Matt Kruse - NBC 1-25-15 AM Service

“Can you See Me now?” Series: and His : Studies in Mark – Part 26 :22-30 Congregational Prayer:

Introduction: Take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark 8, Mark chapter 8.

Odeo was a website that allowed users to search for and subscribe to podcasts. As the company developed it realized that ITunes was growing in the market share and would soon become too much competition for their fledgling website. They gave their employees two weeks to come up with new ideas on what kind of a website service would allow them to sustain their business. At the end of the two weeks and endless business pitches the company decided to go with a micro- blogging status updating design known as Twitter. This has become known as one of the most famous pivots in recent business history.

In chapter 8 of Mark’s Gospel we come to a major pivot in the . Up to this point we have seen his supernatural power preeminently on display through his ministry, but chapter 8 marks a complete change in his ministry. Instead of great displays of power we now will begin to see foretastes of great weakness. From Mark 8:27 onward, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, intent on giving his life in complete weakness on the Cross of Calvary. Our text this morning is a pivot point in the life and ministry of Jesus. From power and healing to intensive teaching of his disciples preparing them for his soon death. But these verses do more than pivot the narrative. They also put on display the mighty power of Jesus to heal. Let’s read starting in verse 22.

The healing of the physical blindness in verses 22-26 is followed by the healing of spiritual blindness in verses 27-30. The first healing makes known to us the nature and character of the second healing. You will remember that the disciples and Jesus have just left from the district of Dalmanutha because some had confronted Jesus and demanded a sign. And so in the face of their blatant rejection he got back in the boat and directed the disciples to the region of . Bethsaida was a town on the northeast corner of the Sea of , near where the Jordan River emptied into the . It was the original hometown of the brothers Andrew & Peter, and also of Philip. As a fishing port, it was a place the disciples would have known well. Upon their arrival in this familiar town they are greeted by some people intent on having their blind friend healed. We know what should happen next. This has been the pattern of Jesus. Those who seek Jesus in faith are healed. So, we expect that is how this is going to go. But this man doesn’t just get healed by Jesus. This miraculous healing stands as one of the most unique recorded for us in the . It is unique to Mark’s account and the detail he gives us of the healing plays a pivotal role in making known to us the spiritual healing that is taking place in the disciples. I want to draw out some of the details of the healing of this blind man as we investigate the text this morning.

I. Jesus Heals Physical Blindness – vs. 22-26 a. Personal Healing i. Notice that the crowd brings their blind friend to Jesus and begs him to simply touch Jesus. Jesus’ touching of the sick to heal them has been repeated often throughout his ministry. Jesus has done ministry in and around this town before so these people have certainly heard of, if not seen, Jesus do this very thing before. They are convinced that if Jesus will simply touch their friend he will be healed of his physical blindness. And so they march him up to Jesus and beg him to touch him. Jesus does touch him, but the first touch is not a healing touch – it is a personal touch. He takes the blind man by the hand and leads him away from the crowd and the confusion of the moment. Had Jesus simply been a religious huckster using healing as a means to draw a crowd then he would have just healed the man immediately in the midst of the city. But he was more interested in the man than he was in the fickle attention of a crowd. ii. And so once Jesus has led the man safely away from the distraction of the village he proceeds to heal him. Now, this is only recorded for us here in Mark, and it is the most unique miracle Jesus performs in that he does it in two phases. He spits on the man’s eyes and lays his hands on him and then asks him if he can see. The man responds by saying that he can partially see people but they look like trees walking around. Jesus again lays his hands on the man’s eyes and his sight was then perfectly restored. No other miracle in Jesus’ ministry that we have recorded for us fits this same mold. Therefore, it is safe to assume that Jesus did this on purpose and that Mark recorded it for us on purpose. Certainly we know that Jesus was not hindered in his healing ability by some shortfall of his divine power, or by some lack of faith in the man. Nowhere in the text does it tell us anything about the man’s faith or about Jesus somehow being unable to heal the man on the first try. Jesus was bringing about a personal healing of this man’s physical blindness and he was bringing this healing to perfection through the process. b. Perfect Healing i. And so he partially heals the man, asks him a question about what he can see, and then fully heals the man so that he can see perfectly. Normally when Jesus performs a healing miracle he speaks a word of command or he makes some kind of pronouncement, but here he asks the man a question – do you see anything? This was not because Jesus did not know the answer, but it was because Jesus was doing more than healing the physically blind man. ii. Take note of the three phrases in verse 25 which make clear the healing of this blind man was complete and perfect. Jesus’ second laying on of his hands on the man’s eyes produced this result – he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. That last phrase has the idea of not just a completed action, but an ongoing result. This final touch of Jesus healed the man perfectly. He saw everything clearly from that moment on. This miracle is reminiscent of the healing of the deaf man at the end of chapter 7. In that instance Jesus took the man away from the crowd and put his fingers into his ears and spit and touched his tongue. And then Jesus uttered the phrase – Be opened. And verse 35 uses a string of three phrases to give us the result. It says – his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. It is the same construction in the original that it is here in chapter 8 and verse 25. Two aorist verbs followed by an imperfect verb. In other words, the man kept on speaking plainly, just like the man in chapter 8 kept on seeing all things clearly. It was a perfect healing in both cases that was wrought by the physical and very personal touch of Jesus. iii. This very personal and perfect healing has more going on that just a blind man receiving sight. Jesus is using this man’s blindness and his subsequent healing as an object lesson of his own ’s spiritual blindness and subsequent sight. We know this from what happens in verses 27-30, but we also know this because of what happens before the healing of the blind man. You will remember that as Jesus ordered the disciples back into the boat in Dalmanutha they began to fret over the fact that they hadn’t brought any bread. As Jesus tries to warn them of the dangerous spiritual leaven of the unbelief of the Pharisees, the disciples totally miss the lesson because they are worried about bread. Remember that there were nine questions that Jesus rattles off at them in verses 17-21 to drive home the point that they are yet without spiritual understanding. So Jesus says to them – do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? iv. Now here is Jesus, possibly just a matter of minutes later, with all of the disciples looking on, saying to this blind man – do you see anything? It is also very interesting to note that in verses 23-25 there are 8 different Greek words used for eye or for some form of physical sight. The litany of different but yet very similar phrases is reminiscent of what happened in Jesus’ questions to the disciples on the boat. The carry over here is that that disciples are just like this physically blind man, only in a spiritual way. They don’t yet perceive or understand. They are still without understanding of who Jesus really is and of why it really matters. But there is hope for the disciples, just like there was hope for the physically blind man. The hope is not found in the disciples’ ability to increase their own understanding, but in the healing touch of Jesus. Jesus heals physical blindness, but the greater truth presented here is that Jesus also heals spiritual blindness. II. Jesus Heals Spiritual Blindness – vs. 27-30 a. This is the reality we see in verses 27-30. Jesus leads his disciples away from the town of Bethsaida and takes them on a journey 25 or so miles to the north to the very pagan and very corrupt city of Ceasarea Philippi. It is on this journey that Jesus probes his disciples’ understanding of who He is. It is in this that we see the healing of their spiritual blindness beginning to take place. Just like the physically blind man of Bethsaida, these disciples are being progressively healed by Jesus. He has patiently and persistently shown them and explained to them the mystery of the Kingdom – that he is the Messiah. They have faithfully followed him, but rarely have they understood him. They have been intrigued by him, and perplexed by him, but they have not yet come to know Him for who he really is. This requires the healing touch of the Messiah upon their souls. And it is this healing touch that has been progressively taking place. b. Progressive Healing i. This healing of their spiritual blindness is taking place progressively. Jesus is removing their scales and allowing them to see the spiritual truth of who He is, but he is not doing it all at once like some miraculous flash in the pan from Heaven. Rather, he is working on them in progressive stages, just like the physically blind man we just looked at. ii. Up to this point in Mark’s Gospel no one has declared the true identity of Jesus. The disciples have called him teacher, and the Syro-Phoenician woman called him Lord, but that’s it. Mark told us right away that his Gospel was about Jesus the , the Son of God. And God the Father at Jesus’ baptism declares from Heaven that Jesus is His Son with whom he is well pleased. Even demons have gotten in on the act declaring him to be the Holy One of God and the Son of the Most High God. But as of yet not one of His disciples has been recorded as rightly declaring who Jesus is. But here, as they are on their way to Ceasarea Philippi Jesus probes their understanding of Him, and Peter as the spokesman for the group declares that Jesus is the Christ. What this means in the First Century Jewish mind is that Jesus is the promised and anointed King sent by God to overcome all of Israel’s enemies and establish God’s rule and reign on Earth. It meant that these men were rightly understanding Jesus to be sent from God, and not just sent from God, but the very Son of God. So, the declaration in verse 29 is a statement of right understanding by the disciples. But it is not yet a full understanding of Jesus. These disciples can see partially. They spiritually can see people, but they look like trees walking around. They can affirm that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, but they don’t yet comprehend that as the Messiah His mission is much different than they were anticipating. Which means that they connection to him is going to look much different than they think at this point. They are convinced that he is going to overthrow Rome and lead the charge in re-establishing Israel as the world power. And yet, in a matter of months this Jesus is going to be hanging on a Roman cross crying out “It is Finished” and breathing his last. Jesus is in the process of healing their spiritual blindness. By the time he ascends into Heaven after his resurrection these men can see clearly who He is and why it matters. By that point their spiritual eyes have been fully restored and they will see clearly from that point forward. But here they are in chapter 8 – right in the middle of the book – and their understanding of Jesus is partial. They see dimly. iii. And this is how God’s work to heal us from spiritual blindness works. Rarely, if ever, does God work in such a way to save a soul through just one proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus. Someone doesn’t just hear about Jesus with no prior knowledge and fully understand that He came as the Son of God to seek and to save the lost. Their spiritual blindness is healed gradually as they progress in their understanding of why he had to come, what he came to do, and who He truly is. Every person who receives spiritual sight through the work of God’s saving grace does so in stages. There is a minimum level of understanding required in order for someone to express saving faith in our Lord Jesus, and this minimum level of understanding is granted by our Lord’s progressive work in a life. And then, even after our conversion to faith in Jesus alone we continue to progress in our knowledge of Him – as the Apostle Paul himself declares – I desire nothing more than to know him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. This is how the healing of spiritual blindness works. It is progressive. Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Christ is a sign of the healing power of the Messiah to open blind men’s eyes, and when Jesus does this, he does it progressively. iv. Just on a side note here. In Matthew’s Gospel, in the parallel account to this one, in Matthew 16 – Peter makes his declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And the Jesus responds in Matthew’s account with a blessing upon Peter and then he makes his famous statement that “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. The Roman Catholic tradition has told us that Peter is the rock upon which Jesus will build his church and therefore that Peter was the first Pope of Rome and every other Pope has served in his succession. However, here is Mark writing a Gospel account of the life of Jesus under the direction and tutelage of Peter himself. Not only that, but they are most likely in the city of Rome at the time of the writing, putting down on papyrus the life of Jesus for the mostly Gentile church in Rome. And yet, you get to this major event of Peter declaring that Jesus is the Christ and Mark doesn’t record Jesus telling Peter that he is the rock upon which Jesus is going to build the church. Now, if Peter was intent on making known that He was the Messiah ordained human head of the Church then this would have been the place to do it. But that obviously was not Jesus’ intent, nor is it Peter’s or Mark’s or the Holy Spirit’s. Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Messiah is representative of all of the disciples and it is a major step along the road to them receiving healing from their spiritual blindness. v. So this healing is progressive. They still didn’t completely understand Jesus like they ought to, but they were one step closer. Notice that after Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ, Jesus tells the disciples to tell no one about him. This is an unusual command from our Lord. They have already been sent out once to do the ministry of healing and casting out demons and declaring the Gospel of the Kingdom. Just before Jesus ascends into Heaven he will commission them to go and preach of Him in all the corners of the world. But here, he commands silence from them about who he is. Why? Usually when Jesus makes a command like this it has to do with not raising up a huge crowd in response to some fantastic miracle because he didn’t want to be a freak side show. So, after he heals the man completely in verse 25 he commands the man in verse 26 to not enter the village but to go directly home. Jesus doesn’t want this man to be like little newsboys on the street calling out “Extra, Extra – read all about it – Jesus healed me today!” vi. But here in verse 30 when Jesus tells the disciples to tell no one about him, he is commanding silence because of their partial sight. They only partially understand who He is and why it matters and so he doesn’t want them to be mouthpieces of a partial truth. This will prove itself true in the next section when Jesus starts to inform his disciples of the plan to head to Jerusalem so that he can give his life as a ransom for many and Peter – again the spokesman for the group – will step up and rebuke the Lord for such talk. This serves as proof that they were only partially able to see the spiritual truth of Jesus as the Messiah. Which means that they were still partially blind and Jesus didn’t want that untrue message being spread. c. Contextual Healing i. This progressive healing work of Jesus is happening in the context of life. It is a progressive healing, and it is a contextual healing. So the context of Jesus bringing these men to a greater spiritual understanding of himself is the context of false beliefs and pagan religion. ii. The context of false beliefs 1. As they are headed to the region of Ceasarea Philippi Jesus asks them who people say that he is. This is a pretty unusual question for a rabbi to be asking. In fact, in most cases the students were the ones who asked the rabbi questions and the rabbi gave answers and taught them the truth. But here, the rabbi – Jesus – asks the question of his students. It is also unusual because it is an identity question. It’s not just a question about what people think about what he does, but it is a question about who people think He is. 2. The answer given is that some think he is or Elijah or one of the other prophets. All three of these beliefs about Jesus show us that he was popular on the street. It was a significant statement in 1st Century Judaism to say that someone was John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets. The Messianic fervor hadn’t ever been higher than it was in 1st Century Judaism. There was all kinds of talk about the coming of the Messiah. Expectations and hopes were high. The belief, based on the OT Scriptures, was that there would be a forerunner – one last prophet before the Messiah came and he would come in the spirit of Elijah, or maybe even be Elijah himself. And so to say that Jesus was this forerunner or maybe even Elijah – this was a significant statement. Jesus had obviously made a huge impact and through his prolific ministry he had put people in the position of having to say that he was obviously more than just an ordinary man. 3. And yet, in the midst of this Messianic fervor, the people of Israel were so spiritually blind that they could not see the Messiah even though he was standing right in front of them. So, while it is nice that they recognize Jesus’ uniqueness, they still miss it. It is not enough to say that Jesus was a great man or that he was one of the prophets, or as is popular to say in world religion today – that he was the greatest teacher to ever live. If you stop there you have stopped short of saving faith. You see, there is not risk in saying that Jesus was a great teacher, even the greatest teacher of all time. But there is great risk in saying that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. 4. It is in the midst of these false beliefs that Jesus is drawing his disciples from spiritual darkness to spiritual light. This is the context of all of those who would receive spiritual sight from Jesus. We live in a world filled with false beliefs. This is the nature of God’s work to heal our spiritual blindness. He must cut through all of the false beliefs and he must graciously re-instruct our hearts to show us that He is so much more than just a great teacher or one of the great prophets. iii. The context of pagan religion (Show picture here) 1. The context of this healing of the disciples’ spiritual blindness is also a context of pagan religion. Jesus intentionally takes them 25 or so miles to the north of Bethsaida to the town of Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi is a town that has a sordid past and a pagan present. The town lays at the foot of Mt. Hermon, and the northernmost border of Israel. If you followed the Jordan river straight north out of the Sea of Galilee you would come to the foot of Mt. Hermon and the town of Caesarea Philippi. There are three tributaries in this area that feed the Jordan River, and Caesarea Philippi is situated right by one of those tributaries. It is literally a mountain spring that gushes out of the rock at the foot of the Mt. Hermon. 2. Back in early Jewish history, the tribe of Dan didn’t want to deal with the Philistines so they went looking for better territory in which to settle. When they went to the far northern part of the country they came upon this Garden of Eden like scene of a lush river valley and a mountain backdrop to boot. So, they settled here and so you find this saying in the Old Testament – from Dan to Beersheba. Dan was the farthest point north in the Isrealite territory. Not too many generation after settling here, Jeroboam broke off from Rehoboam and took the 10 northern tribes and started his own little kingdom. In order to keep the people from going to Jerusalem to worship Jeroboam set up golden calves at the southern and northern points of his kingdom. The northern golden calf was located at Dan. So, they created this high place and they placed the golden calf on top of it and they “worshiped” there. This idolatrous worship of the Israelites was eventually punished by the Lord and they were carried off into captivity. But the pagan worship at the foot of Mt. Hermon continued. Because water is so vital to life, the pagan people thought that this gushing water coming out of the rock was the gate to the underworld. It was here that life came from. And so they setup the worship of Pan. The worship of this pagan god was accompanied by all kinds of immoral and indecent acts so as to procure the blessing of the god. In the first Century, this pagan worship thrived as the town was inherited by Herod Philip and so he renamed the town in honor of Caesar Augustus, naming it Philip’s Caesarea – or Caesarea Philippi. The bottom line is, this was a wicked place that was viewed by the common Jew as the Gate of Hell. It had been a hotbed of demonic idolatry for Centuries. So, you have to ask – what is Jesus doing in bringing his disciples up here? Why make the 25 mile trek to a hotbed of worship? 3. There is an interesting clue as to what Jesus is doing by this jaunt up to Caesarea Philippi given in the phrase “on the way” in verse 27. This phrase will be repeated several times in the next few chapters and it will show us the way of the Messiah. You see, the Jewish mind of the First Century was so bent on what the way of the Messiah would look like. Jesus knew that a lot of work had to be done to heal the spiritual blindness of his disciples. He is not on the way to Jerusalem to raise up a fighting force to overthrow Rome. Rather, as he will explicitly tell them in the next few verses, he is on the way to Jerusaelm to suffer man things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priest and be killed and rise again. This is what it meant to be the real Messiah. And so Jesus takes them away from the crowds of Galilee and the prolific healing ministry they had seen. And he walks with them for miles on end to a remote and yet very pagan place and in the presence of this pagan idol worship that has been happening for Centuries he asks them - who do you say that I am? 4. You see, this is all part of the progress of their healing. Jesus is taking them from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight and he is doing so in the context of real life. He does not just zap them with spiritual truth and make them robotically believe all that is true about himself. Rather, he patiently, progressively, and graciously removes the scales and touches their blind eyes. III. Application: a. Jesus still heals i. So, where does this matter for your life today. Jesus heals the physically blind and Jesus heals the spiritually blind in this passage. But his power is not limited to the 1st Century. Jesus still heals. This is what he does as the Savior of souls. He progressively and patiently and graciously removes the blindness of human hearts and shows them the light of eternal truth – that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of mankind. ii. Maybe you are here this morning and you are on this journey of progressive healing. You don’t yet fully understand this Jesus. You aren’t quite sure you grasp what it means that he was fully God and fully man. You aren’t totally sure why he had to die and how that fits into paying for your sin. But you are progressing in your understanding. I want to point you to Jesus this morning. He alone can heal you of your spiritual blindness. Keep looking to Him. Keep seeking Him. Keep asking Him to give you sight. He will take you from whatever context you find yourself and he will graciously bring you to full sight. iii. For those of you who have full sight in that you believe in Jesus and know the salvation from sin that can only be found in him – I say to you, find or make some blind friends and seek to bring them to the healer of souls. b. If you have sight, Jesus healed you i. For those of us who have spiritual sight, we must also take away from this passage that we have this sight because Jesus healed us. He healed us progressively and contextually, but he has also healed us perfectly. We can see everything clearly because we have been spiritually born again. Jesus has touched our spiritual eyes and made us to see. ii. If you do not think of your faith in Christ in primarily these terms then you will end up with a mostly man-centered view of your justification before God. We must never forget that we only have sight because Jesus has healed us. Conclusion: Do you need to be healed – look to Jesus and live! Have you been healed? Look to Jesus and give Him praise! Let’s pray.