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22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus1 laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a Bible, turn to Mark chapter 8 as we continue our study through the gospel of Mark. Congratulations. We've reached the middle. Mark is 16 chapters. We're in chapter 8.
Jeffrey Heine:But more than it just being the middle, this is really the summit of Mark, or you could think of it as the the continental divide of Mark. All of Mark up to this point, it's been leading to this moment. And the rest of Mark is going to flow from this moment. But this is the pinnacle here. It's the moment when Jesus finally looks at his disciples, and he asks them the question, who do you say I am?
Jeffrey Heine:Because for over a year now, they've been following Jesus. They've been listening to his teaching. They've been, seeing all of his miracles. After all that time, Jesus asked them the most important question of their life. Who do you say I am?
Jeffrey Heine:You can only be around Jesus for so long before he asks you that question. And so who do you say he is? It's the most important question of your life. I'm not saying there are not other important questions. There most certainly are.
Jeffrey Heine:But you get this one right, and all the other questions seem to fall in place. So who do you say Jesus is? Let's look at Mark 8. We'll begin reading in verse 22. We'll read through verse 30.
Jeffrey Heine:And they came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. And when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, do you see anything? And he looked up and said, I see people, but they look like trees walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and he opened his eyes.
Jeffrey Heine:His sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, do not even enter the village. And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way, he asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And they told him, John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others one of the prophets.
Jeffrey Heine:And he asked them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, you are the Christ. And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:Would you pray with me? Lord, we ask that you would open our eyes. Spirit, come. Open our eyes that we might see Jesus for who he truly is. And to do so, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered any more, but, lord, may your words remain.
Jeffrey Heine:May they hit their mark. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So, this story begins with Jesus taking his disciples back to where it all began. At least where it all began for a few of them.
Jeffrey Heine:Bethsaida is the hometown of Peter and Andrew and Philip. And it was there in Bethsaida a little over a year ago that they first encountered Jesus. They first heard him teaching. And they were completely blown away. They had never seen or heard somebody, somebody preach with such authority.
Jeffrey Heine:So much so that when Jesus said, come and follow me, they didn't hesitate. Although they had a thriving fishing business, they just kinda threw their nets aside, and they went on the road with Jesus for more than a year. And during this time, they they didn't just get to hear Jesus teach and preach, they they got to see firsthand his miracles. They saw him cast out demons. Make the lame walk.
Jeffrey Heine:Make the deaf hear. Make the blind see. They even got to see Jesus raise the dead. One time, they they saw Jesus in the midst of a fierce storm while they were in the boat speak to the wind and waves like he would speak to a child, and the wind and the waves obeyed him. They saw Jesus walk on water, feed 1,000 with just a few loaves and a couple of fish.
Jeffrey Heine:And now after experiencing all those things for over a year, they come back home. The question is this. Are they the same people as when they left? Who do they now think Jesus is? That question could be asked of us.
Jeffrey Heine:Are we the same people? We've been studying Mark now for many months. We have we have heard his teaching. We have seen his miracles. Are you the same person as when we started, or or has the Holy Spirit been changing you, opening up your eyes?
Jeffrey Heine:Here, have have the disciples, have they come to finally see the true identity of Jesus as the Messiah, as the son of the living God, or are they still blind? That's the backdrop to this miracle about Jesus healing the blind man. The story's unique to Mark. He's the only one who writes the story. And actually, up to this point in Mark's gospel, we have not read of Jesus healing any person who is blind.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, He likely did, because we've read he's gone to entire towns, and he's healed everybody in those towns. So he likely, restored the sight with from blind people. But we don't actually have a story about that. Mark, he hasn't taken time to write to us about that. He saves it for this moment, right here, to tell us about how Jesus healed this blind man.
Jeffrey Heine:And the reason he does at this time, in this place, is because this story is Well, it's more than a it's more than a story. It's more than a miracle. For Jesus, this is an illustration, talking about our own blindness and what it's gonna take for us to see him clearly. So let's walk through this story. Warning.
Jeffrey Heine:It's weird. Man, it's a really unusual story. I love the weird stories of the Bible. I am irresistibly drawn to them. I actually studied this text over 10 years ago.
Jeffrey Heine:And I've been waiting this long to finally get to teach on it. Because I'm just drawn to it. When Jesus arrives in Bethsaida, some people bring to Him a man who is blind, and they beg Jesus to touch him. So Jesus reaches out to touch him, but not to heal him. Instead, he grabs him by the hand, and he leads him outside of the village.
Jeffrey Heine:That's the first unusual thing about this story. Jesus touches not to heal, but to lead. It would have been a really awkward moment, wouldn't it? For this blind man to be led by Jesus? It'd been awkward for the people watching Jesus do this.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, he's he's leading the longest, like, watch out for the rock here. We we got a hole here. It would've taken some time for him to lead this man all the way outside the village. But Jesus, in this moment, he's he's teaching this man to to go ahead and start trusting him. He's literally teaching him to walk by faith and not by sight.
Jeffrey Heine:He is a living parable of what that means there, being held by the hand of Jesus and just following Him when you can't see where you are going. You trust Jesus, and Jesus takes him outside of the village, far away from the familiar sounds and the familiar feels that this man has grown up with. And then he spits in this man's eyes. We we don't know how he did this. I doubt he just went up to the man.
Jeffrey Heine:Just just spit right in his his face. I think he probably spit on his hands. And then he kind of rubbed it in his eyes. But, we have no idea why he did this. Your speculation is as good as mine.
Jeffrey Heine:I just think he wanted the man to know what he was doing to him. Hey. I'm about to heal your eyes. And you know, and he just kinda makes a little moisture there and rubs it in his eyes. So Jesus, he he spits on him.
Jeffrey Heine:And then he asks the man if he sees anything. That's the second very unusual detail of this story. Because Jesus never asks anyone after he lays hands on him, people, did it work? You you won't find this in any other time Jesus heals somebody that he he heals them and is like, just could you let me know? Did it take?
Jeffrey Heine:Did it not take? It's a very unusual detail to the story. Only time it happens. It doesn't sound very Jesus like. It sounds like a doctor.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, a doctor prescribes you medicines, like, is it working? Is it not? Or if you've gone to PT, you know, physical therapy, it'll do things that, like, you know, bend you this way and that way, or, like, are you better? Does that help or does that hurt? Those are the types of questions that people without the power to heal typically ask.
Jeffrey Heine:Why does Jesus ask this question? I mean, he's he's God, isn't he? So he asked the man after he spits and rubs out in his eyes if he can see, and the man says, sort of. Because I I see people, but they look like trees walking around. You know, like, what the heck?
Jeffrey Heine:People who look like trees walking around? That's really bad vision. Just so you guys know, I need glasses. I just refuse to wear them. I'm trying to will my eyesight better.
Jeffrey Heine:And I've been doing that for years. But I look down here, it's just blur. It's just blur. And it's not held when I stare out here, and there's these bright lights. And they look as purple splotches everywhere.
Jeffrey Heine:People ask, what do I see when I look out here? I see your face is sort of purple. That's that's what I see. But I have never seen you walking around like trees. If that happens, I will get glasses.
Jeffrey Heine:It looks like Jesus botched the miracle. I mean, so he tries it again. It's like, Alright? Lays hands on the man again. This time, it seems to take.
Jeffrey Heine:You read 3 different iterations of the man recovering his sight. You read his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw things clearly. Mark really wants you to know, this time, it took 20 20 vision. Just took 2 times. Now let me tell you, if you wanted to make up a story about someone to show that they were God, show that they were all powerful God, come to this world as a human, if you wanted to make up a story in support of that, you don't make up this.
Jeffrey Heine:Not at all. You would never gather people around the campfire and say, let me tell you about Jesus, who was God in the flesh. He wants well, it took him a couple times to do this. He tried to heal somebody. Didn't really take, but the second time, he got it right.
Jeffrey Heine:You don't make up something like that. It makes Jesus look bad. I think this story was actually pretty problematic for Mark. Maybe it was so problematic for the other gospel writers that they didn't include it. But Mark does.
Jeffrey Heine:He writes it for us, not because he thought it was gonna fully show that Jesus was God. He he wrote it because it happened. It happened. Not because he fully understood what was going on. And I love stories like that, because they give me such confidence in the Bible.
Jeffrey Heine:The Bible's not gonna lead us astray. It lets me know that I can count, or, that what the gospels say are true about Jesus, because you would never make up something like this. Now although I don't think Mark had any idea what was going on, other than g Jesus seems to have swung and missed at a miracle, I think 2000 years later, I think we've been given some pretty good insight as to what exactly happened. A little over a decade ago, I came across an article in The New Yorker that I read. I don't typically read articles from the New Yorker.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not kinda like the NPR kind of guy. I'm more of ESPN. But but some Somehow I came across that. It was an article about a man named Virgil. And he had been blind for more than 50 years.
Jeffrey Heine:He lost his sight in one of his first few years as a child. He was either 2 or 3. I can't remember exactly. And he was able to have a procedure in which his sight was fully restored. 50 something years later.
Jeffrey Heine:It happened like this. He was going in to, to get a brain scan because of another condition he was having. And as they were scanning his brain, they said, oh, wow. They misdiagnosed your blindness over 50 years ago. It actually can be fixed.
Jeffrey Heine:Which is a pretty big misdiagnosis. And so he had the surgery, and his eyesight was completely restored. There's actually a movie about it starring, Val Kilmore. It's called At First Sight. I I can't recommend it to you or not.
Jeffrey Heine:I can't remember if it was rated PG or R. PG, see it, R. Use discretion. I don't want any parents calling me up. You should know that if you watch it though, it's not the Hollywood ending.
Jeffrey Heine:When Virgil gained his sight, he did not understand at all what he was seeing. He was totally confused. His retina and his optic nerves could now transmit impulses, but his brain could not make sense of these impulses. The medical term for this is agnostic, or more commonly known as mental blindness. Even when Virgil first saw his wife, she was the first thing that he got to see.
Jeffrey Heine:She was in the room with him. He first saw his wife, he didn't even know she was a person, because he couldn't distinguish any objects from the other. And then she spoke, and he was able to focus in on something that he didn't even know was a face. He he couldn't make sense at all of what was in front of him. You see, learning to see is actually like learning to read.
Jeffrey Heine:A a baby can see the the shapes of letters, but has no idea what those letters mean. It takes time to to make those connections, to to give meaning to those shapes. Now, over a long period of time, Virgil was gradually able to begin making sense of the world around him. But interestingly, he said one of the things that confused him most was distinguishing between people and trees. Isn't that fascinating?
Jeffrey Heine:Is that if a person was completely still, he couldn't tell the difference. There's still this kind of truck. There's still these things sticking out. It wasn't until a person kinda moved. He's like, oh.
Jeffrey Heine:But He if a person was still, He actually would go and He would He could distinguish a tree from a person still by touch, but not by sight. Fascinating. Eventually, Virgil, he he became so disoriented from this new world of sight, he began to see that surgery as a curse and not as a gift. And he spiraled into deep depression, and the movie deals with that. His story's not unique.
Jeffrey Heine:I encourage you to go look up more. But over the past 30 or so years, a number of blind people have been able to have procedures to where they receive sight, and all of them report similar instances. They can't make sense of what their eyes are seeing. And I think that's what we have going on here in this story. Jesus first heals the eyes.
Jeffrey Heine:He asks, do you see anything? To which He says, yes, but I can't make sense of any of it. You see, he's no longer physically blind, but he's still mentally blind. So then Jesus heals the man's brain. He's not botching a miracle about the eyes.
Jeffrey Heine:It's 2 separate healings. One that which Mark would have had absolutely no idea about 2000 years ago. No one has had any idea about this until fairly recently. I find that fascinating, how the Bible continues to prove itself. But that's what we have going on in this story, is this 2 staged healing.
Jeffrey Heine:But once again, why does Jesus decide to do this? Why does he first heal the eyes and then he heals the mind? Well, remember, it's not just a healing. It's a parable. It's an illustration.
Jeffrey Heine:He's gonna ask his disciples, do you see me? And when they say, yes, we see you, he's gonna say, do you see me clearly? Do you understand what you are seeing? Let's look at verse 27. And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Jeffrey Heine:And on the way, he asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And they told him, John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others, one of the prophets. And he asked them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered, you are the Christ. He'll love you.
Jeffrey Heine:He doesn't say, I believe you are the Christ, or you are the Christ to me. Just a bold declaration of fact. You are the Christ. Now before asking his disciples, who do you say that I am? Jesus first, he says, tell me what the word on the street is.
Jeffrey Heine:Tell me what other people are saying about me. Who do they think I am? And, and they let Jesus know that some say he's John the Baptist. Some say he's Elijah. Some say he's the prophets.
Jeffrey Heine:And this would have indeed been high praise if he had been any of those. I mean, that would have put him on, like, the Mount Rushmore of great Israel leaders. I mean, first you have John the Baptist. Now, we're not sure if the people actually thought that this was John the Baptist come back to life or it was just Jesus with the spirit of John the Baptist. We don't know.
Jeffrey Heine:But you could see how they made the comparison. Because Jesus, just like John, they were both wildly popular. Enormous crowds would follow them. The people loved them. The Pharisees hated them.
Jeffrey Heine:Both were truth tellers. Fearless truth tellers. And so being called John the Baptist would have been high praise. Others thought that he was Elijah. Elijah puts you in the goat conversation.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, greatest of all time, prophet Elijah. It's like Elijah or Elisha. You're it's a toss-up. But Elijah, what he was known for was his miracles. Most of the prophets never would perform a miracle, never did it.
Jeffrey Heine:But Elijah did so many miracles, he actually even raised a child back to life. Just like Jesus. And also, if you remember, Elijah never died. He was just taken up in a whirlwind to heaven, and so they thought maybe he just came back down. Maybe this actually is Elijah.
Jeffrey Heine:So to be called Elijah would have been huge praise indeed. Other people thought Jesus was one of the prophets. It's nothing to sneer at there. Remember, it's been over 400 years now since Israel's last prophet. 400 years of silence, and now for God to raise up a new prophet?
Jeffrey Heine:That's that's a huge deal. And it would also mean that God still cares for Israel. Still is speaking to them. So all in all, these are 3 very lofty answers as to whom, the people think that Jesus is. But after listening to each of these answers, Jesus then turns to his disciples and says, okay, but who do you say I am?
Jeffrey Heine:Who do you say I am? How do you answer that question? Certainly, you've given a little thought. I mean, how can you not give it at least some thought? Because Jesus, I mean, the greatest human being never lived.
Jeffrey Heine:He had more impact than any other human. So certainly you've you've given who he is some thought. Maybe you're like one of the crowd. One of the people in the crowd who who just thought, well, he was a I mean, you can't deny his greatness. He's an absolutely great great man.
Jeffrey Heine:And certainly he is. I mean, 2000 years later, billions of people are gathering together on a Sunday to study him, to to study his teachings, to try to, emulate his life. You can't deny the greatness. But is that it? Was Jesus just a great teacher?
Jeffrey Heine:Was he just a great leader? Perhaps he would go so far as to say, well, I'll give you not even that. He he was more than that. He was the greatest moral influencer of all time. I mean, the whole do unto others as you would have them do unto you?
Jeffrey Heine:Genius. I mean, it's called the golden rule for a reason. I mean, you you can't be any better as a moral influencer than that. But is that it? Who do you think Jesus is?
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus is not just asking the disciples. He's asking you. You've been hearing from him. You've been hearing the stories about him. We've been studying him.
Jeffrey Heine:Who do you think Jesus is? Because you either call him Lord and you joyfully lay down your life in a sweet surrender to him, or you call him a great teacher and that's it. And you're free to do whatever you want in your life. Just know that your life has no purpose or meaning. Either bow to him or you're free to do whatever you want.
Jeffrey Heine:But who do you think he is? Well, Peter answers, you are the Christ. Once again, you just cut straight to it. I don't believe it's not, I believe you're the Christ. It's not you're the Christ for me.
Jeffrey Heine:It's you're the Christ. This is the first time we have in the gospel of Mark that any human recognizes Jesus as this. Now Mark, at the very start of his gospel, he says this is the gospel of Jesus the Christ, but no human ever gets it. Demons shout it out, but no human gets it. But finally, the disciples understand who Jesus is.
Jeffrey Heine:Now Christ is not the last name. Christ is a title. The word Christ means the anointed one. It's the anointed one. You would anoint, prophets or priests or kings.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus is all of those. The Hebrew word for Christ is Messiah. Jesus is a long awaited Messiah. Now, in our time and place, our culture, the terms Christ, or the term Messiah, they've kind of lost their meaning on us. So if it's helpful to you, I think we could define it a couple of other ways.
Jeffrey Heine:We could say that Jesus is the final king. Or Jesus is the king of kings. Jesus is the answer. The answer to all of life's questions. Jesus is the long awaited ruler who would come into this world, and he would get rid of evil, and he would make everything right.
Jeffrey Heine:That's the Messiah. That's the Christ. He's not John the Baptist. He's not Elijah. He's not a prophet.
Jeffrey Heine:For this reason, all those people pointed to someone. They were pointers. Jesus doesn't point to anyone. He is the point. Jesus never he doesn't say, hey, look at the answer's over there.
Jeffrey Heine:The truth is out there. He says, no. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. He would always point to himself. I mean, that is different than any teacher, any philosopher, any founder of any religion who's always pointing outside themselves.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus alone points to him as the answer. Saint Augustine, he said it best when he said, I have read in Plato and Cicero things sayings that are both wise and very beautiful, But I have never read in either of them, come to me. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus didn't point to anyone. He was the point.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter rightly understood this, that Jesus had not come to them in order to give them a new philosophy or a new moral teaching. He wasn't offering them a self help book and say, go read that. He was offering Himself. He's the answer. Not only to fix the disciples, but to fix this entire broken world.
Jeffrey Heine:So this is Peter with his eyes being opened. He's receiving sight here when he makes this declaration. He sees Jesus as the Messiah for the first time. He just has no idea what he's seeing. He sees him, but he doesn't understand the meaning of it.
Jeffrey Heine:So he's correctly understood him, but he understood who Jesus is, but he does not understand what Jesus came to do. Look at verse 31. Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after 3 days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Jeffrey Heine:But turning and seeing his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on things of God, but on things of man. Peter goes from a really big high to a really big low. When the blind man could see, he saw men walking around like trees. When Peter could finally see, he saw the messiah coming as a conquering, conquering king. His vision still needed to be cleared.
Jeffrey Heine:He didn't see properly. For Peter, all the disciples, and for all of the disciples, the messiah, he was supposed to be that king who would use all of the power they had seen to vanquish Israel's foes, most particularly, vanquish Rome. But Jesus, he says, I'm not the messiah that comes and wields the sword. I'm gonna be the messiah that falls underneath it. That's why I came.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter can see Jesus as the Messiah, but now he's got to be given sight to see Jesus as the suffering Messiah. The Messiah came to this world in order to die. Notice what Jesus does not say here. He does not say that he is going to be killed and then rise 3 days later. That's not what he says.
Jeffrey Heine:He doesn't say he's going to be killed. He says he must. Everything changes in that word must. He must be killed and then rise 3 days 3 days later. It's crucial that you understand this, that Jesus isn't just predicting that terrible things are about to happen to him.
Jeffrey Heine:He's not just looking into the future and seeing what will happen. He is telling what the Messiah must do. This is the purpose of the Messiah. The Messiah has come to suffer and to die. The Messiah is coming has come to make atonement for sin.
Jeffrey Heine:He's come to this world to be a sacrifice, to pay for our sins. That sin that was residing in Peter's heart was a much greater enemy than Rome. Much greater. Doing far more damage to him. It's that sin that needed to be dealt with.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter kept thinking the problem's outside there. You got you got to fix everything that's outside there. And that's truly what we always go to Jesus for. We we wanna use him. We wanna use him to maybe gain political power.
Jeffrey Heine:We wanna use them to fix all these other things in our lives. Jesus is like, I won't be used. I didn't come to fix all of that. I came to fix this. That's where the enemy is.
Jeffrey Heine:Do you see me clearly? He came to this world to suffer and die to make atonement for our sins. Yes. Jesus is the Messiah. He's the King of Kings.
Jeffrey Heine:He is the Lord of Lords. He has come to make the world right again, but not by fighting Rome, not by fighting anything out there, but by dealing with the sin that's in here. He must suffer and die and rise again in order for us to be forgiven and have new life. Do you believe this? Who do you say Jesus is?
Jeffrey Heine:It's the most important question that you can answer. Who do you say he is? Is he just a good moral teacher, moral influencer, an important historical figure, or Or is he the king who out of a incredible heart of love for you, laid down his life for you that you might be forgiven and have life? That's who I believe he is. Let's pray to him.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus, I feel like in this room, that when it comes to understanding who You are, there are so many people that see you like a person sees someone walking around like a tree. We might use the term Christ. We have no idea what it means. Would you fully restore our sight that we might see you in all of your glory and beauty? Thank you for your love for us, for your death, and for your resurrection that we might have life.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray this in your sweet name, Jesus. Amen.