Focus passage: Mark 8:19-30
Jesus had used five loaves to feed 5000 people and seven loaves to feed 4000 people. Yet, it was clear that the disciples did not understand what Jesus had done. He is frustrated at the limits of their faith. Sadly, people still experience such immature faith today. Weak faith must grow to grasp what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. You grow in knowledge, but more important you have to grow in your ability to serve and to witness to others. Jesus heals a blind man in stages paralleling the disciple’s statements of faith in the verses following the miracle.
Faith begins with fuzzy sight v.24. The first time that the man is touched, he can see with unclearly. He can see people, but they look indistinct like trees walking around. When Jesus asks later in the text who people say that He is, the answer is again fuzzy sight. People see Jesus as a man from God, but none of those see Him clearly as Savior or Messiah. Their vision is still unclear.
Faith can become clearer v.25 Jesus touches the man’s eyes once more and the man can now see clearly. His sight is fully restored. He is a living object lesson for the disciples. Later, when Jesus asks Peter about His identity, Peter says clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. His faith has grown by watching Jesus heal the blind and by listening to His teaching. He now has a vision of Jesus as the special one of God.
Yet not everyone is ready to see v.26 The man who was blind was sent home so he could go to his own village and show them what Jesus had done. The village of Bethsaida was not ready, but his family would be touched by this healing and grow in their faith. Later, Peter is also told to tell no one that Jesus was the Christ. The people were not ready. People were looking for a Messiah who would be king and not a savior. The crowds would have to grow in their faith before their sight could be clear.
The more time we spend with Jesus, the clearer our faith and sight becomes. Faith comes in stages so that we will never see it all. The joy of being a Christian is in the journey. It is in learning more about your Lord each day and seeing things that God has revealed just to you. It is the close fellowship that you have with this Lord who will teach you and work with you to help others. In the end, you will be different just as the disciples became different. They could sing when life was a struggle. They could lead others and people would follow. Clear vision impacted their lives and the lives of all the people close to them.