SERMON TITLE: Blurred Vision
TEXT: Mark 8:22-26 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 2-1/2-20
It’s great to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too.
We’re down to our last two week’s in the gospel of Mark — for this year — at least. And before we jump into it, I want to give you a preview of what’s coming up after Mark. As you’ve heard on February 9th, we’re having a combined evening communion service at our County Road 9 campus. And that evening — you’re in for a treat — as Ed Grable — our Life Group’s director — will be preaching from Philippians chapter 4 — looking at a topic that will hit close to home for most of us.
And — during the two weeks following our time in Mark’s gospel — pastors Robert and Jon — Jon’s our North Main campus pastor — Robert and Jon will be preaching from the psalms. Then we’ll begin our 2020 edition of Finding Jesus as we look at the first six minor prophets as we head into Easter. So that’s what’s coming up in the next few weeks.
And as I said, we’re nearing the end of our time in Mark’s gospel for this year. And what we’ve been learning is that God is more concerned about what’s going on inside of us than he is with our behaviors. Now — and I hope this is obvious — what we do does matter — but God knows that ultimately what we do is based on what we desire, what we love, what has the allegiance and affection of our heart. So God — in love — targets our hearts. Because he knows that when he has our hearts — when our hearts desire what he desires — long for what he longs — love what he loves — when God has our hearts — then and only then will our behaviors please him. Because what we do is based on what our heart’s desire.
But a question for us — and this is something I’ve touched on briefly in this series — but today we’re going to focus in on it — the question before us is this: How do our hearts change? “I mean, Josh, I hear you saying there’s a war going on for the allegiance of my heart — but what is that even supposed to mean? Is there something wrong with me — something that needs to be changed about my desires?” And the answer is yes — which may be surprising for you to hear.
And the reason why this may surprise you is because many people believe — and maybe this is you — but many believe that we all naturally see spiritual things clearly. There’s an idea that’s prevalent — especially in our country — where we believe that we’re all naturally enlightened spiritually — we’re all awakened — so to speak. And — because of this belief — that we’re all spiritually awakened — we believe that it’s OK to pursue whatever feels good to us spiritually. Thus we have a hodge podge — a melting pot — of different religious beliefs and spiritualities that tend to get mixed together. I was once reminded of this — when a lady came to me for some spiritual counsel only to tell me that she’d stopped by a psychic on her way to see me. She wanted to hear what the psychic had to say about her problem and then come hear what I — a pastor — had to say.
But — you may think — “Well, who are we to judge her? Everyone’s supposed to embark on their own spiritual quest anyway. So — if for her — spiritual truth can be found in Christianity and a psychic — well then good for her.”
Now — though I disagree — what I can appreciate is the idea that we’re all predisposed toward spiritual things. We do have — try as the secular culture may to deny this — but we do have a high interest in spiritual things in our society — we have a natural curiosity about the spiritual world.
But what’s often missing — in our curiosity — is the recognition that sin has distorted our understanding of spiritual matters. You see, even our understanding is influenced by sin. Now that doesn’t mean we can’t understand anything, but it does mean we need to be cautious with our personal opinions and thoughts — especially about spiritual matters — because in and of ourselves we don’t have the capacity or knowledge or discernment to come to an accurate judgement or answers to our spiritual questions. We need help — guidance — truth outside of ourselves to guide us in coming to an accurate conclusion.
And this is where Christianity and the gospel message come in. The gospel tells us that Jesus died so we might live. And the kind of living — that Jesus made possible — is a spiritual death to life type of resurrection living. Where — because of sin — we’re all born spiritually dead. And that means we’re blind and unable to see spiritual things clearly. We may have a curiosity about spiritual things — but curiosity doesn’t mean we have the ability to see things clearly. And it’s only once Jesus has given us spiritual life — including spiritual eyes — it’s then that we’re able to see and truly understand spiritual matters.
But what our story for today shows us — is that even going from spiritual blindness to sight — moving from being in the dark — spiritually speaking — to being able to see — is a process. It doesn’t happen to us all at once. It happens in stages — where — after being given life — and spiritual eyes to see — we continue to grow in our understanding of spiritual matters — where — spiritually speaking — it’s like things are slowly coming into focus.
And we learn this through a fascinating story of healing. In fact, of all the healing stories that we read — from Jesus’ life — this one sticks out because it’s not like any of the others. So let’s turn to our passage for today as we encounter one of the more interesting stories from Mark’s gospel.
If you have your Bible please turn with me to Mark chapter 8. We’ll be looking at verses 22-26.
We’ll be reading from Mark chapter 8. Beginning in verse 22.
“And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 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?" 24 And he looked up and said, "I see people, but they look like trees, walking." 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."” (Mark 8:22-26 ESV)
I want you to think about a time in your life when you were really confused about something. Maybe you were confused because you misunderstood something that someone had said.
But we should give them some slack because it’s not like we’re immune. We so easily misunderstand things and — then — we believe that our misunderstandings are true. How about some movie misquotes to prove my point?
“Play it again, Sam” isn’t a line from Casablanca.
Dirty Harry didn’t say, “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
“Luke, I am your father” — that’s not it.
And Captain Kirk never said, “Beam me up, Scotty” — not in the original movies — not in the TV show either.
Now — instead of googling to see if I just made that stuff up — because you’re certain Captain Kirk did say “Beam me up, Scotty” — and — no — I didn’t make any of it up — let’s just admit that it’s easy — and natural — to misunderstand things — and then believe our misunderstandings to be true. That’s a limitation of being human — we don’t hear things perfectly — we don’t always understand things correctly — I mean — if we did — the telephone game wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining. And if this is true for movie quotes — or what town our dad works in — why would we assume that we’re able to understand spiritual things so clearly?
And if this sounds offensive to you — me implying that we don’t all see spiritual things clearly — well — I have to ask...
So let’s go back to our text and learn what is the state of our seeing — when it comes to spiritual things — and what remedy Jesus offers to us.
Verse 22. “And they came to Bethsaida.
So Jesus and his disciples have made it across the Sea of Galilee. And they’ve finally arrived at the town they’ve been trying to get to since chapter 6 — they’ve arrived in Bethsaida. And — by the way — that was the last time Jesus will travel by boat in Mark’s gospel. From now on, we’re on foot until Jesus enters Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.
And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.
As we’ve seen, word about Jesus continues to spread. And — like others in the gospel who need healing — these people believe that something powerful happens when you’re touched by Jesus. And Jesus shows us that he’s willing to do something for this blind man — because...
23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village,
Now we can’t be certain, but I think the reason why Jesus took the man out of the village — and hopefully you remember me showing you this in previous weeks — but Mark has been showing us how Jesus’ ministry has echoes of the Old Testament. Whether it’s a miracle he performed to a Gentile woman — that parallels the prophet Elijah’s ministry — or the wilderness theme — that reminds us of the Exodus story. Well — here — taking the man outside of the village — once again — is a reminder of the Exodus story.
In the Exodus story God — metaphorically — took the nation of Israel by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Remember — it was a rescue mission — and often — rescuers take the one they’re rescuing by the hand as they lead them to safety. Later — the prophet Isaiah — in speaking about the Servant of the Lord — who we know is Jesus — said, ““I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. 7 You will open the eyes of the blind…”” (Isaiah 42:6-7a NLT)
Jesus — God’s Servant — was protected by his Father’s hand until it was time for him to die. And — Jesus — who came to open the eyes of the blind — takes this 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?"
Now two weeks ago — we learned not to confuse descriptions with prescriptions. Here we see Jesus spitting — again — but remember Mark’s just describing to us what Jesus did. Mark’s not giving us instructions on what to do to heal someone who’s blind.
But — it’s here — that we come to the part of this healing story that makes it unique. Jesus has spit. Laid his hands on him. Pretty much done what he’s done in other stories to heal folks. And then Jesus asks the man what he sees.
Verse 24. “And he (the blind man) looked up and said, "I see people, but they look like trees, walking."
So the guy is healed — he can see something now — but this isn’t what we expect is it? Jesus doesn’t partially heal someone — he fully heals them. So this is where we can connect physical sight with our earlier discussion about seeing spiritual things.
In ancient literature, a person being healed of their physical sight is often connected to them gaining spiritual sight as well. And — if we take what we read earlier — from the prophet Isaiah — we see a theme that’s found throughout the Old Testament. What theme? The theme that God’s promised coming King — who is also a Servant — that God’s coming Servant King will have the power to cure blindness. But the physical healings of blindness are all pointing to another blindness that this coming King will cure — spiritual blindness.
And — again — to help you appreciate how these themes all come together in Mark’s gospel — the next story from Jesus’ life — is Peter proclaiming — as his eyes are opened to see — that Jesus is the Christ. The disciples — up to this point — have demonstrated a “Jesus we’re starting to see who you are, but it’s all a bit blurry” kind of faith. And even after Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah — even after that kind of spiritual insight — things are still blurry for him as he makes a terrible blunder — which we’ll look at next week.
But this is what we all need — spiritual eyes to see. So that — like Peter — we see that Jesus is the Christ — God’s promised Servant, King, and Savior. But know that for the disciples — just like for this blind man — the removal of their spiritual blindness is more of a process than an immediate — snap your fingers and you’re healed — experience.
And that’s how faith in Jesus works for us, doesn’t it? Because belief in Jesus is more of a process than it is an experience of seeing everything clearly about Jesus in one fell swoop. In fact, even for someone who’s believed in Jesus for years — I bet you find that some things about Jesus are still out of focus — kind of like blindspots — because Jesus is still working in you — giving you a clearer vision of who he is, who you are, and what it means to follow him. In fact, to think that you see everything clearly is probably the biggest blindspot one can have — spiritually — even for a Christian.
But the good news — for all of us — is that no matter where you are in your spiritual journey — Jesus is willing to touch you with his healing power again and again so you see things — including him — more clearly. Jesus takes us by the hand knowing that our vision isn’t one hundred percent clear yet — so he takes us by the hand — to lead us — to guide us — to what may even be more of a “dragging us along” — as we follow him.
So the man can see — but his vision is still blurry.
25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."” (Mark 8:25-26 ESV)
I appreciate how another Bible translation expresses verse 25. “The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, [he] saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus.” (Mark 8:25b MSG)
Perfect sight. Seeing everything in bright — twenty-twenty focus. That — for those who believe — that twenty-twenty spiritual vision is how we will see things when we’re clothed in our resurrected bodies — in the presence of Jesus for all eternity. I mean — can you even begin to imagine what having perfect spiritual sight will be like? Where — as I talked about a few weeks ago — living by faith and living by sight will no longer be separate ways to live — but where living by faith will be living by sight? Now that’ll be something.
If you don’t know my story, I grew up in the church. But it was at a youth camp — in my early teen years — that God graciously gave me the gift of recognizing my spiritual blindness — that I was living in total spiritual darkness. Where — even though biblical stories — like the one we’ve looked at today — were familiar to me — I wasn’t seeing things clearly. I wasn’t even seeing things with a blurred vision. I was blind. And — because of my spiritual blindness — I was unable to understand spiritual things. Oh — I had my thoughts and opinions about things — I could talk about them — and some of what I thought may have even been accurate — but it wasn’t until God opened my eyes to see — it wasn’t until he illuminated my spiritually dark world with his light — a work — by the way — that God does in us and for us completely on his own — it wasn’t until the Lord was gracious to me that I began to see.
And spiritual blindness — according to the prophet Zephaniah — is due to a hard heart — an unbelieving heart — a heart that’s spiritually dead. Or — as the apostle Paul writes — “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil — the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Ephesians 2:1-5 NLT)
This is the inside out work that God graciously does to us so we can see.
Paul says something similar to Christians in another church — when he writes, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. 5 You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4-6 NLT)
So our blindness is due to our sin and rebellion — and — our blindness is a work of Satan. And blindness makes us unable to see and understand the gospel — the message of Good News that Jesus saves. And it’s as the gospel is preached that God shines his light into our darkened hearts so we see Jesus for who he is.
Yet — even after having been raised to spiritual life — after having been given eyes to see — the same guy — Paul — also tells us that, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT)
So — Christian — if you feel like things are still blurry — know that you have good company. The apostle Paul said this is the ordinary Christian life. Living by faith now — means having spiritual eyes that have the ability to see — just not with twenty-twenty vision. But — no need to despair — the day of twenty-twenty vision is coming — and don’t ever forget that. The day is coming when God’s people will see everything with twenty-twenty — bright — spiritual clarity.
And I know that some of us don’t like the idea of having to wait until that future day — we want the blurred vision to be gone — we want twenty-twenty vision now. And the reason isn’t always because we’re impatient. For some of us, our blurred vision is another reminder of our inadequacy — and you already live with a sense of being defective — and this blurred spiritual vision only adds to your sense of being impaired. You may even think that you’re the only one who’s flawed — the only person with blurred vision — that everyone else sees things clearly.
Please don’t give us that much credit. Yes, your vision is blurry — but so is ours — even those of us who are too proud to admit it — or see it. And know that — while your vision isn’t perfect — Jesus is healing you — he is bringing things into clarity for you.
For others of us — though — the reason why you want your blurred vision to go away isn’t because you’re impatient either — it’s because you’re afraid that your vision will be this way forever. You hear God’s promises of a future twenty-twenty vision for his people — and you think — “Yeah, well maybe that won’t be true for me.” And though you can do nothing to change the state of your vision, you do have the choice to believe that God will be faithful to you. You can trust him. You’re safe in his presence and the closer you draw to him — the more you’ll experience his healing power as you begin to see him more clearly — including his faithfulness — his commitment — and his love for you.
Now it’s hard to talk about blindness and not think of the hymn Amazing Grace by John Newton.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now I’m found,
Was blind but now I see.
Jesus gives sight to the blind. He’s the one — if you’ve believed in him — who’s given you spiritual eyes to see him for who he is — your Savior and Lord.
And Jesus can give sight to you — if you’ve realized today that you’re blind. That you’ve been buying into the thinking of our day where no one’s spiritually blind — that we don’t need outside help in order to understand things — that we’re all spiritually enlightened without the healing touch of Jesus. Maybe you thought that way when you came here today, but now you realize your need for Jesus to be gracious to you — to reach out and touch you — to heal you — to give you sight.
Well good news. Today’s your day to see. It’s as simple as — right now — believing that you need Jesus to give you spiritual eyes to see him as your Savior. And if you recognize your need for Jesus to do this for you — and trust that he will extend to you grace — favor — mercy — and his healing touch — if you trust him — your eyes will be opened and you will see.
Let me pray for you — and for all of us — that we would all have eyes f to see Jesus. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son — send your Spirit to give us all eyes to see Jesus more clearly. To see him as our Savior — for the first time. To see him as the One who walks to us and takes hold of our hand. To see Jesus as the Faithful One — who always is faithful to us. To see him as our Provider — that all that we have and need are gifts from him. To see his love for us — which never ends.
Father, Son, and Spirit give us eyes to see. And may our seeing eyes long to gaze at you moment by moment. May our seeing eyes long to know you better through your Word — the Bible. May our seeing eyes be drawn to the One who’s given us sight. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go with eyes to see — eyes that see Jesus for who he truly is. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
The notes for this sermon can be found here.
Stories, news, and resources for things happening at Gateway Church.
