Message preached Sunday, November 8, 2015 from Mark 8:22-26
Theme: Our sovereign Lord does His unique work in each person’s life in stages of His choosing.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We come this morning to a very unusual story. It’s a story that’s unique to the Gospel of Mark.
It’s the story of a miracle that the Lord Jesus performed in the ancient town of Bethsaida—one in which He restored the sight of a blind man. That much of the story isn’t really unusual—if, of course, you could ever say that Jesus giving sight to the blind was something ‘usual’. Jesus gave sight to many blind people; and gave it to them instantaneously. It was, in fact, one of the ways that He demonstrated that He was the promised Messiah.
And yet, this particular story is unusual. I even wonder—if you have read it before—whether or not it has actually bothered you a little. It’s unusual because, whereas we read of so many times in this Gospel that Jesus did things “immediately”—and have seen how it was that Jesus almost always performed instantaneous miracles of healing on people—here we see that He didn’t perform an instantaneous healing. Jesus restored a man’s sight in a way that, at first, didn’t seem to work; and then completed his healing in what seem like stages and degrees.
It’s an event that occurred after Jesus had just gently rebuked His disciples in the boat. They had complained that they only had one loaf of bread between them; and Jesus reminded them that one loaf of bread was no problem for Him. He had fed 5,000 men with only five loaves and two fishes; and He had later feed 4,000 men with seven loaves and a few fish. Surely He could feed twelve hungry disciples with only one loaf of bread. He had already proven that nothing was too hard for Him.
We’re not told whether or not He did then feed them all with one loaf (although it wouldn’t at all surprise me if He did so). But the boat traveled on and reached it’s destination. And that’s when we find the strange story in Mark 8:22-26.
Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town” (Mark 8:22-26).
This is a story that shows us—among many things—that we can never put our Lord in a predictable box. We may wish that He did things according to a strict formula—the same way every time, and always all at once. But He doesn’t. He does things His own way and at His own pace; and He uses methods of His own sovereign choosing. It’s not for us to demand an accounting from Him for how He does things; but rather to trust His wisdom in the ways He works.
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I had an opportunity about a week-and-a-half ago to enjoy breakfast with several friends in a hotel just a few miles ways away from the spot where this event actually happened. As we were all talking, the discussion turned to how it was that each of us came to know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. I don’t know about you, but I love those kinds of conversations.
What really stood out to me was the remarkable variety of stories I heard. It seems as if Jesus had a different and unique way of working in bringing about the salvation stories of each one of us. It was the same Jesus, of course, that all of us came to love and trust. We all had come—by one way or another—to trust in His single sacrifice on the cross for us. We were all bound by a common bond of faith in Christ through the work of one Holy Spirit. But the stories of how we got there were often quite different from one another. Some had grown up in a Christian home, and had always had the influence of Jesus’ love brought upon them; and so, they came—at a very early age—to embrace the Jesus that they had always been taught was there. They may not have even been able to say just when the date was that they finally trusted Jesus; but they know that they trust Him today and will never depart from Him.
I told my story. Mine was different. I was not brought up in an overtly Christian home, and had heard very little about Jesus as the Savior of sins throughout my growing up years. In fact, I had declared myself to be an atheist at a very early age. But the Holy Spirit kept bringing the conviction of my sins upon me over and over in my teenage years; and, at the right time, He revealed Jesus’ saving grace to me and I believed. For me, the transformation was instantaneous and dramatic. I know the date and the time that my new life in Christ began; and it has been growing ever since.
One new friend of mine talked during breakfast about how he had been brought up in a completely different religious faith. There had been a long struggle with frustration and pain and loss; and he had decided to venture off on a personal quest for his own understanding of life. I don’t think he would ever recommend this particular practice; but he was hitchhiking his way across the country—riding with whoever would pick him up; and in the providence of God, he was picked up by some devoted Christians who got him to think more about God’s love for him. There was one amazing miracle after another that brought him—through a series of personal awakenings—to the feet of the Lord Jesus. As I got to know him better, I became convinced that Jesus’ method of drawing this particular man to Himself was just the right one for him. He is a tough-minded person; and the same method wouldn’t have worked with any of the others of us.
What a variety of stories! People today are fond of saying that there are many ways to God. But that’s putting things badly. There are not “many ways” to God. There is but only one way—and that one way is through faith in Jesus Christ. As He Himself said, “I am the way . . .” But that breakfast-time conversation helped me to appreciate that, though there is only one “way” to God, there are many “ways” that we in the family of God are brought into a relationship with that one “way”. I can’t question Jesus’ unique way of giving spiritually blind people the sight that they need in order to trust Him. I certainly can’t second-guess His methods. With some, He does things instantly. With others, He just always seems to have carried them along. With still others, He brings them to Himself in abrupt stages and degrees. But I’m learning—more and more—to trust that He knows what He’s doing in His marvelous ways of working in the lives of those He loves.
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Now; it might sound as if I’m stretching this passage to make a point that it’s not really making. This is a story, after all, of how Jesus gave sight to a man who was physically blind. But I really do believe that one of the reasons the Holy Spirit preserved it for us is to teach us something of how Jesus works in the lives of the people he loves.
It’s a story that shows us that He doesn’t always work in the same ways with people. He uses one method in drawing one person to Himself; but He may use a completely different method in drawing another person to Himself. In bringing about a transformation in the life of one person, His work may be instantaneous and very evident; and yet, with another, His work may be gradual and slow. He may perform a miracle in one person’s life that is sudden and dramatic—something that really startles everyone else and makes them say, “It’s a miracle!”; and yet, in another person, He may perform a work for them that is in stages and in degrees that are hardly noticed—and in a way that even allows periods of suffering and seeming loss.
We can’t predict how He may work in one person’s life, or how He may work in another’s. Nor can we demand an explanation from Him of why He does what He does. It’s for us to know that He does as He sovereignly chooses, and to trust that He does all things well, and to rest confidently in His wisdom and love.
That may not be a lesson many of us want to hear. We would much rather have Him work the same way every time, and always do everything instantly and completely and to our satisfaction. But I do believe that that’s the lesson this passage is intending to teach us. We get ourselves into great trouble whenever we demand that He works in our lives—or in the lives of others that we love—in only a certain way or at a certain pace. We set ourselves up for disappointment and discouragement when we demand that He do for us exactly what He does for someone else.
The fact is—as this passage, I believe, clearly shows us—that our sovereign Lord does His unique work in each person’s life in stages of His own choosing and according to His own wise purposes. And the sooner we learn to accept that, and trust Him in it, and not demand that He do things the same way each time, the better able we will be to receive His gracious work in us.
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Let’s look at this passage a bit closer and see how this is shown to us. First, I believe we see it in . . .
1. JESUS’ INTRODUCTION TO THE MAN’S NEED.
Mark tells us, “Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him” (v. 21). It seems that, no sooner than He got out of the boat, than a need was brought to Him. And it was brought to Him by the people of the town of Bethsaida—where He had already performed the feeding of the 5,000 men. Clearly, He had a reputation. If He could feed a multitude as He had done there, then surely He could heal a blind man.
Now; Jesus had healed people who had been born blind; and that’s a very notable miracle. But may I tell you something about this blind man? I don’t believe He was born blind. I believe he had been a sighted man who became blind along the way—perhaps because of a disease or because of an accident. I believe that for two reasons. First, I notice that –after the first phase of his healing; when Jesus asked him if he could see anything—he said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Clearly, he knew what trees looked like; and someone who had been born blind wouldn’t be very likely to know such a thing. And second, we’re told later in the passage that, after Jesus had healed him, he was “restored”—as if his healing meant that he was brought back to a state of being that he once had. That means that this man’s story already had taken an abrupt turn somewhere along the way. He had suffered a great loss in life. The story of his encounter with Jesus had already involved a couple of dramatic ‘stages’. Many of us who have come to Jesus have likewise come after tragedy or loss.
Why did they bring him to Jesus? It may have been because they sincerely loved the man and knew that Jesus could heal him. But I suspect—as was often the case in this Gospel—they just wanted to see Jesus perform another amazing miracle. This was after all, as the Gospel of John tells us, the crowd that wanted to make Him ‘king’ by force after they saw that He could provide them with bread. That, I believe, was why He took the man by the hand and led him out of the city before He did anything for Him. Jesus wasn’t going to do things to the man according to their demands, or in a way that would satisfy their desire for spectacular things. And did you notice that they specifically brought the man to Jesus so He could lay His hands on Him? That’s how they were expecting Jesus do to things for the man, because that’s how He had done such things before. But He doesn’t have to do things for one person the way He did for another. Think of it! The crowds certainly didn’t bring the man to Jesus so that Jesus could spit in the man’s eyes!
Dear brothers and sisters; let’s not bring people to Jesus with the demand that He do for them exactly what He did for us—or for what He did for others. I believe we end up hurting people when we do that. Let’s by all means bring them to Jesus! He is the great Healer; and the One who is able to meet their every need. But let’s let Him be the judge of what the meeting of their needs will look like. Let’s learn to trust Him to do things in His way for them—according to His own time frame, and in keeping with His own methods.
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So; however it was that they brought the man to Jesus, and for whatever motives, and with whatever expectations, Jesus met him, took him by the hand, and drew him away from the town and from the eager eyes of the crowds. I believe that was merciful of our Lord.
But that’s when we find that Jesus did things in ways that were even more ‘unexpected’. This leads us, next, to consider . . .
2. THE STRANGE WAY JESUS RESTORED HIS SIGHT IN STAGES.
We’re told, “And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, ‘I see men like trees, walking’” Why did Jesus spit into the man’s eyes? You’d be surprised how many Bible commentators suggest that it was because—as we’re all supposed to know—there are healing properties in saliva. (I invite you to go to the local park some day, find a blind person, and give it a try. I’m not so sure they’d appreciate the ‘healing properties’ you so kindly offer them!)
Jesus didn’t need to spit in the man’s eyes in order to heal them! He healed blind people just by speaking a word! So why would He do this? Perhaps it was just to make it evident to the man that He was about to do something to heal him. After all, Jesus did a similar thing in healing a deaf man who had a speech impediment just a short while earlier. Do you remember how He spat and touched the man’s tongue and then put His fingers in the man’s ears? Those were clear signs that He was about to do something for the man. And perhaps that’s all that He meant to convey in spitting in the man’s eyes.
But what a strange thing to do! What an unusual method! And how stranger still it was that, after He touched the man and He asked if he could see anything, the man could only see imperfectly. He saw men—and at least that much was an improvement; because before then, he was blind and could see nothing! But he saw the men unclearly—as if they were walking trees. Obviously, the man was getting better; but he was not yet completely healed of his blindness.
Now; suppose you were a person from Bethsaida, and you managed to sneak by and listen in as Jesus healed the man. Suppose you only heard only that much of the story, and you went back to give a report. People would ask you, “So; what did you find out? Did Jesus heal the man?” And what would you tell them?—if that was all you knew? Perhaps you’d say, “Well; I don’t know that I can say Jesus healed him. I think suppose He made him a little better. He can see shapes now. But I’m a little disappointed with Jesus. I was expecting Him to heal the man like I had seen Him do for others. It doesn’t seem like He really worked in the man’s life.” And you wouldn’t have known that more of the work of Jesus was to come. You wouldn’t have known that Jesus was doing what He was doing for the man in stages and degrees—not all at once.
I think that’s the problem that comes about in us whenever we expect Jesus to work the same way every single time for everyone. We set ourselves up for disappointment. As you know, my wife and I are dealing with a chronic illness. We have prayed many times over the years for complete healing. Many of you have prayed the same for us. And when we have prayed, we have often expected the “answer” to our prayers to mean a sudden and complete transformation. We have expected to wake up one morning and find it all gone. We’ve heard many of those kinds of stories; and we certainly long for ours to be one of them. But so far, that hasn’t happened for us. There has been some improvement; and we praise God for that. But not at all a complete healing.
But here’s the point: the fact that we only see ‘some’ improvement doesn’t mean that Jesus has not heard our prayers. It simply means nothing else than what this passage shows us—that the wonderful Savior Jesus, who hears our prayers, sometimes works in stages and degrees in accordance with His own sovereign purposes in answering those prayers. He works at His own pace. It’s up to Him. And it’s not our place to demand and accounting from Him of how He chooses to work. It’s our place to simply trust Him and know that He loves us and is at work.
And this is shown to us even more clearly, I believe, by the fact that there was a second phase to the man’s healing. Verse 25 tells us that, after hearing the man say that he now saw men—but only as trees walking, “Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up.” By the way; do you realize that this would mean, from the man’s standpoint—just before the complete healing—there was another temporary return of darkness? He was at least seeing men as if they were trees walking; but before Jesus completely healed him, He allowed darkness to fall upon his eyes once again. But then the darkness ended. “And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.”
How grateful that man must have been that he didn’t give up trusting Jesus only after the first phase! How grateful he must have been that he didn’t say, “Walking trees? You call that healing me? Why should I hang around for more if that’s the best You do?” How grateful he must have been that; when Jesus covered his eyes and allowed darkness to fall upon him again, he didn’t doubt Him. How grateful he must have been that he submitted to Jesus’ sovereign plan to heal him in stages and degrees!
In the end, Jesus made him perfectly well; and in the process, taught you and I a valuable lesson about Himself.
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Now; there’s a final thing to notice in all this; and that’s . . .
3. JESUS’ INSISTANCE THAT THE MAN NOT GO TO THE TOWN.
This was strange too. The people of the town had brought the man to Jesus for healing. But after the man was healed, Jesus didn’t send him back to the town. Instead, He was very clear that the man should not go back to the town. We read; “Then He sent him away to his house, saying, ‘Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town’” (v. 26). Why was this? Shouldn’t they have a right to hear about the man’s healing? Wouldn’t Jesus have wanted them to know?
Well; as we learn what Jesus said elsewhere in His teaching ministry about this town Bethsaida, we see that it may be that He actually didn’t want them to know. They didn’t have a heart to repent of their sin. In Matthew 11:20-24, we read these words:
Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:20-24).
What I’m about to say to you is a great mystery to me; and I’m not sure I can come anywhere close to saying it properly. But included in Jesus’ sovereign choices of how and when and where and in what ways He works is also His sovereign choices of who it is that gets to have their eyes opened to it and who it is that does not. As He said in John 9:39—in the case of another healing of another blind man;
“For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind” (John 9:39).
And could it then be that the strange ways that Jesus sometimes works—ways that seem so mysterious and confusing to us; working in one person one way, and another person another way; working suddenly in the life of one, and gradually and in stages in the life of another—will prove, on the day of judgment, to have been done in such a way as to perfectly fulfill His sovereign purposes of salvation? Will they prove to be a part of how He allowed blindness to remain on some, but enlightenment to fall upon others—and all according to His gracious will?
I’m not sure we have the wisdom to say. But perhaps that’s the point. Only Jesus Himself has the wisdom to know the divine reasons for His own methods. And knowing that this is so makes me want to place my hand over my mouth and cease from ever complaining about His seemingly-mysterious ways of working.
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So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s learn the lesson from this passage. Our Lord Jesus cannot be put into a box, or be made to work the same way for everyone. He is the sovereign Lord; and He does what He does according to His own wise purposes.
Are you in the midst of one of His works right now? And are you frustrated that things are taking longer than you would wish? Are you even finding yourself frustrated over what seems like a series of progressions undone by seeming set-backs?—victories seemingly undone by apparent failures? Do you wonder if He even heard your prayers at all? Well; just know that that’s one of the ways Jesus works. He never fails in His methods; and those chosen methods have purpose in accordance with His perfect wisdom.
Let’s learn to trust Him—and know that, just like that blind man, we will see Him prove Himself in time. We will say, “He does all things well!”