"The miracles of Jesus", Part V: Seeing Clearly

Focus passage: Mark 8:19-30

Jesus had used five loaves to feed 5000 people and seven loaves to feed 4000 people. Yet, it was clear that the disciples did not understand what Jesus had done. He is frustrated at the limits of their faith. Yet, it is still the experience of people today. You first discover Jesus as your Savior and then slowly grasp what it means to be a disciple of Jesus over the course of your life. You grow in knowledge, but more important you have to grow in your ability to serve and to witness to others. Jesus heals a blind man in stages in Mark 8:22-26 that parallels the disciple’s statements of faith in the verses following the miracle. 

• Faith begins with fuzzy sight v.24 The first time that the man is touched, he can see with fuzzy sight. He can again see people, but they look like fuzzy trees walking around. When Jesus asks later in the text who people say that He is, the answer is again fuzzy sight. People see Jesus as a man from God, but none of those see Him clearly as Savior or Messiah. They do not see clearly.

• Faith can become clearer v.25 Jesus touches the man’s eyes one more time and the man can now see clearly. His sight is fully restored. He is a living object lesson for the disciples. When Jesus asks Peter about His identity, Peter says clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. His faith has grown by watching Jesus heal the blind and by listening to His teaching. 

• Yet not everyone is ready to see v.26 The man who was blind was sent home so he could go to his own village and show them what Jesus had done. The village of Bethsaida was not ready, but his family would be touched by this healing and grow in their faith. Peter is also told to tell no one that Jesus was the Christ. They were not ready. People were looking for a king and not a savior. 

The more time we spend with Jesus, the clearer our faith and sight become. Faith comes in stages and we will never see it all. The joy of being a Christian is in the journey. It is in learning more about your Lord each day and seeing things that God has revealed just to you. It is the close fellowship that you have with this Lord who will teach you and working together helping others and giving glory to our Lord. In the end, you will be different just as the disciples became different. They could sing when life was a struggle. They could lead others and people would follow. People saw the Jesus that lived in them and it impacted their lives and the lives of all the people close to them.