Mark Part XXXI - Healing the Blind (8:22-30)
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Date:
11/30/2008
Price:
FREE
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Throughout the Gospel of Mark Jesus has been confronting the blindness of his generation. We have witnessed this blindness in the hardness of the Pharisees and Herodians and their plots against Jesus’ life. We have witnessed it in the life of Jesus’ family and their accusation that Jesus has gone mad. We have witnessed it in Jesus’ home town of Nazareth where even He marveled at their unbelief. And we have seen it, tragically, even among the disciples – having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear?
Today Jesus is confronted with a blind man in need of healing and the way in which Jesus treats this man forms an interpretive grid for the entire Gospel of Mark. Mark places this incident here in the middle of his gospel, just prior to Peter’s declaration of faith, to help us understand what is going on in the life and ministry of Jesus. What is it that Jesus was really all about in His ministry? What was his calling? It was to open the eyes of the blind; to cause light to shine on those who walked in darkness.
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Stuart Bryan is the pastor of Trinity Church. He and his wife, Paige, have seven children, four homegrown, two adopted from the lovely land of Guatemala, and one adopted from Ukraine. Stuart earned his B.A. in Religion from Whitworth College and his M.A. in Theological and Historical Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida.
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