Seeing Clearly

In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus healed a blind man. When some people brought the blind man to Jesus, He took him by the hand and led him outside the village. Then, He spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, asking him if he could see anything. At that point, the man said he could see people, but they look like trees walking around.

Now it is important to note that this healing takes place right before the major split in the gospel of Mark. Up to this point, Jesus had been performing miracles and preaching a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. His followers had begun to see that He was the One, the Messiah. They were beginning to see, but just like the blind man, they couldn’t see the whole picture yet.

So back to the blind man. After he said that he could see people but  they looked like trees, Jesus again put his hands on the man’s eyes. At that point, the man’s eyes were open, his sight was restored, and he could now see everything clearly.

In the next section of Scripture, Peter reveals that the disciples were beginning to have their eyes open, but they weren’t quite seeing things clearly yet. When Jesus asked His disciples, who they said that He was, Peter replied, “You are the Christ.” Peter was really just being a spokesman for all of the disciples. They all believed he was the Christ…but what that meant was far different than what they thought it meant.

In verse 31, Jesus began to teach them that He would suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he would be killed and after three days rise again. Jesus affirmed to Peter that he was the Christ, and now he was “touching” them again, letting them know what that was going to look like. It was obvious that they weren’t seeing things clearly, because Peter would have none of it. He actually rebuked Jesus.

Jesus then rebuked Peter. There are two things that I would like to point out about this rebuke. First of all, He did it in front of everyone. Sometimes things are important enough that you rebuke someone in front of everyone else. Paul did the same things to Peter later in Antioch (Galatians 2:14). The second thing I’d like to point out is that Jesus did not focus His anger at Peter. Peter meant well, but he was being influenced by Satan. Therefore, Jesus looked at Peter but confronted Satan, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” So, we could say that Peter had been under the influence of the doctrine of Satan, which places importance on earthly things, rather than eternal things. I wonder if any of us fall into that from time to time…

A friend of mine recently told me that ever since he and his wife had decided to get closer to God, they have had one thing after another thrown at them. It reminded me of this section of Scripture. All through Scripture, you will see that when we declare our allegiance to Christ, we declare war on the enemy. The attacks of the enemy will come through the least likely suspects; more often than not, from the ones we love the most. It is easy to direct our anger at them in these times, but we must remember that Jesus always directed His anger at Satan. He focused on Satan as His enemy. That is how we are to fight the battle as well. We fight through prayer, fasting, and communion with God. Don’t get me wrong though; it will certainly include the necessity for confrontation. The confrontation just needs to take place from the correct perspective.

In this confrontation, the temptation will be to focus on the person, rather than the spiritual battle that is taking place. If we do that, we will never focus on the real truth that needs to be told. We have to go into these confrontations looking for redemption. We must not be ashamed to have Jesus on our lips, looking for every opportunity to share the gospel. This could be with friends, coworkers, spouses, parents, siblings, children, etc.

So, back to the Scripture. After Jesus rebuked Peter, he called the crowd to him, along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

This is the second half of the story. The disciples didn’t really get this until after Jesus died, but when they got it, they really got it. Many of us come to Christ, not expecting all of the trials. At some point, we will get it. And when we get it, we will really get it. And when we really get it, we become a force for Jesus in the Kingdom of God, reeking all kinds of havoc on the kingdom of darkness. When the disciples finally got it, they turned the world upside down (actually, they turned it right side up)!

There are many things to mine from this passage, but what I really want to leave you with is to focus on the right enemy. When we deny ourselves and follow Christ, we will suffer persecution. Not only do these trials build our faith, but they often bring us people who need Jesus. Let’s make sure that we are not ashamed of Jesus and His Word in these times. Always be ready to shine the light of Christ.