Introduction:
A. Have you ever noticed how we sometimes experience involuntary blindness?
1. Something might be sitting right in front of us, and yet we don’t see it; like, “where are my keys?” or “I can’t find my cell phone” or “where’s the pepper?” They are right in front of us!
B. Sometimes our blindness is a lack of paying attention, whereas other times it is an on-purpose ignorance or ignoring.
1. For instance, let’s consider some of the signs some people are prone to ignore.
a. How about this sign: Keep off the grass.
b. How about: No swimming.
c. How about: Speed limits.
d. How about our favorite low bridge – the Onondaga Parkway railroad bridge. Did you know that there are a total of 46 signs and signals ahead of the bridge from both sides that warn drivers about the low bridge and that no commercial trucks are allowed on the road?
C. In the section from the Gospel of Mark that we are going to explore today, Mark directs our attention to the people around Jesus who were struggling with spiritual blindness.
1. Sadly, those who were experiencing the blindness toward Jesus weren’t just the crowds or the Pharisees, but also included the apostles as well.
2. As we work through today’s passage, let’s look at the four signs that should help everyone understand who Jesus really is.
3. I hope that as we look at these signs, we will see Jesus more clearly and that any spiritual blindness that we might have can be corrected.
I. The Sign of Bread (Mark 8:1-10)
A. Mark wrote: 1 In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat. He called the disciples and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to feed these people?” 5 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked them.
“Seven,” they said. 6 He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. So they served them to the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish, and after he had blessed them, he said these were to be served as well. 8 They ate and were satisfied. Then they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces. 9 About four thousand were there. He dismissed them. (Mk. 8:1-9)
B. There are some similarities between this account of the miraculous feeding of the 4000 and the feeding of the 5000 in Mark 6, but it is also important to notice the differences.
1. On the first occasion, Jesus fed 5000, but on this occasion, He fed 4000.
2. The feeding of the 5000 took place in Jewish territory, but this feeding was in Gentile territory.
3. The 5000 were fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish, but the 4000 were fed with 7 loaves and a few fish.
4. In the feeding of the 5000, 12 baskets full of leftovers were collected, but in the feeding of the 4000 there was 7 baskets full of leftovers.
5. There’s also a difference in the word that was used for baskets in the two accounts.
a. In the first account, the word used is for the size basket a person would use to carry food for a day, like a day pack.
b. In the second account, the word used was for a large basket used in gathering grain in harvest time or a big hamper, it is also the word used for the basket Paul was lowered in over the wall when escaping from Damascus (Acts 9; 2 Cor. 11:33).
6. Why do I point out these differences? Because some skeptics deny that there were two separate feedings of thousands of people.
a. But there can be no real doubt that there were two separate feedings, in two different locations, and for two completely different audiences.
b. Also, Jesus Himself pointed out that there were two different feedings as we will see later in today’s sermon (Mark 8:18-21).
C. We might wonder: why did Jesus repeat this same kind of miracle?
1. But we might ask the same question of all the miracles of Jesus.
2. How many demon-possessed people did Jesus exorcize? How many blind people or sick people did Jesus heal? How many dead people did Jesus bring back to life?
3. We might think: If Jesus did one kind of miracle, then He certainly didn’t need to do it again, right? Wrong.
4. First of all, keep in mind that Jesus often performed the miracles in the context of human need and prompted by His compassion, so that’s the reason for repeating the same miracles.
a. As disciples of Jesus, our goal should be to walk in His steps and look like our Teacher.
b. We should be trying to express the same kind of compassion that Jesus expressed to those who were hurting and in need.
c. Although we don’t possess the miraculous powers that Jesus had, there is still much we can do to try to relieve the sufferings of others if we have a heart to find a way to help.
5. And secondly, we must keep in mind that Jesus repeated miracles because He was trying to show who He was to people in many different parts of the His country and in other countries.
a. There was no CNN or internet to show video of His miracles, so He had to do them in person.
6. And as I have been pointing out throughout this series, Mark was intent on showing that Jesus was not just the Messiah for the Jews, but was for all people everywhere, even the Gentiles, so Mark highlighted miracles to both Jews and Gentiles.
D. One of the main things that we learn from comparing the two different feedings is that the apostles still have some room for growth.
1. The apostles may have made some progress from the first feeding to the second, but they still have a long way to go.
2. At the first feeding, we see that the disciples suggested strongly that Jesus just send the hungry people away.
a. But here at the second feeding, we see that the disciples didn’t urge Jesus to send them away.
b. So maybe they were developing some compassion and were getting the “why” of the feedings.
3. But it’s obvious that the apostles were still struggling with the “how” of feeding the people, which is also an indication that they were still struggling with the “who” of Jesus.
a. They were still not completely getting who Jesus was, and therefore, what Jesus could do.
b. The disciples’ question: “where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to feed these people?” made sense and was understandable at the first feeding, but it seems so strange to ask the same question at the second feeding, right?
c. How could they have forgotten what Jesus had done at the first feeding?
d. Were they that slow to understand or did they have that little faith?
e. The question: “Who can provide food for this crowd?” should have easily been answered by them with: “Jesus the Messiah can!”
4. But we shouldn’t be too hard on them.
a. How many times has God provided for us in the past and yet we still have trouble trusting Him in the present?
E. The story that Mark tells about the feeding is short and to the point.
1. Jesus again miraculously fed the huge crowd, everyone was satisfied, and the leftovers were gathered.
2. Both miraculous feedings end with Jesus dismissing the crowd and then having a boat journey.
3. Mark wrote: 10 And he immediately got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. (Mk. 8:10)
4. There are no ancient sources that identify a place called Dalmanutha.
a. In Matthew’s account the area is described as “the region of Magadan.”
b. Scholars conclude that Magadan must be connected with Magdala, which is a place near Tiberias on the West shore of the Sea of Galilee.
c. Commentators are in general agreement that “Dalmanutha” was either another name for Magdala, or else another village located nearby.
d. Magdala is the possible hometown of Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus followers.
5. Whenever Jesus returned to the land of Israel, we can expect that the Jewish religious leaders will show up to carry out their agenda and Mark reports that very thing in the next verses.
II. The Sign From Heaven (Mark 8:11-12)
A. Mark wrote: 11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, demanding of him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” (Matthew: “except sign of Jonah”)
1. You will recall that previously, the Jewish religious leaders had attributed Jesus’ miracles to Beelzebul (Mk. 3:22), the prince of demons.
2. But now they were back to make another attempt to expose Jesus as a fraud by asking for a sign from heaven to test Him.
3. They wanted a sign that only God could give – like the one shown to the Israelites when God sent manna from heaven (Ex. 16), or when fire came from heaven upon the altar during Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs. 18), or the separating of the Red Sea or the Jordon River when Israel crossed over on dry land (Ex. 14; Josh. 3).
4. But Jesus sighed deeply and the word used here is even a stronger form of the word used in the last chapter when Jesus sighed before healing the deaf man.
a. The deep sigh indicated Jesus’ deep regret or exasperation that the Pharisees would still ask for sign after all of the miracles He had ready done.
b. It was a sigh of grief and frustration at the stubbornness and blindness of these religious leaders; their willful blindness broke Jesus’ heart.
5. Jesus recognized that their request was just a test or a temptation that had to be resisted and so He refused to give them a sign.
a. When Jesus was tested by the devil in the wilderness before He began His ministry, He refused to give Satan any sensational “proofs” of who He was or what He could do.
B. The Pharisees’ demand for a sign is paralleled today by those who seek miracles for themselves to prove that God is present and real.
1. Unfortunately, the desire for signs displays a lack of faith and in the end, physical proofs remove the necessity for faith, which is required for salvation.
2. People who are hardened by unbelief and have a prejudice against belief are not likely to be convinced by any miracle, even a person being risen from the dead.
3. In John 4:48, Jesus rebuked those who would only believe after seeing signs.
4. Ideally, a person should believe simply through hearing the word preached, and humble, truth-seeking people are eager to do just that.
5. The days of sensational signs has passed and yet God is still in the business of revealing Himself to us through the Word of God, through God’s people, and through the universe God created around us.
6. God’s miracles and mercies are new every morning and can be seen in the rising of the sun, the changing of the seasons, the corn in the field, and displays of true love among God’s people.
7. The Gospel of Jesus and the salvation that comes through Him is truly a miracle and sign – that’s the sign of Jonah – Jesus was raised on the 3rd day, like Jonah was in the fish 3 days.
8. But we must have eyes to see and hearts that are open to faith.
9. Knowing that the Pharisees would not address their blindness and unbelief, Jesus left them to their own self-righteous delusions.
10. Sadly, the Pharisees were blind men (Mt. 23:17, 19), and blind guides (Mt. 23:24), and were leading their followers to hell (Mt. 23:15), so Jesus sought to warn His disciples about them.
III. The Sign of Leaven (Mark 8:13-21)
A. Mark wrote: 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat, and went to the other side. 14 The disciples had forgotten to take bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 Then he gave them strict orders: “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread. 17 Aware of this, he said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact you have no bread? Don’t you understand or comprehend? Do you have hardened hearts? 18 Do you have eyes and not see; do you have ears and not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?” “Twelve,” they told him. 20 “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect?” “Seven,” they said. 21 And he said to them, “Don’t you understand yet? (Mk. 8:13-21)
1. The abrupt ending of the conversation with the Pharisees and the speed of the exit had different effects on Jesus and His disciples.
a. Jesus lapsed into a reflective thought about the spiritual meaning of the confrontation.
b. The disciples were focused on their physical necessities, like how much bread they had.
2. With the thought of the terrible spiritual blindness of the Pharisees on His mind, Jesus declared: “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
a. As you know, the Bible uses “leaven” as a symbol for sin, evil, and false doctrine.
b. Like leaven, false doctrine and sin can get into anything and infect it.
c. The leaven of the Pharisees surely included their focus on formalism and traditionalism, and their rejection of Jesus and their desire to discredit and destroy Him.
d. The leaven of Herod may have been his “self-serving” attitude which led him to imprison John the Baptizer to silence him and then execute him to keep his foolish vow.
3. Jesus was connecting the miracle of the feeding of the 4000 and the unbelief of the Pharisees in their call for a sign from heaven when Jesus issued the warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.
4. We can certainly understand how this must have confused the disciples.
a. They weren’t in Jesus’ head and didn’t know the internal thoughts He was having as He processed the miraculous feeding and the Pharisees’ unbelief.
b. For them, Jesus’ warning about the leaven meant only one thing: their failure to bring enough bread with them.
B. But Jesus wasn’t blaming them for their lack of foresight, but for their lack of faith and spiritual insight.
1. They had failed to learn from their past experiences that Jesus had provided for them.
2. They should have known that Jesus was not worried about how much bread they had, for He could feed multitudes with just a few loaves.
3. Rather, Jesus was concerned that His disciples not succumb to evil practices, false doctrines, spiritual blindness and hard-heartedness.
C. Jesus asked them a series of questions, most of them were rhetorical.
1. “Why are you discussing the fact you have no bread? Don’t you understand or comprehend? Do you have hardened hearts? Do you have eyes and not see; do you have ears and not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect? When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect? Don’t you understand yet?”
2. The apostles of Jesus appear to be ominously close to becoming like the religious leaders.
3. The disciples are presented as teetering on the brink of spiritual blindness like the Pharisees.
4. But Jesus’ solemn series of questions ended with a glimmer of hope when He ended with the word “yet” – “Don’t you understand yet?”
5. This opened the possibility that they would one day understand.
6. Mark’s original readers, and all of us readers today, are well aware that the apostles went on to success as leaders in the early church.
7. Whenever followers of Jesus have eyes to see and hearts to believe in Jesus, then they are able to proceed with faith and peace regardless of the challenges they face, whether they be anxiety and fears about insufficient food, or dangers on the sea, or the power of Pharisees or Herod, or anything else that might arise.
8. Jesus is the Son of God and we must always understand what He has done and what He can do, and then we must let Him do it.
D. This passage illustrates the difference between those who are permanently blind (the Pharisees) and those whose blindness is temporary (the apostles).
1. The Pharisees’ unwillingness to receive the truth led to a terminal condition with eternal consequences, but Jesus’ disciples desired to embrace the truth, and even though they struggled to grasp spiritual truths and realities, their desire to embrace the truth caused their limited vision to be only temporary.
2. Mark included one more story that goes along with the theme of blindness and signs and it is the two-step healing of a blind man.
IV. The Sign of Seeing (Mark 8:22-26)
A. Mark wrote: 22 They came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. Spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 He looked up and said, “I see people—they look like trees walking.” 25 Again Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes. The man looked intently and his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. 26 Then he sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” (Mk. 8:22-26)
1. This story of the blind man and the story of the deaf man in the last chapter, are the only two miracles that are unique to Mark’s Gospel.
2. The two miracles share some similarities:
a. In both cases, unnamed people brought the men to Jesus.
b. They begged Jesus to heal both men with His touch.
c. Jesus took both men to a place of privacy.
d. Jesus touched the affected parts and used spittle in both healings.
e. After the healings, He told both men not to tell others what happened.
3. But there is something unique about this miracle, it is only two-step miracle in the Gospels.
B. Consider the situation of this blind man.
1. He lived in a world of darkness.
2. Either he or those who led him to Jesus had heard about Jesus’ healing powers.
3. So, when he was brought to Jesus, he couldn’t see Jesus and stood there in a vulnerable state.
4. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village.
5. Why did Jesus put spittle on the man’s eyes?
a. In last week’s sermon, when Jesus used spittle in the healing of the deaf man, I mentioned that people in the ancient world believed in the healing power of spittle, so perhaps that why Jesus used spittle again with the blind man.
b. Or perhaps Jesus used spittle to soften any build up on the man’s eyes before Jesus asked him to see with those eyes.
6. Then, Jesus asked the man to open his eyes and tell Him what he could see.
a. The man reported that his vision was so blurry that people looked like trees.
b. The fact that he knew what people and trees were supposed to look like suggests that he hadn’t been blind his entire life.
7. Finally, Jesus touched the man’s eyes a second time and then the man could see clearly.
C. So, what was the reason for this two-step miracle?
1. Mark doesn’t explain the reason for this unusual two-step miracle, but there is no doubt that Jesus could have healed the man with one touch and in one-step, so there had to be a reason.
2. On the other occasions when Jesus healed blind men, it didn’t take two steps, so why this time?
3. I believe Jesus did it this way at this time so that it could serve as an illustration.
4. I believe it is an illustration of the development of the faith and understanding of the apostles.
5. Consider how the blind man’s movement toward sight is an illustration of the development of spiritual vision.
a. The man started out completely blind – people start out spiritually blind toward God.
b. Then, the man could see partially – as people move toward God they see more clearly.
c. Finally, the man could see clearly and completely – as people mature in Christ their vision becomes clearer and more complete.
D. And so, Jesus was leading His disciples to clear and complete vision, ever so patiently.
1. They witnessed the feeding of the 4000 and the unbelief of the Pharisees.
2. Jesus challenged them to understand and to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.
3. They didn’t get it and were forgetful and confused, but Jesus continued to explain and lead them to understanding.
4. They were moving toward insight and clear vision.
5. The test of their insight and understanding was just ahead – in the next set of verses, Jesus will ask them who they believed He was and Peter will make his good confession, but we will save that for the next sermon.
Conclusion:
A. Let me conclude by asking all of us: So, how is your spiritual vision? Can’t you read the signs?
1. Have you seen and understood who Jesus is? Or are things still blurry or are you still blind?
2. Are you looking for sensational signs from heaven, or are you content with the evidence of God’s Word and God’s handiwork?
3. Jesus is the only one who can bring about the healing of our spiritual blindness, but we must come to Him and ask for His assistance before He will bring about our healing and vision.
4. I pray that all of us will develop a deep faith and benefit from spiritual vision.
5. I pray that we will see God’s miracles and power in everything around us.
6. I pray that we won’t ignore or forget all that God has done and is doing.
7. Let’s ask God to open the eyes of our heart.
Resources:
• Truth for Today Commentary: Mark 1-8 and 9-16, Martel Pace, Resources Communications.
• Can’t You Read the Sign? Sermon by David Owens
• Jesus the King, Timothy Keller
• Feeding the 4,000, Sermon by Nate Shinn
• Blindness, Parts 1 & 2, Sermons by Nate Shinn
