Consider these questions as we dwell in Mark 8:22-26:

Here are three questions based on the provided content:

1. How does the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida connect to Jesus' earlier teaching about the disciples' spiritual blindness and inability to fully comprehend his words? What is the significance of the gradual restoration of the man's vision in this context?

2. In what ways does the experience of the blind man mirror the disciples' journey of understanding and perception of Jesus? How does the role of the Holy Spirit become apparent in both cases, leading to a clearer comprehension of Jesus' identity and mission?

3. Reflecting on your own faith journey, can you identify moments when your understanding of Jesus and the gospel evolved from a blurred vision to a clearer, more comprehensive view? How has the work of the Holy Spirit played a role in illuminating your perception of Jesus and his saving grace?

Transcript:

As we've been journeying through Mark, how many times have I said, Well, this passage that we're looking at today connects to the passage before it. I know I've said it many times, and I don't expect you to go back and count, but it is something I have said frequently, and I am saying it again today. We can't understand this passage without understanding the one before it. Remember, the disciples couldn't see, they couldn't understand. Jesus said that they were blind to what he was saying, and they were deaf, and they could not understand and truly hear His words. And so after this, they come upon this blind man at best Sada. Well, people bring him to Jesus, just as we see all throughout the Gospel of Mark, people are bringing people to Jesus to be healed. And what happens? Well, Jesus decides he's going to heal him, and so he spits on his eyes. Now, that's an interesting thing. Why did this happen? We don't know why Jesus chose to use this method of healing. Of course, we could speculate, but we would never truly know. And then Jesus laid his hands on him. And then Jesus does something interesting.

Do you see anything? Well, what happens here is the man says, Well, I can see people, but they look like trees walking. In other words, his vision is blurred. Now, we have seen the power of Jesus throughout the Gospel of Mark. He is raising people or raised someone from the dead and heals people without even being near them. So, poor Jesus, is he losing his touch? Is he lacking the power to heal this man's blindness? Does he have extra special, hard blindness that Jesus can heal? No, Jesus is proving a point. And so the man's vision is blurred. He can't see anything clearly. And then Jesus comes and He deals with him again. He lays hands on his eyes again, and then he can see. His sight was restored and he sees everything clearly. So, how does this connect to the passage beforehand? Well, he was saying that the disciples were blind to the truth that he was teaching. They couldn't understand. And so, like the disciples, this man got his vision. He could see, just like the disciples could see who Jesus was, they could understand that he was from God, but they couldn't truly see in focus who Jesus was.

And so, they were needing more, they don't need more information, they need another touch from the Spirit. They need another touch from Jesus to truly and fully understand who he is. And they do get that when they receive the Spirit after the Ascension of Christ on Pentecost. Isn't the vision, well, you can't see my quote there, and the vision of the apostles perfectly clear after Pentecost? Don't they understand what Jesus was trying to say? Don't they explain from all of scripture how he fulfills who the Messiah is? And so that's what we see here. The disciples understand, they see, but they see dimly. They see with a blur, for lack of a better way of putting it, but they will one day see clearly when Jesus touches them in another way. And so, as we think about what this means for us, now, obviously, we don't want to allegorize this too much for our lives. But the truth of the matter is, if we don't have the Spirit, our lives, what we may believe that there is a God, we'll see things through that lens. But it's going to be blurred until we come to a full understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, until the Spirit gives us that gift of faith and brings us into the family of God.

We will not truly see and understand who Jesus is and what he has come to do. And so, may we be trusting that the Spirit has done this for us. That when we look at who Jesus is, when we understand who he is and what he came to do in his life, death, resurrection, ascension, may we fully understand that this is who Jesus is. His Spirit shows us very clearly because he has laid his hands on us in the gospel and helped us to see who God is and how he loves us and how he saves us. And so, may our vision through his word and spirit inspire us to share the gospel today. May we go out and share the word, trusting that Jesus through his spirit will make it clear for others.