Can You See Clearly Now? 8/5/04
Mark 8:22-25
The Gospel of Mark is unique. It is not a biography of Jesus, like Matthew or Luke. It does not dwell on the family history with all the begets and genealogy. It is a record of Jesus’ actions. It shows Jesus as Savior-King, who conquers demons, disease, and death. Mark dedicates more of his account to the miracles of Jesus more than any of the other Gospels. It is the shortest of all the Gospels, but yet it is action packed. Today we are going to look at one of those miracles with the healing of a blind man. This is the only Gospel who records this. And we will look at several meanings behind this healing.
(Read Mark 8:22-25)
Now maybe you did not notice, but did you wonder why Jesus led him out of the city? (Vs. 23) Couldn’t Jesus have healed him where He was?
Bethsaida had rejected the ministry of Christ.
Matthew 11:20, Then He begin to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
The people may have rejected Him, but Jesus still had compassion on this one blind man. So He took the time and the effort to led him out of the city.
He seeks out the Individuals
That is the way God works. He will always seek out the individual.
We read in Genesis 6 that God was sorry that He had made man. So He said in verse 7, “So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…”
But then God sought the individual. Verse 8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
When God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He sought out the individual in Lot.
The demon possessed man living in the tombs, the woman at the well. God has sought many the outcasts and He still seeks after the individuals today.
Remember the Pharisees were always complaining about the company Jesus was keeping. But that is the way He works. I believe if I would have been the only person to ever live on this earth, God would have still sent His Son to die for me.
For God so loved Dean Meadows that He gave His only begotten Son. That if Dean Meadows would believe in Him. He would not perish; but have everlasting life.
He loves us each as individuals. He desires an individual relationship with each of us. He made the way so that ALL could come to repentance.
He Touched Him (Vs. 23b)
Not only did Jesus lead him out of the town, but also He physically touched him. Now was this touch necessary?
A couple of Chapters later we read about blind Bartimaeus receiving his sight.
(Read Mark 10:46-52)
There was no physical touch, no spiting, or nothing. Jesus just spoke the words. And do you find it strange that Jesus asks this blind man, “what do you want me to do”? “DA! Jesus I am blind here.” Jesus wanted to hear his faith. “I want to see,” he says. And the reply form Jesus was, “your faith has made you well”.
With one blind man, there was a physical touch, another; just the words out of Jesus’ mouth. I can’t tell you why for sure, but I can tell you what I think. The first one was brought to Jesus. They brought him and it says that they (not the blind man) begged Him to touch him.
The second may have been blind physically but he had his Spiritual eyes open. He sought after Jesus, not someone else bringing him to Jesus. He did not quit seeking after Him even though he was told to do so. He might have been blind physically, but his Spiritual eyes were wide open. (I see said the blind man).
So in our text we see this man being brought to Jesus and being asked by others to be touched for the receiving of his sight. We will get back to this in a little bit.
He received a second touch (Vs. 25)
Not only did this miracle have physical touch, but also twice this blind man was touched. After the first touch, Jesus asked him if he could see anything. He states in verse 24, “And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking”.
He could see, but not clearly.
Then we read in verse 25 there was a second touch.
Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everything clearly.
Was Jesus losing His touch? Why was this blind man not completely healed on the first touch? Why did their have to be any touch at all?
This is where we get to the point of the message that God gave me.
We have to start back in the beginning of the Chapter to understand that Jesus was trying to teach His disciples a lesson here. He wanted them to not only to see; but to see clearly.
In the beginning of Chapter 8 we read about the miracle of the feeding of the 4000 with the seven loaves and a few small fish. After all had been fed, they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Afterwards He got a boat with the disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
Upon His arrival the Pharisees went to Him and tried to pick a fight. Verse 11 uses words like, “dispute with Him, and testing Him”.
He gets on the boat again and then we pick up the rest of the story.
(Read verse 13-21)
These disciples had been with Jesus when not once but twice He feed the multitudes with a few loaves and now there was just a few of them and one loaf. Like the blind man, Jesus said in verse 18, Having eyes, do you not see?
Now that we have the back ground, ask yourself the question. Do you need a second touch? The first touch reminded me of Salvation. When we receive Christ our eyes are opened. Some remain content in this aspect. They have their fire insurance, (Get out of Hell free card) and that is as far as their faith goes. They never become sold out for Christ.
I think of a newborn baby. Their eyes are open but they can’t focus very far. Their vision is blurred at first. And when we first receive Christ we are babes in Christ.
When this blind man received the first touch, he said he saw men walking like trees. He could see but not clearly. And so many times when we have our eyes opened, we don’t see clearly either. We don’t see men (others) and their need for Christ as well.
The Second Touch
So do you need to have a second touch? The disciples walked with Jesus and followed Him, yet as it says in verse 21, “How is it you do not understand?” We often need that second touch. It is one thing to make Jesus your Savior and it may take that second touch for you to make Him Lord. That is to surrender to Him and let Him have complete control of your life.
How to we do that?
We can do that several ways.
Service
When we first become Christians by receiving Christ. We need a time to grow and mature. Saul (Paul) after his touch spent several days with the disciples at Damascus. But he matured quickly and then there was no stopping him.
Others may take more time in their spiritual maturity. But there is a time when we need not to be just hearers but doers. We need to put some feet on our faith. Our faith should be a continual growing process.
So often people receive the first touch and then not do anything else with that touch. We need the second touch sometimes to put our faith in action.
Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We are to be the light of the world. Some of the last words that Jesus spoke were what we call the great commission. “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”.
Surrender
We sometimes need that second touch to surrender ourselves to Him. We do this by not just making Him our Savior but also making Him your Lord. You give Him control over your life. You say not my will but Yours Lord.
I have let my boys sit on my lap and steer the car while going up my hill on the way home. But I am right there and still have control of the car.
We need to give Him the reigns. Let Him leads us where He may. By surrendering we are giving Him the control.
Luke 9:23, Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Notice Jesus says it is to be daily. Not only a second touch but a daily touch. Daily seek His will. Daily read His word. Daily spend time in prayer with Him. Daily surrender yourself to His will.
Sacrifice
Often we need that second touch to sacrifice. By sacrifice I mean to give up something of value.
Sometimes it means to sacrifice a relationship. You don’t have to be holier then thou, but you can not be hang around the wrong people and have the right relationship.
Some times it means you have to sacrifice your time. You have to make yourself do something you may not want to do or would rather be doing something else. By sacrifice I mean that you make Him a priority by putting Him first in your life. Even if it cost you time, money, and popularity.
Maybe you are here today and you have never have had the first touch. You can accept Him today. When you feel His touch you will never be the same again.
Maybe you are here and you’ve experienced the first touch by receiving Jesus as your Savior. But you have drifted from that touch. You don’t feel as close to the Lord as you did at one time. You have drifted from the joy that you once felt. Sin has caused separation between you and God. You can receive another touch from Him.
1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We all need that touch. We need that continual touch so that we can see Him more clearly.
