Text: Mark 8:14-26
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” —1 John 3:2
My wife provides math tutoring for students. I like to joke with her that there are three kinds of people in this world: Those who can count and those who can’t. She has the patience to walk alongside of young people until they “get it,” no matter how slow of a learner one might be. I sure could’ve used that kind of tutor when I was in high school.
In last week’s devotion we saw how God is our all-sufficient “El-Shaddai,” meaning He doesn’t need any of our sufficiency to help Him out. But what God does desire from us is our participation. We saw that unfold in the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, but just like some of us, the disciples were still slow learners. They needed much grace and patience from Jesus due to their inability to grasp the things that Christ wanted to teach them about Himself and to understand about kingdom living.
In Mark 8, after a second miracle of multiplying food and feeding four thousand, you’d think these Christ-followers would be getting closer to “getting it,” right? When Jesus warned them about “the leaven of the Pharisees,” they actually thought he was talking about shifty bakeries rather than the analogy of bread with “teaching.” It’s amazing how much I can relate to these guys!
“Leaven” was a figurative description of the self-centered, self-reliance of both the Pharisees and Herod Antipas (1 Cor. 5:6–7; Luke 12:1; 1 Cor. 5:6–8; Gal. 5:9). Jesus warns his disciples against such an attitude of self-sufficiency. “Do you not yet understand?” he questions as the disciples’ hearts are still partially closed to the depth of His divinity. Though he doesn’t rebuke them as hard-hearted “hypocrites” like the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus graciously “tutors” them along. While the Pharisees reject Jesus’ teaching outright, the disciples are just slow learners.
That’s why what happens next in this story is a vivid parallel to the spiritual journey of the disciples… and us. As they came to Bethsaida, a blind man was brought to Jesus for healing. Rather than giving the blind man a business card to a reputable Lasik surgeon, Jesus spit on his eyes and laid hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?” The man looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on the blind man’s eyes again; “and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
Jesus’ healing of the blind man in multiple stages is analogous to the disciples’ gradual episodes of learning. Though witnessing numerous miracles, they still have limited apprehension of Jesus. To this point they have only seen him vaguely, but Jesus wanted to take them to a place of 20/20 kingdom vision. The disciples will soon understand that Jesus is the Messiah (vv27–30), but they will not yet fully grasp that he is to be a suffering Messiah (Mark 8:31–9:1). They still have so much to learn… as do we…
After all that God has shown us and been to us, we still are slow to overcome the doubts, the fears, the worry, the anxiety, and the struggle with self-reliance. But just like Jesus did with his disciples, and in similar fashion to how he restored the blind man in stages, we have that blessed assurance that this eternal Tutor from heaven—God’s very own Son—will walk with us through all of the blur, all the perplexity, and all the confusion until we truly “get it.”
Through all of our slow learning, God will never abandon us to ourselves. We have that sacred promise that “when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Think about that as you seek to abide in Him this week.
PRAYER
God, thank you for patience. Thank you for grace. But even more importantly, thank you that your patience and grace doesn’t leave us in our place of limited apprehension. You walk alongside us no matter how slow of learning we may be, to continue growing us and opening the eyes of our understanding. Thank you for your goodness in all of this. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for personal reflection, small group discussion, or dinner table conversations:
- When was a time someone showed compassion to you?
- What do we learn about Jesus’ character from the way He treated the blind man? (Mark 8:23-26)
- What did the blind man see after the first touch from Jesus? (v24) What occurred after Jesus touched the blind man a second time? (v25)
- What connection do you think there is between this gradual healing and the disciples’ slowness to understand who Jesus was? When has your “sight” been clouded by circumstances in your life? How has God opened your eyes in a difficult situation?
- How could you help a person you know who needs a “second touch” from Jesus?
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