SERMON: EXPERIENCING GOD: SEE

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Mark 8:22-26

Mark 8:22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”

            -- when we took our trip to Yellowstone National Park a couple of years ago, I went with visions of grandeur in mind -- I had seen the National Geographic specials about Yellowstone, with the landscape covered in bison -- with moose and elk at every turn -- with black bears and grizzlies and deer everywhere -- everyone who had been there told me this was all true -- Kim and Judie -- Mama and Daddy -- they had all been there and they said you’re just not going to believe what it’s like -- animals as far as the eye could see

            -- but when I got there, that’s not what happened -- we pulled into the park and we saw nothing -- no herds of elk covering the landscape -- no deer crossing the road -- no coyotes -- no moose -- no sheep -- sure, there were the ubiquitous bison -- but not much else

            -- turns out we went to Yellowstone during an unprecedented heat wave -- we got there in the middle of an extreme drought -- there were wildfires throughout the west -- the grass and the berries and the other food for the animals had dried up and were not as widespread as normal -- and the animals had retreated deeper into the wilderness to find areas with water and food

            -- the main thing I wanted to see in Yellowstone were the grizzly bears -- I’ve seen black bears before, but I had never seen a grizzly -- we just don’t have them here, and they are a federally endangered species -- there’s only a few places you can go and see them, and Yellowstone is one of them -- and we spent days looking for grizzlies -- for any kind of bear -- and couldn’t find one anywhere

            -- one day -- after we had spent several hours in the park trying to see something of interest other than bison -- we were headed back to our cabin and saw a whole bunch of vehicles pulled off the road -- people were just lining the road and in the woods and we knew that meant they had found something of interest -- so, we pulled off

            -- I jumped out and asked the first people I saw, “what is it?” -- “It’s a grizzly” -- and, I got excited -- finally, a grizzly -- “Where?” -- “it’s right there” -- and I looked and didn’t see anything -- and I asked again -- this time they pointed, “It’s right there -- it’s feeding on some berries” -- and I looked again -- nothing -- I couldn’t see it

            -- I stood there for a full five minutes, staring at a creek bottom with binoculars -- seeing absolutely nothing -- people around me ooing and aahing at the grizzly, while all I saw was bushes

            -- the people around me tried to help -- look right there -- no, next to the tree -- next to the tree that looks like a rocket -- do you see the rock? -- it’s right next to the rock -- and I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t see anything -- and I was getting really frustrated -- I looked and looked and looked, and then finally, I saw it -- clear as day -- it just popped into my field of vision and I finally saw my first grizzly

            -- I had been staring at the grizzly the whole time, but I didn’t see it -- it didn’t look like I expected -- it didn’t look like the pictures on the Animal Planet -- and, even though I was looking right at it, I couldn’t see it -- but when my eyes were opened -- when I changed my perspective and looked again -- this time I saw what I was looking for

            -- there is a mystery to sight -- most of us are born with the ability to see -- but not everybody can truly see what is there

            -- when I think about the mystery of seeing, I think about Michelangelo -- someone once asked him how he was able to carve his masterpiece, David, out of a block of marble -- he told them, “I just see David in the marble, and I chip away everything that is not him”

            -- everyone could see the block of marble -- but only Michelangelo was able to see what was truly there

            -- I’ve been reading a series of philosophical essays about nature and wildness by Annie Dillard -- in this book, Dillard wrote about her daily travels down Tinker’s Creek, a little creek that runs by her house in Virginia -- she went down there to see if she could find muskrats living along the creek, something that she had rarely seen

            -- when she first started to visit Tinker’s Creek, she saw what all of us would see if we went -- water rushing over the rocks as the stream fell from the mountains and made its way downstream -- the trees by the stream -- the cows in the field across the way

            -- but over time, she began to see more -- she looked past the rushing of the water to what lay within, and learned to pick out the trout and the fish in the stream -- she learned to slow the water with her mind, and to see the skimmers and the water bugs on the surface, making their way along the creek -- she was enraptured by the white petals of flowers that floated down the surface -- all things she had missed before because she hadn’t yet learned to see

            -- reflecting on her experience, she pointed out that we see what we expect to see -- that unless we call attention to what passes before our eyes, we simply won’t see it -- for us, it doesn’t exist -- just like I could not see the grizzly in that creek bottom at Yellowstone

            -- she says there is an art to learning how to see -- that you must learn to let go of your expectations in order to see with your heart what is truly there before you

            -- and, while Annie Dillard was speaking of learning to see the natural world in all its beauty, the same could be said about seeing spiritually -- Ruysbreck said, “For the Heavenly Father desires that we should see and that is why He is ever saying to our inmost spirit one deep unfathomable word and nothing else” -- that word? -- See…

            -- in Luke 4:18-19, when Jesus takes the scroll in the synagogue and reads from the prophet Isaiah, He announces to the people there that He has come to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, to release the oppressed -- and to recover sight for the blind -- Jesus came that the blind might see -- Jesus came so that we might see

II.  Scripture Lesson (Mark 8:22-26)

            -- this morning, we’re looking at a passage from Mark 8 where Jesus heals a man from his blindness -- and, while this is a story of a physical healing, it is more than that -- it is a message of healing for the spiritually blind, too -- for people who desire to see what is truly there -- and to know the God who calls to them to see

            -- so, if you’re following along in your Bibles, please look with me again here at Mark 8, starting at verse 22

Mark 8:22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.

            -- Jesus and His disciples have been traveling through Galilee -- preaching and teaching to the people in the villages and the countryside and doing miracles as signs of His coming -- as this passage opens, Mark tells us that Jesus and the disciples made their way to the small village of Bethsaida, there along the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee

            -- they were met by a group of people, bringing a blind man with them -- they came to Jesus and begged Jesus to touch this man -- to heal him, so that he might see

            -- there’s a word we use in the church -- often in our prayers -- intercession -- it means going before God on behalf of someone else -- this is what it looks like in practice

            -- these people cared enough about this blind man in their midst to carry him before Jesus -- to fall on their knees and beg for a miracle -- for Jesus to just reach out and touch him -- for Jesus to do something miraculous in his life

            -- this is our calling as the church of Christ on earth today -- we are here to intercede for others -- to minister to them and to bring them to Jesus -- every person you know -- every person you see -- needs a touch from Jesus -- for some, their need may be physical -- it may be food or clothing or healing from a sickness or other ailment

            -- for some, their true need may be spiritual -- it may be healing of the heart -- it may be salvation that they need -- it may be healing of spiritual blindness that they need -- the Bible tells us that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers -- that he has put a veil over their eyes so that they cannot see -- we should pray that God would remove this veil so that they could see and be healed

            -- whatever it is that those around us need, we should be like the people in this verse and bring them to Jesus -- if not physically, at least in our prayers -- for Jesus hears the intercessions that we make for others, and He acts on them, as He does here in this passage

            -- verse 23-24

23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

            -- Jesus took the man by the hand and led him outside the village to a private place -- there’s a lesson there for us -- spiritual healing requires time alone with Jesus -- spiritual healing means you have to get away from the world and the things that distract and spend time alone with the Healer in private

            -- that’s why retreats like the Walk to Emmaus are so effective -- it’s because those weekends are times to get away from the world -- to retreat to a private place with Jesus -- where He can take you by the hand and lead you to where He wants you to go -- where He can touch your eyes and open your sight to see what He wants you to see

            -- you know, we’ve been in the midst of this stay-at-home order for the coronavirus pandemic for several weeks now -- people are getting anxious -- they’re getting stir-crazy -- they want to go back out into the world -- but this is a time that we can use to get away from the world -- not just physically -- not just to isolate ourselves so that we might not carry sickness to the most vulnerable -- but spiritually

            -- rather than binging Netflix or getting anxious by watching the news about the virus all day, how about spending time with God? -- listening for His voice? -- feeling for His hand? -- looking for His presence? -- use this time that God has given for the healing of your hearts and the healing of your souls

            -- now, blindness was very common in the middle east -- the glare of the light on the desert -- the dust and dryness of the air -- all this combined to make blindness a common malady -- it is still is, in many places in the middle east -- more so than here in America

            -- and we see several references in the gospels of Jesus meeting and healing blind people during His travels -- the interesting thing we should note is that Jesus never healed any of them the same way -- every time he brought sight to the blind, He did so in a different way

            -- blind Bartimaeus was healed with just a word -- in John’s gospel there was a blind man that Jesus put mud on his eyes and the wasn’t healed until he washed the mud off in the pool of Siloam -- others, He healed with just a touch -- here in this passage, Jesus used spit

            -- the reason Jesus didn’t heal the same way every time was to keep us from focusing on the method rather than the Healer -- if He had healed the same way every time, we would be copying His methods in our churches rather than turning to Him for healing -- it’s not about the how -- it’s about the Who

            -- remember that because the way Jesus touched you may not be the way He touches someone else -- don’t focus on the method -- focus on the Savior

            -- so, in this case, Jesus used spit to heal this blind man -- In Jesus’ day, spit was thought to have healing properties -- crazy, isn’t it?  that people would think that spit could heal you? -- but if you think about it, we still think spit has healing properties today, don’t we? -- we may not say that, but we believe it

            -- if you burn your finger or get a cut on your hand, what do you do? -- put it in your mouth -- if you got a boo-boo when you were a kid, what did you want your Mama to do? -- kiss your boo-boo and make it better -- we just instinctively know that saliva has some type of healing ability

            -- so, Jesus used spit here because that was what the people expected, even if this was just a private healing  -- He put spit on the man’s eyes and put His hands on him, and asked him, “Do you see anything?” -- the man could see, but he could not see clearly -- he saw people, looking like trees walking around

            -- which begs the question -- did Jesus’ miracle fail? -- no, of course not -- which means there is more to learn here than what is on the surface -- there are two things going on here: 

            1) no one sees God’s truth all at once -- God reveals His truth and He opens our eyes as we are able to see and experience and understand it -- when you are new in your faith -- when you are a baby Christian -- there are spiritual things you just can’t grasp yet -- you just can’t understand -- you just can’t see

            -- but as we grow in our faith -- as we become more mature in our understanding of God and His ways, then our eyes are able to see more than we could see before

            -- you can understand this easily if you think about how God reveals truths to us through the Bible -- the first time you read a passage as a new Christian, you may not fully understand it -- you may only understand part of it, because you are not ready for it -- you don’t have the background or the ability to understand the entire meaning

            -- but as you mature in Christ, the next time you read this passage, God reveals more than before -- a new truth pops out and comes into focus just like that grizzly just came into my field of view at Yellowstone

            -- or maybe you’re in a different place now than before -- you’re in a place where you need to hear the message from that particular passage -- and, so, when you read it, it speaks to your heart in ways it couldn’t before

            -- it’s the same way with seeing spiritually -- the ability to see is progressive -- we see more as we mature and grow in our faith -- we learn to see as God opens our eyes more and more and more

            2) our default is to see things as the world sees them, not as God would have us see them -- a good example is this coronavirus -- if we see with eyes of flesh -- if we see as the world -- then our default is to either fear or to deny

            -- we fear for our future -- we fear that we might not find food -- that we might lose our jobs -- that our homes would be taken away -- that we might run out of toilet paper -- that we or our loved ones might get sick -- but Jesus said to not worry about those things -- to seek first the Kingdom of God -- to look to Jesus and to trust Him in all things

            -- some people look at this pandemic and deny it’s reality -- it’s easier to just say it isn’t real than to look for the truth that is hidden before you -- I could easily have walked away from that creek bottom in Yellowstone and just said, “these people have lost their mind -- there’s no grizzly there” -- I could have denied the truth that was evident to those around me

            -- that’s what happens where we only see what the world tells us to see -- when we only see what we expect or what we think we know

            -- to see as the world is to see and know fear or to deny the truth of God’s word

            -- to see spiritually is to know that Jesus has overcome this world -- that this is all temporary -- that our future is secure -- we have eternal life with Him -- we are not of this world any longer -- our home is with Him -- even if we were to die, we have not lost -- there is nothing to fear -- because we are promised eternity

            -- the message here is that we must continually come to Jesus to have our eyes opened because the world seeks to close our eyes or keep us from seeing clearly -- we sometimes need another touch from Jesus to open our eyes again

            -- verse 25

Mark 8:25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

            -- Jesus touched the man again -- He put his hands on him and his eyes were opened and he could see everything clearly

            -- if we go through this world only looking with eyes of flesh -- with eyes opened to the world and to worldly wisdom -- we will miss the truth around us -- we will only see the world as through a veil -- we will not see clearly what is right before us

            -- we must always remember that there is an unseen spiritual world around us at all times -- we are surrounded by angels and demons -- we have the very Spirit of the Holy God within us -- but we can’t see this unless God touches us and opens our eyes and reveals this to us

            -- we must also remember that there is a different perspective on every situation -- to have our eyes opened is to look at life through the eyes of God -- through the wisdom of God -- rather than through the eyes of the world

            -- in Ephesians 6:12, we read that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms

            -- what this means is that we have to look past the surface to see the spiritual reality of a situation -- like Annie Dillard, we need to look past the rushing water to learn to see what is beneath the surface

            -- that person that irritates you so much -- it is not them -- but it’s the manifestation of their spiritual reality that is causing the conflict -- that is leading them to act the way they act -- that is leading you to react the way you are reacting

            -- that fear you feel about the coronavirus -- it’s only the surface -- it’s not the spiritual reality of what God is doing in the midst of this pandemic

            -- we need to learn to see with the eyes of our heart -- with spiritual eyes -- we need to pray that God would touch us -- again and again -- to open our eyes -- to heal our sight -- so that we might know the truth of that which we are seeing

            -- verse 26

Mark 8:26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”

            -- after Jesus does this great miracle in the life of this man -- after He restores sight to the blind -- He tells the man to not go back into the village -- why?

            -- two reasons -- first, people were flocking to Jesus for the miracles, not because of who He was -- if the man was to go into the village and everyone was to see the miracle of sight, then they would come running and surround Jesus and demand more and more miracles

            -- Jesus did not come to do miracles -- the miracles were given as signs to reveal to the people who He was

            -- if you think about it, every miracle Jesus did was temporary -- every healing was only temporary -- every person Jesus healed or brought back to life eventually died

            -- the problem that Jesus is trying to head off by telling the man to not go back into the village was to keep the people from looking at the method -- from looking at the signs -- from looking at what they could get -- rather than the God who was walking among them

            -- Jesus came to bring permanent spiritual restoration and healing by defeating sin and death once and for all -- if the people surrounded Jesus demanding nothing more than miracles, this would hamper His ministry and keep Him from His ultimate purpose

            -- second, if the man went back into the village, his sight would be affected again -- not physically, but spiritually -- the more time you spend in the world, the more you start to look like the world -- the more you see like the world

            -- if this man went back into the village again, the miracle would fade -- the reality of what he had been given would become normal -- he’d start seeing things as his friends saw them -- he’d start seeing things as the world saw them -- the spiritual opening of his eyes would be negated by the persistent siren call of the world

            -- it’s the same way our feet get dirty from just walking through this world -- the more we walk and act and believe and see like the world sees, the more we act like them

            -- we need to be in the world, but not of the world -- we need to constantly seek healing of our sight -- for our eyes to be opened spiritually on a regular basis, in order to see clearly and without worldly prejudice -- our prayer each morning as we open our eyes to a new day should be, “Lord, let me see!”

            -- so, with that, let us close -- and let us join in prayer that God might touch our eyes today, so that we might truly see

            -- let us pray