Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

Spiritual Blindness, Part 2

Mark 8:11-21

 

We began last week a study of Mark 8:11-21 under the title of “Spiritual Blindness”. Everyone who has ever been born is born blind and we fall into two categories of blindness that Jesus identifies and addresses in this text. 

 

In verses 11-13 we find those who are “Permanently Blind”.  They refuse the light of God, they surround themselves with others who are blind and their blindness grows worse and worse until they find themselves in the eternal blackness of hell. 

 

On the other hand, there are those whose blindness is temporary and through the miracle of a new birth their spiritual sight is restored and they are able to see.  

 

Verse 13b-21

 

Here we discover that even though a person is born blind, it is possible to be delivered from that blindness. Even though everyone enters the world blind, they don’t have to leave the world blind. 

 

Jesus came into the world to shine the Light of God.  Those who were physically alive during His earthly ministry were witnesses to that light.  Some, as we’ve already seen, refused the light.

 

But, on the other hand, there was a small group of men and women who saw the light and followed the light.

They’re known as disciples, that includes the Apostles and other followers of Jesus. They followed Jesus. They turned their back on the darkness. They followed the light.

 

Now that is a critical point to understand.  To reject Jesus is to reject the Light of God and embrace some other way of salvation.  Whoever followed Jesus would be turning his or her back on the religion of their ancestors, the religion of their nation, the religion of their past life and that’s exactly what the disciples did. Those who went with Jesus followed the light. And because of that, spiritual blindness, for them, was only temporary.

 

So what makes the difference?  How is it that two people can be exposed to the same light and one accepts it and the other rejects it? 

 

Before we look at the particulars, I want to point out one thing.  In verse 14, the focus shifts to the disciples.   And we need to understand, they were once blind.  But they have seen the light and as Jews, they’ve had to come to a point of decision and instead of remaining Jewish, they have decided to follow Jesus. 

 

They understand the cost.  They have forsaken all. They will be thrown out of the synagogue. They will be dispossessed by family and friends. They are going to follow the light.

 

And what we see through them is how the light continues to become brighter as they come to understand more of the character and nature of Christ and His ministry. 

 

Now to illustrate that they were growing in their understanding, notice the rest of

 

verse 14

 

Now you would think after all that has been going on, and Jesus telling these Jewish leaders there will be no more signs, the disciples would have said, “Lord, tell us more about this!  What in the world is going on?  Tell us what this all means!”

 

This is a tense, dramatic moment in the ministry, but that was not on their minds. Verse 14 says they were thinking about lunch.

 

So for whatever light they do see, whatever light there is shining, there’s still a lot of darkness left. But I do see some very positive things int his text also. For instance, in contrast to those in darkness who surround themselves with others in darkness,

 

 

It’s kind of obvious, but the disciples are in the boat with Jesus.  Why did they go with Him?  They went with Him because they liked being with Him and believed in what He taught. 

 

They sought the truth. They shunned the darkness. They escaped the blindness. They rejected the Jewish leaders and left their religious system behind.  And now they will follow the Light of the World. 

 

 

 

And in following Him, they will have even more and more light. That’s the first mark of people of the light.  They run to the light.  They are comfortable in the light.  In fact, they love being in the light!

 

And the reward for that is seen in

 

verse 15

 

When you love being in the light, you become the beneficiary of His teaching.  In particular, He warns them about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

 

It is a double warning against the influence of the Pharisees and against the influence of Herod. Matthew includes an additional warning about the leaven ofo the Sadducees. 

 

That is so foundational to new believers because susceptible to false teachings.  It is extremely important for those who are in the light but still have a lot of darkness to be warned of the dangers surrounding them. 

 

And the illustration the Lord uses to help them understand what He’s talking about is leaven.  Leaven is a biblical illustration of permeation or influence. We would call it yeast.  Yeast makes dough rise by permeating or influencing the dough. 

 

And it’s not always a negative concept.  IT’s certainly not negative in the case of bread!  But twice in the New Testament, leaven is used positively.  Those are found in Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:21 speaking of the Kingdom.

But every other time it is used to speak of the evil permeating influence of sin as it is used here. You need to be warned that you’re still going to be surrounded by the Pharisaic religion.

 

You’re still going to be surrounded by the Sadducean liberalism and their denial of the resurrection. You’re still going to be surrounded by the influences of Herodian secularism and the corruption of politics and you will still have to deal with the evil influence of the Pharisees and their legalism.  And even though they were all enemies of each other, they came together in opposition to Christ. 

 

Well, verse 16, here’s their response.

 

What? He’s just given them this extremely grave warning about the very survival of the kingdom and in response, they look at each other and say, “What are we going to do for lunch?” What?

 

I think it safe to say some spiritual blindness remains. But at least they are in the presence of the light.  They were comfortable in the light. They loved being with Jesus and being with others who wanted to be with Jesus. But they needed more light, and

that’s the second point,

 

 

Now obviously, they missed the entire meaning of the warning.   But in the goodness of the Lord, He patiently leads them to understand what He means. 

 

 

 

Now remember, the Pharisees and the Sadducees had said, “Show us a sign.”  But because they had rejected what light they had already received, the Lord refused.

 

Here are those who have been responsive, but don’t understand and the Lord patiently guides them along.  But those who are in the light who are comfortable with the light will be conducted to greater light.

 

verse 17

 

Notice the patience of the Lord.  He’s obviously aware of their conversation and asks them why they’re talking about bread.  It’s like they weren’t hearing anything He said. You would think this was a class of third graders who can’t pay attention.

 

Then He asks a series of rhetorical questions.

 

 

All of those statements they were familiar with because Jesus had already told them earlier that those things apply to the people to whom He has hidden the truth.

 

But He said, as I quoted in Matthew 13, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries, to understand.” And now He’s saying, “Are you no better than they are? Are you as dark as they are?” This is rhetorical. No wonder He warned them about their influence.

But He’s gentle with them.

 

Verses 17-19

 

He says, “Do you not yet understand?” As if to say, what more do I need to do? Sometimes all you need to help you with the present is to remember the past. 

 

“Do you not remember when I...verse 19...broke the five loaves for the thousands, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said, “Sure we remember, twelve.”

 

“And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up? And they said to Him, Seven. Do you remember? Do you remember a few weeks when I fed the five thousand men plus women and children, a crowd of 20 - 25 thousand?

 

Sure, we remember the twelve baskets, one for each of the Apostles. Do you remember the feeding of the four thousand?” That was, by the way, in chapter 8 verse 1 through 8.  That’s immediately before this.  It just happened a few days before. 

 

 Have you forgotten? No, no, we remember, seven. I just fed 20 thousand people twice at least and you’re worried about lunch on the boat? Don’t you remember?

 

Isn’t it amazing how we as God’s people, in the present moment of whatever we’re dealing with, tend to forget His faithfulness in the past?

Why in the world are you thinking about lunch when you ought to be thinking about the dangerous things that are going to influence your soul?

 

If God has been faithful in the past, He’ll be faithful in the present. If He’s provided in the past, He can provide in the present. They needed to be seeking the Kingdom.  They needed to remember the Sermon on the Mount.  if they could remember that far back. “Don’t take any thought for what you shall eat or drink. Seek the Kingdom, and I’ll take care of the rest.” Do you not yet understand?

 

Matthew adds some additional insight for us in

 

Matthew 16:12

 

“Then they understood that He didn’t say to be aware of the leaven of bread but of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

 

What happened?  The light came on.  “Now we get it!  You weren’t talking about whether we could eat leaven bread.  You were talking about the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

 

The light in which they lived just got brighter!  They were learning to think beyond the physical dimension.   What was happening is what we call discipleship as He moves them along to greater light. Those who follow the light are comfortable with the light and they are led into greater light.

 

Thirdly,

 

 

Did you notice how the disciples traveled with Jesus?  Earlier in the chapter they are at Bethsaida.  Later in the chapter we’ll find them in the villages of Caesarea Philippi. 

 

In chapter 9 they stay with Him through Galilee and they stay with Him all the way to the end. Five hundred of them, eyewitnesses to the resurrection, are gathered in Galilee when He makes a post-resurrection appearance.  And they will be in the fellowship of the light forever. Jesus is the light of heaven.  And so will we as children of the Light until eventually we live in His presence in Heaven for all eternity. 

 

Everybody’s blind, either forever or only temporarily. The gospel offers light to the blind and the promise of Scripture is that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness.

 

I read recently about a little poor blind girl who lived in France some years ago.  She had obtained, according to the writer, a gospel of Mark in Braille and it was all she had. She read it with the tips of her fingers and she read it and read it and read it until her fingers became callous and her sense of touch diminished so that she could no longer distinguish the characters.

 

In an ill-conceived effort to re-sensitize her fingers, she cut them at the ends which only made them less sensitive. In a moment of sorrow, believing she would never be able to read her beloved book again, as she was weeping,  she pressed her lips to her book and said, “Farewell, farewell, sweet Word of my Savior.”

 

To her surprise, her lips more delegate than her fingers discerned the form of the letters. All night, with a heart filled with joy, she pressed her lips to the precious Word of God and read once again it’s beautiful story. 

 

Was she blind?  Maybe physically, but spiritually she was basking in the light of Her Savior. 

 

May God help us to do the same. 

 

Let’s pray.