I Kinda, Sorta See Clearly. Maybe. Kinda. with Sonja Knutson

Good morning, Central.

See if this is there we go.

All right.

My name is Sonia Knutson.

I'm Pastorio Associate here at Central.

If we have not had an opportunity to get to know each other, please take the time to introduce yourself or to Ryan or Ben or uh the whole team.

Actually, Olivia Kirsten out in the Connection Center.

We are excited always to meet new people.

So thank you for being a part of this.

If you're watching online, I'm going to call out Bob and Joan, who are up at the cabin this morning.

So thank you for following for everybody who's online.

We're excited that you're either here in this room or you're following us online.

So thank you and welcome to all of you.

Well, we are in the fourth week of our MARC series or what we call it around here, the Return of Ryan series.

Woo! Have you loved his energy?

It's been fun to have him back, right?

Next week, Ben is going to continue in our Mark series, and then Ryan will finish this out and close this series out before we go into the book of John.

Ryan and I will be gone next week.

Ryan's going to be doing the Thorsen wedding in Colorado, which will be fun for uh him and the Thorsen family and Katie.

And then I will be leading a group of 10 women to Utah for a spiritual hiking trip.

How many of them are in the room today?

Molly's here.

Well, now we know why they need spiritual prayer and guidance.

Only one of them is here today.

No, we're all looking forward to it and just uh asking for prayers for safety.

Zion, we're going to Zion Park, one of the main parks, and it's had a lot of flooding this year, this fall, and over the summer months.

So pray for our safety and provision for sure.

Today we move into Mark 8, chapter H, which in my opinion is one of the most important chapters in the Gospel of Mark as it's a turning point for store for the story as Jesus starts preparing his disciples for something that they do not yet understand and they cannot see, which is the topic that we will be divide diving into today: blind spots, what we don't see, and how it hardens our heart.

And I've titled my sermon this morning, I kinda sort of clearly see, maybe kinda.

So I would ask that you would keep your Bibles open to page 820 as we're going to be walking through this chapter together, if you want to follow along.

But let's begin this morning in prayer.

Father, we give you thanks and praise for this beautiful crisp day.

Uh as I walk in the fall days like this and I feel your crisp breeze and your air, and I see the change of the leaves, it brings me beauty and it brings me beauty to my heart and to my mind, but also reminds me often that I don't always see you where I need to be seeing you.

And I love the change of seasons because it makes my heart and my mind aware of how you're constantly changing in the seasons of our lives.

So this morning, as we dive into this chapter and we hear about all these different characters and we see how Mark, the author, is jumping around, God, remind us of how you jump around in our lives and remind us also how we need to clear our vision often and see where you're at and the work that you're doing in our lives.

We love you, Jesus.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Well, the book of Mark is written by Mark, who is a close companion to Peter, and he's definitely a follower of Jesus.

Is when I think of him, uh, I imagine this young teen.

Who's watched The Chosen before, the series on Netflix and Prime?

I think it's in Hulu now.

Um, I think it's series five.

They depict Mark to be this young, almost like a teenager that reminds me of a little brother.

He's kind of annoying, he's like always there.

He's like pushing his ear up against the wall, trying to catch and hear everything that Peter and the disciples are talking about.

And I imagine that when he's writing his book, he's like writing bullet points and hurrying up everything so he doesn't miss any important story.

He's always jumping around.

Like if you've read it, I think of like, well, we're now here, and then we're over here, and now we're over there.

And it sometimes can feel confusing, but he's always in a hurry because I think he doesn't want to miss anything.

And some scholars suggest this to be true, as if he's writing with urgency and he wants us to feel the things that are moving quickly in Jesus' ministry as he moves towards the cross.

So Mark spends very little time on extra details.

And today in our chapter, he this gives us the same vibe.

One minute Jesus is feeding thousands in the beginning of the chapter, and then he moves to struggling with the Pharisees, and then the next thing we know, he's in a boat with his disciples, and then he's healing a blind man.

And lastly, Peter is getting in Jesus' face and he's frustrated with him.

It feels like a collection of unrelated stories, but they're all connected by the same common question, which is do you see Jesus for who he really is?

And if I were to ask you today that same question, I wonder how many of you might answer with the same title of my sermon, do you see Jesus for who he really is?

And my guess is you might say, yes.

I mean, kind of, sorta, maybe sometimes clearly, maybe kind of, I don't know.

And I would say thank you for your honesty in that, because that is exactly what I see in this chapter today.

People who are absolutely kind of certain of what they know, what they're seeing, and yet they're missing something very important.

Have you ever been absolutely kind of certain about something, only to discover later that you were completely wrong?

Now, this never happens to me because I'm always right.

But I know that it happens to other people.

In fact, Connor, my son, moved to Canada this past week and he was as he was packing and taking things out of our home, he was in a panic stage of like, mom, where's my backpack?

Where are my hiking sticks?

I'm like, they're in the storage room in a brown box on the second level, right there.

You can't miss them.

Well, he was scrambling and he missed them and he couldn't find them, comes back like a week later, mom, I still need to find my backing backpack.

Where is it?

It's in the storage room on the second shelf, eye level brown box.

He's scrambling, looking in this storage room, goes up to the garage storage room, can't find it, sends my husband in there.

He can't find it.

Comes back again.

Mom, I need my backpack.

Fine.

I go in the storage room on the second shelf.

I level is a brown box with his backpack and his hiking sticks.

He searched and he couldn't find it.

He could see, but not really see what was right in front of him.

For some reason he had a blind spot.

For whatever reason it was, he could not see what was right in front of him.

We all have blind spots, don't we?

And the interesting thing about them is that usually we don't know that we have them.

Other people have to point them out.

That's what makes them blind spots.

You can't see what you can't see, which is the issue in our chapter today through unrelated yet connected stories that share the blind spots of many and ask the question, are we seeing Jesus for who he is, or do we see the Jesus that we want to see?

Which Ryan referenced last Sunday when he shared, we often have the correct information about Jesus, but that's not the same thing as knowing who Jesus is.

And this is what Mark is speaking to, beginning with the Pharisees demanding a sign from Jesus and verse 11, if you want to follow along.

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven to test him.

And he sighed deeply in his spirit and he said, Why does this generation ask for a sign?

Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.

The Pharisees wanted proof, which was crazy to me when I think about it, because they just saw him feed thousands with just a few loaves of bread, but they wanted Jesus to perform something spectacular, and Jesus refuses, and he sighs deeply.

I imagine that sigh comes from the heartbreak of seeing people so certain of what they believe about God that they cannot recognize him standing right in front of them.

The Pharisees know the scriptures, they know the religious rules, so their problem wasn't that they lacked information about God, it was that their expectations had left so little room for Jesus to reveal who he really was, their hearts were hardened, causing them to only kind of sort of see Jesus.

And then characteristically, Mark moves abruptly to the next scene where Jesus and the disciples get into a boat, and Jesus says to them, Watch out, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.

And the disciples start talking amongst themselves.

Is he saying this because we have no bread?

And Jesus responds, Why are you talking about having no bread?

Do you still not perceive or understand?

Now Jesus is talking about something spiritual, the way corruption can take over our hearts quickly and it can grow, just like a small pinch of yeast inflates a loaf of bread.

And the disciples are having a conversation about sandwiches.

Now let's cut some some slack here a little bit.

First, Jesus was has this strange way of talking through metaphors and rhymes and riddles.

We know that, right?

And that can be confusing.

And second, they had just witnessed Jesus take a few loaves of bread and feed thousands of people.

So their concern could have been legitimate.

Who forgot the bread?

James, John, we don't know what he's going to do when we get out of the boat.

We need the bread, right?

And Jesus in his frustration asks, Do you still not understand?

And isn't that really the heart of the problem?

They have seen the miracles, but they haven't grasped what those miracles meant.

They have witnessed Jesus' power, but they are still struggling to understand what kind of Messiah He is.

Their vision is clouded by their confusion and their assumptions and their expectations, which can be pr our problem too.

We can know the Bible and all of the stories, we can come to church, we can sing the hymns, we can even believe all the right things about Jesus, and we still miss who he is because we're living in our narrative.

We only kind of sort of see him.

And then right in the middle of this chapter, we hear this unusual story of Jesus healing a blind man when we find in verses 22 through 25.

And when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked, Can you see anything?

The man looked up and said, I can see people, but they look like trees walking.

And then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and he looked intently, and his eye was restored, sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

What an odd story.

But I don't think it's there by accident.

Much like the parables Jesus tells, this healing is more than just a miracle.

It becomes a living picture of the disciples' journey with Jesus and ours too.

They see something, but not everything.

They understand some things, but not completely.

Sound familiar?

We pray, Lord, I'm trying really hard to trust you, but they don't quite understand what you're doing here.

I don't see your big picture.

And here's what I love about this healing.

Jesus doesn't walk away after the first touch.

He doesn't say, Well, I tried, you're just not getting it.

No, he touches him again.

He touches him again.

Even after the guy complained a little bit.

Did you catch that?

The man obviously at one time in his life had had sight because he could see trees.

He knew what trees looked like.

He knew what people look like.

But instead of being grateful for what God had done in his life, he complained.

And he tells Jesus, Ah, it's okay.

Wish I could see a little bit better.

And Jesus touches him for a second time and he heals him fully.

And what a beautiful gift, image of grace that is, where he meets us in our questions and our uncertainty and in our struggles.

And he doesn't demand that we see everything perfectly before we can follow him.

And then we come to Peter in our story, what Jamie shared with us earlier today.

We love Peter, don't we?

We love him.

He's so confident, enthusiastic, and so certain.

And sometimes he's absolutely right.

And sometimes, well, he's just Peter.

And as we heard Jamie read, he asked the disciples, Who do people say that I am?

And they gave him some answers.

You're John the Baptist.

You're Elijah.

You're one of the prophets.

And then Jesus asked the next question, the one that really matters, but who do you say that I am?

And Peter answers, You are the Messiah.

And boom, Peter got it right.

He passed the test.

Well, kinda, sorta.

Oh, he believes that Jesus is the Messiah, but his understanding is shaped by his own expectations.

Peter wants a powerful Messiah who will defeat the enemy and restore Israel and set things straight.

But when Jesus begins explaining that the Son of Man must suffer and he will be rejected and killed, and after three days he will rise again, Peter then says, absolutely not.

In fact, we read, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him.

Can you imagine the scene?

Peter taking Jesus aside and rebuking him.

Can we talk about this?

Are you sure?

Because my Messiah isn't going to be hung on a cross.

He's not going to die.

He's not going to suffer.

Peter doesn't rebuke him because he doesn't love Jesus.

He says it because he loves the Jesus that he thinks he knows.

And here is where the blind spots become dangerous in our lives and can harden our hearts.

Peter is so certain of what Messiah should be that he cannot see what Jesus is actually revealing.

And that's our problem too.

We create our own version of Jesus.

A Jesus who makes sure that everything works out and keeps our family safe.

A Jesus that votes the way that we would vote and makes my plan successful.

A Jesus that gives me a promotion and heals us and makes our children make good choices.

Who doesn't want that, Jesus?

We want a savior, but we want the one who would save us on our terms.

And Peter is the same.

Peter wants the crown.

And Jesus knew the cross must come first.

And that is why Jesus responds so strongly when he says, Get behind me, Satan.

I imagine Peter thinking, well, that escalated quickly.

But Jesus isn't calling Peter Satan.

He is confronting Peter's way of thinking from a human perspective.

And then Jesus turns to the crowd and says, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Whoa, isn't that counterintuitive of the world that we live in and the world that tells us, do you, follow your dreams, create your own path, do what makes you happy.

But instead, it says, deny yourself and take up the cross, which is an invitation, friends, to a different kind of life, a clearer life, a life shaped not only by what we want, but by love, a life where we begin to see people as Jesus sees them, and where we loosen our grip on our own expectations and allow God's grace to reshape our hearts.

Easier said than done.

As it asks God to open the eyes of our hearts, to cleanse the temptations of our lives, and to wash away the thoughts of the world.

And thankfully, we have a promise to help us do this, a beautiful promise in Ezekiel that I often reflect on when I struggle with my hardened heart, a promise that was given to people living in exile who had experienced loss and displacement and the painful consequences of their nation's choices.

Their lives were nothing like they had imagined, and God described their hearts as being hard as stone, stubborn, resistant, and unresponsive to him.

But listen to what God's promises through Ezekiel when we read.

A new heart that gives, oh I'm sorry, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

I love this verse because notice who is doing all the work in it.

Not just you, but God.

And this gives me hope when I am struggling in my own life.

God doesn't say, Sonia, get your act together and then we'll talk.

He doesn't say come back when your heart is softer.

He makes a promise to people who have already struggled, who have already wandered off and resisted and messed up.

And the promise is this, I am not finished with you.

Even when your heart is stubborn or weary, I am not finished with you.

Even when your faith feels small and you struggle to understand what God is doing, he promises, I am not finished with you.

And that, friends, is grace.

God doesn't wait for us to become the people we think we should be before he begins working in us.

He meets us where we are and begins the work of making us new.

And I think that is exactly what we are seeing unfold in Mark 8.

Because when we look at the people surrounding Jesus in this chapter, we see different kinds of hearts and different ways of missing what God is doing right in front of us.

And chances are we can probably find a little bit of ourselves and every one of them.

Maybe your heart is like one of the Pharisees.

You know your scriptures and your rules and what you believe in about God, and yet your expectations make it hard to recognize him when he shows up the way that you don't expect him to.

Or maybe you're like one of the disciples, you're trying to follow him, but life is a whirlwind with bills and family issues and decision making and 17 other things of your mental to-do list.

And somewhere in the middle of all of that, Jesus is talking about yeast, and all you can think about is whether anybody is bringing the bread or not.

Maybe you're like the blind man.

You believe God is present, but things still feel feel blurry.

You see glimpses of grace, but you miss the blessings for what they are.

And then there's Peter.

You know who Jesus is, but sometimes you want him to fit your expectations rather than allowing him to reshape them.

Different people, different blind spots, different hearts, but one Savior who keeps showing up with grace, who doesn't walk away because we haven't figured it all out, who keeps loving, who keeps calling us into the kingdom, work with him, and one who promises to renew our hearts.

Central God's not finished with us yet.

The same God who promises a new heart is the God who meets us in Christ.

We don't have to manufacture a new heart ourselves.

We don't have to become perfectly trusting, understanding, or perfectly faithful before Jesus can work in us.

We simply come as we are with our questions, our expectations, our fears, our blind spots.

And sometimes we ask Jesus to open our eyes to our hearts.

Amen.