us. God could “write it in the sky, erase it & write it again, & yet we would still not believe!”
e. Heb. 3:7-8 “7So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,”
B. The Blindness of the disciples – vs. 1-10, 14-21
1. Their blindness was going away – they could not see fully who Jesus is: yet!
a. The feeding of the 4,000 is a separate miracle from the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus references this in vs. 19 (read).
b. There are similarities – both miracles included huge crowds with little food, both involved the use of bread & fish, both involved Jesus showing compassion on the crowd & miraculously providing for their needs, in both miracles the crowds were entirely satisfied & a large amount of food was left over.
c. There are differences – the number of people fed in this miracle is different, the amount of bread is different (5 vs. 7 loaves), the amount of left overs is different (12 small baskets vs. 7 large baskets), the first took place after a day of teaching, this one after 3 days of teaching, & in the first miracle Jesus was motivated by the spiritual needs of the crowd, while, in this miracle Jesus is motivated by the physical needs of the crowd.
d. However, the main difference I see is the response of the disciples to the need.
e. In Mark 6, the disciples attitude is “it’s their problem, let them deal with it” (“send the people away…buy themselves” Mk. 6:35-36). However, in this passage the disciples seem to be saying “we see the same problem you do…what can we do about it?” (“anyone” = Gr. – “anyone here, or we”).
f. The disciples were growing, in that they were beginning to understand, ever so slightly, that they needed to have compassion on people like Jesus did!
2. Jesus continued to teach them His truth.
a. After His confrontation with the Pharisees Jesus warns the disciples to beware of the “leaven of the Pharisees & of Herod.” They totally missed the point!
b. Jesus was teaching them to beware of “leaven” (evil works that spread & infect) but the disciples thought, “Oh, we forgot the bread!!!”
c. While the disciples may not have gotten the whole picture of what Jesus was teaching, He continued to teach them because of their growth & His compassion.
d. God is not a task-master who expects perfection from us immediately.
e. Ps. 103:13-14 “13As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
f. If we will make an effort to know & understand God – He will honor it.
g. James 4:8 (NASB) “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
II. How Jesus Healed Physical Blindness – Vs. 22-26
Jesus and the disciples went back across the sea to Bethsaida. & upon Jesus’ arrival, some people brought a blind man and they begged Jesus to touch him.
A. The man – vs. 22
1. The Gospels record the healing of at least seven blind men, & they show that our Lord used a variety of approaches.
2. For some reason not given, the man was not ready for instant sight, so Jesus restored him gradually. The fact that the man recognized men and trees suggests that he had not been born blind but had been blinded by accident or disease.
3. The man was not from Bethsaida, for Jesus sent him home & cautioned him not to enter that town.
4. While we do not know much about this man, we do know that Jesus cared enough about Him to change His life forever!
B. The miracle – vs. 22-26
1. This miracle is unique in two ways –
a. Just as with the healing of the deaf-mute man, this miracle is only recorded in the book of Mark.
b. It is the only instance in in Scripture where Jesus healed someone gradually. Why? Jesus was going to use this miracle to teach His disciples.
2. Two specific steps are recorded here. After Jesus 1st touch, the man looks up & says, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” His vision has been restored, but not completely.
3. Then, after a 2nd touch from Jesus, the vision of the man is completely restored. Now he “he saw everything clearly.”
4. It reminds me of the great Hymn “Amazing Grace” “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me....I once was lost but now am found, Twas blind, but now, I see.”
C. The message –
1. I think there is a reason why this miracle is placed where it is by Mark.
2. Remember this whole passage has to do with blindness. In fact, Jesus had just chided His disciples for their slowness of spiritual understanding. They were slow to perceive & slow to comprehend what Jesus was doing.
3. We must always remember that the miracles of Jesus always had a definite purpose, people were never healed just because. This is the case here as well.
4. Jesus was teaching a definite lesson to His spiritually near-sighted disciples.
5. I believe the message behind this miracle is this – Spiritual growth is a process – it takes time.
6. This is why there is so much encouragement in the N. T. to grow in our faith!
7. 1 Pet. 2:1-3 “1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
8. 2 Pet. 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
9. I am so glad that God is patient with us! I’m glad he not only gives us a second touch, but also a 3rd & 4th touch – everything we need to mature in our understanding.
10. Knowing this truth, we must remember 2 things –
a. Not everyone is at the same spiritual level.
b. We must be patient with others, as God is patient with us.
11. ILL – If we plant a tree, it begins to grow; if we set a post, it begins to decay. There was an old farmer who, in the prayer meetings of his church in describing his Christian experience, always said: "Well, I'm not making much progress, but I'm established." One spring when the farmer was setting out some logs, his wagon sank in the mud in a soft place in the road, and he could not get out. As he sat on top of the logs viewing the situation, a neighbor who had never accepted the principle of the old farmer's religious experience came along and greeted him: "Well, Brother Jones, I see you are not making much progress, but you're established."
12. 1 Cor. 10:12 “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!”
Conc. –
1. How is your sight today? Is it spiritually dull? There may be areas in all of our lives that are spiritual “blind spots.”
2. We should pray as David did in Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”
3. The Bible says in Isa. 35 that “when we see the glory of the Lord… Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.”
4. Heb. 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…”
