What Do You See? [Mark 8:22-38] (Barry Stevenson)

Ohh Father God, we thank you once again for your incredible

goodness to us, or we thank you for Bury and for the preparation

that he's put in as he comes to share with us this morning.

Lord, would you speak through him?

Would you use Him to honour and glorify your name and to lead us

to know you more? Father God, we pray as well for

the kids as they head out to Sunday school and for all their

teachers. Thanks for the preparation that

they've done as they look into your word.

Would you bless them and and help them this morning as they

share your word and that the kids would have a depth and an

understanding of what it is and what it means for them in Jesus

name, Amen. Good morning.

How are you? My name's Barry Stevenson.

It's in case you don't know, I've got a couple of sons here

and their families. Thank you for this opportunity

to share with you this morning. Today we are taking a look at

Mark Chapter 8 verses 22 to 38 and in this passage we see Jesus

Mark 8:22–38

takes two guys two goes to heal a blind man where normally his

miracles work first time. Next we see Peter declare that

Jesus is the Messiah. But soon after this Jesus says

to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. And finally, Jesus says, if we

want to be as follows followers, we must lose our lives, take up

our cross and follow Him. And these events seemed

unrelated, but actually Jesus connected these events to

teachers, disciples, something, and to correct some faulty

thinking that they'd grown up with from a child.

So we're now going to read the first part of today's passage.

Reading Mark chapter 822 to 26 and this is in the NLT version

which I like. It's simpler for my small brain.

Okay, verse 22 when they arrived and beside the some people

brought a blind man to Jesus and they begged him to touch the man

and heal him. Jesus took the man blind man by

the hand and led him out of the village.

Then, spitting on the blind man's eyes, he laid his hands on

him and asked. Can you see anything now?

The man looked around. Yes, he said.

I see people, but I can't see them very clearly.

They looked like trees walking around.

Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again, and his

eyes were opened. His sight was completely

restored and he could see everything clearly.

Jesus sent him away saying don't go back into the village on your

way home. Now Mark is the only writer to

record this miracle. Plus it's the only miracle that

took two goes. All of Jesus other miracles work

first time. For example, cripples never

limped away, but they walked away when Jesus healed them.

And when Jesus fed the 5000, no one went hungry.

So why did Jesus take 2 ghosts to heal the blind man?

Some people suggest he lack faith.

For example, in Mark chapter 10 when Jesus healed blind but

Mark 10 · chapter mention

blind Bartimaeus, Jesus said go, your faith has healed you.

So clearly faith has something to do with it.

It must be important. The blind man's friends

certainly had faith because they had brought him to Jesus and

begged Jesus to touch him and heal his friend.

Yeah, well, obviously the the blind man hadn't seen Jesus and

hadn't seen any miracles. But maybe you've heard about

Jesus. So maybe, just perhaps it's

because of this, the blind man had kind of second hand faith.

Here's say faith, and maybe this is the reason that Jesus took 2

ghosts. Of course, I don't believe this

for a moment. I'm just having you on because

of March Chapter 9. We read about the Father who

brought his demon possessed boy to Jesus.

The Father admitted admitted his lack of faith, yet Jesus still

healed the boy. Jesus wasn't that callous not to

heal those who lack faith. Actually, Jesus was constantly

faced with people who didn't know what to believe about him,

and we may be the same. Not sure what to believe.

Our faith takes time and knowledge to grow.

Yeah. Jesus doesn't doesn't hold us at

arm's length just because our faith isn't up to full strength.

Some days it's nowhere near full strength.

God has quite the opposite to this idea of needing faith,

strong faith, for he cares for the weak and he desires to

nurture our faith. He wants it to grow as Matthew

Chapter 1220 says, a smouldering Wick He wills not snuff out.

In verse 26 we see the blind man didn't live in the village of

Basada. This made the village was an

unfamiliar place. We could easily bump into

people, trip over sheep. Maybe this is the reason that

Jesus led him out of town, away from those Richard sheep.

Jesus then spat on the man's eyes, touched him with his hands

and then asked if he could see anything and the man said yes,

he could see people, but they look like trees walking around

and I'm guessing that that man probably walked into a few trees

over his years. Couldn't see them of course and

that probably explains his description.

And plus The Walking trees were probably his friends who had

followed him out of town, or maybe Jesus disciples had also

followed along. When Jesus touched the blind man

a second time, his eyes were completely healed.

So clearly Jesus hadn't lost his touch.

But why did he take two guys to heal the blind man?

Well, I believe Jesus deliberately took two guys to

heal the blind man. I believe Jesus was using this

miracle as an object lesson to teach his disciples.

And the lesson is this Listen clearly.

Sometimes we don't see or understand things completely the

first time and fake really do we fully understand things the

first time we we hear ideas. Sometimes things don't seem to

be what they first seem to be. Our knowledge may in fact be

like walking trees and we don't actually see or know things

clearly. It's like when I was at school

and the teacher says do you have any questions?

But of course not. None of us put our hand up first

to show that we didn't understand that was you just

didn't do that. Or it's like being given

directions by your wife as you drive down the road.

But halfway there you have to ask, Ohh, by the way, where are

we going? We like to think we fully

understand, but chances are we don't and even sometimes we may

be completely wrong. In Philippians chapter 1-6 it

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

says God who began a good work in you will carry it on to

completion until the day Jesus Christ returns.

And here we see the Christian life has a start date and a

finish date. However, in between, our

knowledge and understanding is not complete.

Over time, God wants to transform us to become like

Christ. But it's not instant.

We're not instantly perfect, full of knowledge, perfect

knowledge. The moment we receive Christ as

we journey along, we may think we fully understand, but chances

are we don't. We may think we have the whole

picture, but really the painting is only half done and people

still look like walking trees. Therefore, we need to be careful

about what we think we know and understand.

We need to be careful about the ideas and opinions we hold and

be open to change for us. Not until Christ's return that

we will truly see the complete picture.

Only then will we clearly see and know what God intended.

Only then will we say ohh so that's what God was up to.

Didn't see that coming. I'd now like to read our next

few verses of this morning's message, verses 27 to 30.

Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went to the villages

near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he

asked them, Who do people say that I am?

Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say

Elijah, and others say you're one of the other prophets didn't

asked them. But who do you say I am?

Peter replied. You are the Messiah, But Jesus

warned them not to tell anyone about them.

The Caesarea Philippi was a town about 40 kilometres north of the

Sea of Galilee. And as they walked along, Jesus

asked them asked as the cycles what were people asking about

and what was the word on the street.

And they replied that people thought he was one of the

prophets of old, like Elijah who had been who had returned as

promised in Malachi chapter 4. Others, like King Herod, believe

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

Jesus was John the Baptist raised back from life.

And what this shows us is people hadn't worked out who Jesus was,

and Jesus wasn't in a hurry to tell them either.

He stopped demons from revealing he was the Son of God and asked

those he healed not to say what happened to him.

That's why Jesus told the blind man not to go back into the

village. On his way home, Jesus didn't

want people to see him and started asking the blind man how

he could now see. And when Jesus asked as a

cyclist what they who they thought he was and people, Peter

declared you are the Messiah. Even then, Jesus warned them not

to tell anyone about them. And so it seems, Jesus wants to

keep a low profile. He hadn't come to earth to

become the most popular boy on the block and ride a misguided

wave of public support. Rather, He came to earth to

teach us the way to God, and He provided that He achieved that

by dying on the cross for our sins only at the right time,

close to the time of His death. This is death approach to Jesus.

Confirm who he truly was, that he was the Messiah, the Son of

God. I'd never like to explain this

word. Messiah.

I'm sure you probably know, but be with me.

Messiah comes from the Hebrew language and means Anointed 1.

In Greek crisis the name for anointed 1.

So Christ and Messiah mean the same thing in Old Testament

times. Profits, priests and kings were

anointed. Anointing was a ceremony where

an individual was dedicated to a special position, just like

Moses anointed Aaron as priest in Leviticus chapter 8.

Leviticus 8 · chapter mention

Now throughout the Old Testament times, throughout history, their

bills and the nation of Israel and expectation of a unique

individual who would bring deliverance and restoration.

For example, Genesis chapter 49 speaks of the King whom all

Genesis 49 · chapter mention

nations will honour true to your enemy.

Chapter 18 speaks of a prophet like Moses who would speak the

words of God. Jeremiah 23 speaks of a

righteous king who rule the rule with wisdom, who will do what is

just and right, who will save Israel, whose name is the Lord,

is our righteousness. And finally, in Decorah chapter

3, the Lord says I'm going to bring my servant to branch and

I'll remove the sin of this land in a single day.

These are just a few references, but I trust you get the picture

of this expectation that built built up within the nation of

Israel of a remarkable individual and Messiah who would

fulfil all roles of prophet, priest and king.

That individual would bring God's word and would bring a

sacrifice for sin and ultimately be the King of the Jews in all

the world. Unfortunately, by the time Jesus

came, the Jewish concept of Messiah focused only on a king,

and the roles of a prophet and priest were largely forgotten.

The Jews were only looking for a political and military ruler who

would free them from Roman rule and This is why they didn't

recognise Jesus as their Messiah.

Like the blind man, the people only partially understood and

saw who their Messiah would be. They didn't understand their

Messiah was coming to freedom from their sin and not from

Roman rule. OK, and now I'd like to read the

last part of today's passage. Okay, verse 31.

Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer

many terrible things and be rejected by the elders and the

leading priests and the teachers of religious law.

He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from

the dead. Has he talked about this openly

with his disciples people? Peter took him aside and began

to reprimand him for saying such things.

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples.

Then he reprimanded Peter. Get away from me, Satan, he

said. You are seeing things merely

from a human point of view, not from gods.

Then calling the crowd to join as disciples, he said.

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your

own way. Take up your cross and follow

me. If you try to hang on to your

life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for

my sake and the sake of the good news, you will save it.

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose

your sign soul? Is there anything worth more

than yours? Ohh, if anyone is ashamed of

Maine and my message and these adulterous and sinful days, the

Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in

his glory of His Father and with His holy angels.

Please note that Jesus didn't refer to himself as Messiah but

as the Son of Man, so I'd also like to explain this to him.

Son of Man Firstly Son of Man reveals Jesus human side.

Jesus is God, but he's also human.

The Son of Man. Dislike the story The Lion, the

Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis Dear Mr. Tumnus the Fawn

asked Lucy Pevensey whether she was the daughter of Eve.

Was she in fact human? Jesus called himself Son of Man

because it was a less political name compared to Messiah.

Son of Man is less clear cut, yet it's still an Old Testament

name that indicates someone with God's authority.

In the book of Ezekiel, God referred to the prophet Ezekiel

as Son of Man 92 times. This name came to symbolise

someone chosen by God, as Ezekiel was someone with God's

Spirit and someone delegated to speak on God's behalf.

In Daniel Chapter 7, Daniel also talks about a Son of Man

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

approaching God in heaven and giving, being given authority,

honour and sovereignty over all the nations of the world and

that one day everyone will obey the Son of Man and his rule will

will be eternal. So we see that when Jesus used

the name Son of Man, it carried great significance and I believe

people in the know like the High priest knew exactly who Jesus

was claiming to be. He was claiming to be the

eternal world ruler sent by God with God's message.

I believe the Jewish Council knew exactly who Jesus was, yet

they still send them to the his death because they were

unwilling to bow to his authority and accept Him as

their Lord. They had too much going for them

to lose it all. In verse 31, we see Jesus raised

a new topic with his disciples. He speaks plainly.

No parables this time. He told them he would suffer

terrible things, be rejected by members of the Jewish Council,

would be killed in three days later, he would be right.

He would rise from the dead and when Peter challenged Jesus love

for talking like this, it shows that Peter and the other

disciples were no different from the average Jew.

They too had been raised to expect a Messiah who would

overthrow Roman rule and reestablish the Jewish nation.

They had just recognised Jesus to be the promised Messiah, but

they were still thinking Jesus would soon be king and they

would be part of his government. But they were wrong.

They were totally misguided in their thinking.

The disciples were just like the blind man who didn't see

clearly. They didn't understand.

They didn't have a clear picture of God's plan.

As Jesus says in verse 33, they were looking at things from a

human point of view. They wanted a Messiah to free

them from Roman rule. Their God knew their real need,

and our real need is to be freed from sin by way of the cross.

When Jesus rebuked Peter and said get away from me Satan, he

was saying Satan was behind Peter's thinking.

Peter didn't understand why Jesus must die, and Satan

happily used his ignorance to try and divert Jesus away from

needing to die on the cross. Remember, Satan had tried this

before when he tempted Jesus in the desert.

They are. Satan offered Jesus authority

over all the kingdoms of the world without the pain of dying.

Sounds a great idea. Save New Jesus would one day be

king over all the world and willingly offer Jesus an

alternative strategy. However, Jesus knew it was God's

plan for him to die in the cross.

Jesus didn't want to suffer and die and even prayed in the

garden of Ghasemi asking God for another way.

But ultimately, Jesus was obedient to God's plan and

suffered and died on the cross to free us from our sin and free

us from Satan's control over us. These are the These verses are

the first of three in Mark's gospel where Jesus explained

that he must die. This was new stuff for his

disciples and Jesus needed to change the disciples thinking

about the type of Messiah they were following.

They needed to see clearly, like the blind man.

They weren't going to become members in a government.

Rather, Jesus was going to suffer and die.

And there was a really good chance that they would too.

And this 34 Jesus caused the crowd to join him in the

disciples. And then he says, if you, if we

want to follow him, we must turn from our selfish ways, take up

our cross and follow Him. And this reminds me of the

children's game. Follow the leader.

This game was fun, but only if you're happy.

Where the leader was leading you.

Where the leader was taking you. That seems to recall being laid

down a thorn Bush one time. So just imagine the shock on the

disciples faces as they realise that Jesus was leading them in a

totally different direction. An unexpected future, A scary

future. The future is the issue here,

Jesus presenting us with two lifestyles, two different

lifestyles or outcomes. As verse 33 says, Do we want to

live life from a human point of view or God's point of view?

The human view on life is self centred, looking after #1A life

of physical comfort, pleasures, assets and security, even to the

point of gaining the whole world. 1st 38 says this life

also is ashamed of Jesus and his teaching.

In other words, the human view of life rejects Jesus Christ as

Saviour and has no interest in his teachings.

This lifestyle is like what Jesus described as adulteress

and sinful days. Now, the human view of life can

appear attractive at times. However, Proverbs chapter 1412

says there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end

it leads to death. And The thing is this, if we

hang on to our life, we lose it. We will lose our very soul.

Our soul is our own distinct being, different from anybody

else. El Soul is who we are.

Our unique personalities, our feelings, our thoughts, our

aspirations, our souls are what make me, me and you, you.

But if we reject Jesus Christ 1st 36 says our souls are lost.

Jesus will be ashamed of us. He will reject us and have no

interest in us. When He returns, we will no

longer have the option of living in heaven for all eternity, but

we will spend eternity in hell. So what's the alternative?

Well, the attendance at the alternative is to give up our

lives for Jesus sake and the sake of His gospel.

Take up our cross and follow Him.

Now the word sake carries the idea of living for the benefit

or interest of somebody else oo instead of living for

self-interest and our own advantage, now we are to live

for the benefit and interest of Jesus.

Our prime interest is serving Jesus in whatever way we can

find and ever way we are skilled.

And sharing is good news. Like in the children's game, our

purpose in life is to stay focused on the leader who is

Jesus and keep following. And this is seen in Second

Corinthians chapter 515 and it says Christ died for us.

So we who live no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ

who died for us and was raised again.

And the interesting thing is when we give UR living for our

own benefit, we find purpose. Purpose and satisfaction in life

is found and dying to self and living to help and support other

people. In particular, purpose is found

on serving Jesus Christ and sharing the story of the cross.

I'd like to finish this talk with the elephant in the room.

When Jesus calls us to follow. He said we must take up our

cross when we follow him and there is no getting away from

the fact that the the cross represents suffering and pain.

In Roman times, crucifixion was used as a public form of

punishment. Crucifixion was terribly painful

and human and a humiliating death where victims were put on

public display as examples of Roman dominance.

Victims were made to publicly submit to Roman power and

authority, submission to the will of Rome.

Therefore, when Jesus calls us to take up our cross, he's

calling for submission. He's calling for total

commitment and dedication to Him because he died and bought us

with his blood. He owns us.

So to take up our cross and follow Christ is to fully submit

our will to Jesus Christ, even to even to the point of being

willing to suffer and die for our faith.

Do you know that even today Christians are making it

ultimate commitment to Christ and dying for what they believe

is in terrible things happening throughout Africa in particular?

At this moment? If it came to our turn, would

would we be willing to stay true to faith in Christ and face

death from those who hate Christianity?

Because that hate is growing rapidly in our world and many

Christians are bearing the brunt of it.

Now, maybe we in New Zealand may never die for our faith, but are

we prepared to suffer? Are we willing to lose contact

with friends and family who don't believe in Jesus?

Are we willing to lose job and business opportunities because

we are open to our faith? Are we willing to suffer

ridicule and abuse from those who are anti Christian?

Are we willing to be misunderstood and now have our

reputations maligned by those who disagree with us?

This is reality. When the writer two of the

Hebrews wrote to his friends in chapter 1032, he said, Remember

how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible

suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to

public ridicule and beaten. You suffered with those thrown

into prison, and when all that you own was taken from, you

accepted to it with joy. Are they crazy?

You knew there were better things waiting for you, so do

not throw away your confident trust in the Lord.

I guess the point is there are better things waiting for us who

trust in Jesus Christ as Lord. What does it matter if we lose

in this life compared to the rewards of the next?

We need to remain focused on the salvation and hope we have in

Jesus Christ. Remember, He is the Son of Man,

the man sent from heaven, the man who ruled over all the

world, and he is also the promised Messiah who sacrificed

himself to save us from our sin. We may still feel like the blind

man who couldn't see clearly. We may feel this big gaps in our

understanding, or we might be the other way.

We may think we have it all together.

But I can assure you, you don't. We need to be constantly

learning and don't be. I'm not knocking you back.

I want you to take heart because this is the human condition.

This is okay, Bob. My encouragement is you keep

working at growing in your understanding and we've grown

this morning. We know a little bit more about

Messiah and Son of God. We know a little bit about the

the disciples who didn't see clearly.

They didn't understand the Messiah they were following.

But we know more than they do. We understand more than they did

of the Messiah we are following and we need to be confident in

that even if it means a hard time ahead for us.

The great thing is that one day we are going to meet Jesus face

to face and then our faith and our our understanding will be

complete. What a wonderful day that will

be. Thank you for your time, it's

been a pleasure to see you.