Strangers: The Blind
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Scripture reading
Scripture reading
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch 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?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.
Jesus always talks about opening the spiritual eyes, and seeing with the heart. Right before today’s passage, Jesus feeds the four thousand.
And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?
And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Jesus relates seeing to understanding. One who sees is one who understands the will of God.
In the Bible, there are three kinds of eyes. There are the physical eyes, the eyes that discern good and evil, and the spiritual eyes that understand the Word of God. When we have the eyes to see the Word of God, we will have the eyes to see what God is doing. It is very difficult when we cannot see clearly.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
Simeon believed that he would see the Lord’s Christ. This is talking about seeing with his physical eyes. And then he exclaims, “My eyes have seen your salvation.” This is the spiritual sight. Simeon saw the Messiah and saw the salvation of the Lord.
In the garden of Eden, after eating the fruit, Adam and Eve had their eyes opened to their shame.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Before this, their spiritual eyes were opened to see God. But after the fall, their spiritual eyes were shut and they saw the sin. When people are bitten by venemous snakes, the first thing that happens is that their hearing and sight is blocked.
The two disciples going to Emmaus had their eyes blocked from recognizing Jesus.
But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
The eyes of their heart were closed shut. It is only God who can open our spiritual eyes.
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Redemption work is the work of opening our spiritual eyes and ears. Saul’s eyes were open, but he saw nothing. The light from heaven was so bright that his physical eyes were blinded.
And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
May God close our sinful eyes like he did to Saul, and open our spiritual eyes.
The Pharisees saw the wrong things and claimed to see.
We have to mature in order to appreciate solid food.
for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
When the spiritual eyes are opened, the physical seeing goes away. These disciples thought they had seen Jesus already, but they did not recognize him, and only when their spiritual eyes were opened to Jesus, the physical Jesus vanished from their sight.
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
If we are spiritual infants, we cannot eat solid food. We would choke, or have indigestion. Do we see clearly the truth about Jesus?
for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
The result of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a self determining system of morality, in which humans decided what was good or evil.
The blind man who came to see clearly through two tries
The blind man who came to see clearly through two tries
Jesus healed the centurion’s daughter from a distance, but this time he took two tries. It seems weird. But he did this to teach something. He’s showing us how our eyes are opened. Our eyes are opened when we come to Jesus and receive whatever comes out of his mouth. The water, the spit that comes out of his mouth is the water of life. The Word that proceeds out of his mouth will open our eyes.
When we first come to Jesus, we don’t see clearly just yet. We see vaguely, and we start following. The problem when we can only see vaguely is that we’re prone to falling, to accidents, and so on. And the problem is that many are satisfied with just this vague sight. And so we follow because we want the blessings. There are two levels of understanding the Word of God, and two levels of sight. When we don’t see clearly, our life of faith becomes difficult. We start doubting because we cannot see clearly. We start wondering if this is the right thing. As a result of not being able to see clearly, we start grumbling. There were twelve spies sent out to see the land of Canaan, but only two of them saw the land with spiritual eyes, that God would deliver the land to them. The rest saw only with their physical eyes, and came back grumbling. Only Joshua and Caleb entered into the promised land without dying. May we see clearly with our spiritual eyes.
If there’s an abstract image before you, you see the same thing as other people, but you won’t understand it unless someone explains it to you. But once you gain understanding, you will never see it the same thing again. Are we seeing the right things, or the wrong things?
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
When we taste the sweetness of God’s Word, our spiritual eyes will be opened. This is why we do biblestudy and continue to read the Word of God.
Our eyes failed, ever watching
vainly for help;
in our watching we watched
for a nation which could not save.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
The Pharisees were seeing the wrong thing, and claimed to see. We need to check if we are seeing the right things. Are we placing the right things in front of our eyes?
Conclusion
Conclusion
We need the blessing of the Lord lifting what covers our eyes, ears, and mouth.
Circumcision is about taking off the covering foreskin, and also bears some symbolic significance for uncovering our spiritual eyes.
The blind man Bartimaeus was healed by his faith. But he didn’t do anything. The Gospel of Mark emphasizes the faith that comes from hearing. All the people who came to Jesus heard of Jesus first. Bartimaeus heard of Jesus and began to cry out. He called Jesus the son of David, which meant that he saw Jesus as the Messiah.
And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.