28.04 | Teach Me to See

Mark 8:22-9:13

‘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.’

Mark 8:23-25

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Kids of a certain age often do something when watching a movie. They tell you which character they want to be. It’s a kind of vicarious role-playing, looking for character traits that they resonate with, helping them to form a sense of who they are and what they value and who they are becoming as they grow up.

It’s a good question to ask with the Scriptures. 

Which character am I?

We start today with an odd story. The big picture details are familiar: Jesus heals a blind man. 

But the details are strange. And none more so than this:

I see people, but they look like trees walking around.

This is the only recorded instance across the Gospels of Jesus’ healing not being instantaneous.

So what do we do with this?

Put yourself into the story.

Into this story, we need to remember that Jesus did not just come to do things for us, but to demonstrate and lead us into the true fullness of our own humanity. To be a disciple of a rabbi, in the First Century context, was to immerse yourself so radically in the life of your rabbi, that you learned to think as he thought and speak as he spoke and do as he did. Jesus did not merely come as Saviour; He came as our example.

In this single instance, then, of Jesus not immediately healing the man, He models for us how healing can sometimes be a journey of more than one stage. The work of the Father is always good but it isn’t always instantaneous. Stay on the journey. Take heart. Keeping going.

But we also need to put ourselves into the story as the blind man. Because the problem that Jesus identifies for His followers, again and again and again, is a lack of true sight. 

The disciples struggle to see who Jesus truly is. They struggle to see that the Lord who is with them is not restricted by small amounts of food for large crowds, a storm on a lake, or a stone rolled across a tomb. They struggle to see that He has placed authority on their lives that means that, at their word and in His name, the demons of hell will flee, the sick will be healed, and the dead will be raised. They fail to see who they truly are in the eyes of the Father. They fail to see how heaven waits to break in in every single moment.

The discipleship journey is a gradual opening of our eyes, to learn to see. To see the potential flooding every moment. To see every pain and defeat as only temporary and to see the inbreaking reign of Jesus as greater than all other realities. 

The disciples are getting there. They get closer in Caesarea Philippi. Peter, James and John get closer still on the mountaintop. Their eyes are opening. They are starting to see clearly. It may just be people who look like trees walking around right now, but, with more time with Jesus, they’re being gradually restored to the perfect sight of the way of faith.

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Reflect:

Pick a situation in my life right now that is challenging or painful.

What would it look like for heaven to break in?

Dwell on this image, asking the Spirit to help you. 

Then, turn this to prayer.

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Pray:

Lord Jesus,

Teach me to see.

Teach me to see the possibilities of my life

Not through the measurements of my limitations

But through your immeasurable strength.

Teach me to see.

Teach me to see the brokenness that I encounter

Not as the end of the story,

But as places where your life and wholeness can break right in.

Teach me to see.

Teach me to see myself in the very way that the Father does,

And to reinterpret my life

In the radically of His love and His call upon me.

Lord Jesus,

Teach me to see.

That all my days be marked

Not by the circumstances these tired old eyes of the earth offer me,

But by the imminent beauty that awaits every fresh moment

When the shining Lord of all is my rabbi.

Lord Jesus,

Teach me to see as you see,

In Your Name,

Amen

Old Testament: 

For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:

1 Samuel 3:1-7:2 | Psalm 55:1-19