Open your eyes!
"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?”"
- Mark 8:23 -
Today's sermon is an appeal to be a little more gentle with others —
and simultaneously a little harder on ourselves.
Why won't you hear this sermon in church?
Preachers usually avoid being offensive. I won't worry too much about that. Put on your big boy pants, and don't say I didn't warn you.
In case you missed them, here are the first two articles in the series,
"Sermons You'll Never Hear In Church:"
"Tax Collectors Are Mentally Ill, and Ought to Quit"
"Render unto GOD what is His."
Do you understand Jesus' message?
Do you really?
The truth is, we all start out blind. Like the very funny fellow in the ninth chapter of John's book, we are all "blind from birth."
I see... or, Do I?
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As I read Mark 8 this morning,
I was struck by the juxtaposition of key events, wordings, and comments.
In this section of Mark's book we see a number of seemingly unconnected events.
Jesus has compassion on a hungry crowd.
The Pharisees demand a sign, and Jesus warns his disciples about them.
Jesus heals a blind man.
Jesus asks who people and who his disciples think he is. Peter answers, "The Messiah."
Jesus rebukes Peter for not listening.
Jesus warns of the difficulty of following him.
As is so often the case,
the bible is a mix of both teaching and illustrative historical events. Historical parables.
Among these seemingly disparate stories, can we find a common thread?
What, if anything, ties the eighth chapter of Mark together?
Perhaps that thread is sight.
We all desperately need to see.
Our problem is, we don't realize that we're blind. We have a natural tendency to think that our sight is pretty damn good, while the reality is we're partially or fully blind.
We think we see pretty well.
Image courtesy of Sean Brown and http://unsplash.com
In this chapter, "the eyes have it."
The metaphorical theme of the chapter is "sight" and "seeing." Right in the middle of the chapter we see a historical parable in which Jesus literally heals a blind man.
The rest of the chapter is filled with the spiritually blind; some permanently so, others in various stages of healing.
The chapter raises a pivotal question. It is a question that we all ought to heed. Jesus asked the literally blind man this:
"Do You See Anything?"
This is a question we should definitely ask ourselves. The Pharisees certainly thought they had it all figured out, but they were the ones who, spiritually, were totally blind. So ask yourself:
"Can I really see, spiritually speaking?
Do I see anything?
How much do I see?
Is there more that I may be missing?"
Blind? Or just dark glasses?
Image courtesy of Alex Sheldon and http://unsplash.com
My first call to action is this:
Be a little harder on yourself.
Learn from what Jesus said to his disciples. They were slow learners, weren't they? We all are.
You are too; you just need to admit it, to yourself and others.
I'll suggest a good way to start:
Consider the barrage of questions Jesus asked his disciples in this chapter. Try seriously applying each of them to yourself.
Are your eyes open at all? Two of Jesus questions may help you answer that:
“Who do people say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?”
Do you really believe in Jesus? Have you acknowledge him for who he is, for who he said he is?
The difference between the "garden variety" answer — that Jesus was simply a good man, or even some kind of prophet — and the true answer Peter gave — that Jesus is God's chosen king, Son of God, the God/Man — could make all the difference to you personally.
Fully, or partially blind?
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But revelation is progressive.
Even if you already recognize Jesus as God come to Earth, you need to acknowledge that there are very likely many things left for you to learn. You need to humble yourself, as the disciples did, and hear Jesus' many other questions in John 8:
“Do you not yet perceive or understand?”
“Are your hearts hardened?”
“Having eyes do you not see?”
“Having ears do you not hear?”
“Do you not remember?”
“When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” - Twelve
“And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” - Seven
“Do you not yet understand?”
Remember, these were men that lived with Jesus. They heard his voice. They saw his amazing and powerful works, including raising the dead, and they still didn't "get it" in many cases. It took time for them to begin to "see" things as they were.
The lesson is clear.
Truth takes time. We don't get it all at once. We can't assume we know it all. Sometimes God, for his own good reasons, only opens our eyes in his own good time.
Recognizing that we still have far to go,
responding to my next call to action should be easier.
Babies and Puppies
Image courtesy of Daniela Rey and http://unsplash.com
Have a little more compassion.
Be patient with the blindness of your neighbor. Try to transfer a little of the feeling you have looking at puppies and babies to your slow, dull, dense neighbor.
Remember, you were once totally blind yourself. Even now, you probably don't "see" everything as clearly as you should.
Jesus had compassion on the crowd who had followed him to the wilderness, who listened to his teaching for three days. The crowd in danger of going home hungry and fainting on the way.
Jesus had compassion on the blind man brought to him. Consider how gentle Jesus was with 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?”"
- Mark 8:23 -
Did you get that?
Jesus took him by the hand and led him.
Jesus knew that he was blind.
Take your neighbor by the hand...
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But there's something else, something very important, to notice in this story:
Jesus did not restore his vision instantly.
As he began to see, the blind man's vision was less than perfect:
"And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”"
His vision was distorted. As we begin to learn the truth, our vision is still distorted by old ideas, by misconceptions. The same is true of our neighbor. We need to make allowances.
We need to have compassion on our neighbor.
We need to allow him time to come to a better understanding of whatever truth it may be that we see so very clearly, but that has not yet gripped his heart.
Leavened Bread...
Image courtesy of Kate Remmer and http://unsplash.com
I'm preaching to myself as well.
I need to be patient with you, my readers, as I try to show you what scripture says about various controversial subjects. These include heaven, hell, and the depravity of human government.
For example, in this chapter we see Jesus warning his disciples about "the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
What is that leaven?
In a nutshell, it is the original sin of Satan.
It is substituting a false authority for the true authority of God.
It is supplanting the Word of God with human legislation and tradition.
Jesus taught two laws.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Matthew 22:37-39
The Pharisees added hundreds of "laws."
Far worse than the Pharisees or Herod, modern governments write endless volumes of laws and apply them by violent force.
Thus, my final call to action is this.
Stop worshipping man. Start worshipping Jesus alone.
Jesus had authority to teach.
He had authority to heal the lame and the blind.
He had authority to raise the dead.
Jesus is the only one who has authority to rule.
"And Jesus came and said to them,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
- Matthew 28:18
How much authority belongs to Jesus? - All.
Where is that authority exercised? - In heaven.
Where else? - On earth.
Human governments need not apply.
What's ultimately at stake?
If you miss knowing Jesus and understanding his teaching, it could cost your life.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
- Matthew 28:18
I don't know about you,
but I consider my soul, myself, my life, of ultimate value.
Today would be a good day to listen to, understand, and respond to Jesus.
FIN
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