Congregational Bible Experience Day #13
Bible Reading: Mark 7-9.
Introduction: You may remember that Jesus had remarked that those outside his band of true followers would "be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding" (Mark 4:12). They just don't "get it". Now, in today's passages, we discover that, at this point in the story, even His disciples are also blind and deaf to Gospel truth. They too, just don't "get it". And without a prayerful reading of God's Word, asking for the Spirit's help to understand what we read, we won't "get it" either. We need to constantly pray as we come to read God's Word: "Open our eyes that we might see wonderful things in your law" (Psalm 119:18).
These chapters in Mark follow a very similar outline to that which we read a week or so ago in Matthew's Gospel account. However, by the way each writer uniquely tweaks or emphasizes their material, we gain a better understanding of what it is that they want their readers - us -to know and to learn. And at this stage in the story, Mark wants us firstly to understand who Jesus really is and what He has come to, and secondly to note how embarrassingly slow the disciples are to 'get' it.
Following a needless discussion among the disciples about "yeast" (8:15-17), we sense Jesus' frustration with their inability to make spiritual connections: "Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember… Do you still not understand?" (8:17-22).
Seeing clearly. Hearing carefully. Understanding fully. That's what these disciples don't do. Mark doesn't want his readers to make the
same mistake. So what happens next in
the story is fascinating. Mark
immediately tells the story about Jesus with someone who can't see (8:22-26). But the miracle of restoring the blind man's
sight happens in two stages, not all at once (v24-25). He initially sees some things, but not
everything. Did Jesus somehow get the miracle "wrong" at his first
attempt? No. He's making a point for the disciples to grasp: they 'see' some things about Him correctly,
but not everything. If they are going to
be any use in the service of the Kingdom after Jesus is gone, they still have
truths to 'see', very important lessons to learn. So onto the next stage…
Jesus is
transfigured before their very eyes (9:2-3), they can't fail to see His glory
(8:38 - 9:1). This is who Jesus really
is. He really is the King of Heaven. Do you see it now? But then a voice grabs
their attention, they can't fail to hear the Father speak: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to
Him!" (v9). Listen to Him about what? About what He has just been saying about His
death. And do they really 'hear' this time? Sadly
not. Jesus has to repeat Himself again,
and again (9:30-32; 10:32-34).
Bible Reading: Mark 7-9.
Introduction: You may remember that Jesus had remarked that those outside his band of true followers would "be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding" (Mark 4:12). They just don't "get it". Now, in today's passages, we discover that, at this point in the story, even His disciples are also blind and deaf to Gospel truth. They too, just don't "get it". And without a prayerful reading of God's Word, asking for the Spirit's help to understand what we read, we won't "get it" either. We need to constantly pray as we come to read God's Word: "Open our eyes that we might see wonderful things in your law" (Psalm 119:18).
These chapters in Mark follow a very similar outline to that which we read a week or so ago in Matthew's Gospel account. However, by the way each writer uniquely tweaks or emphasizes their material, we gain a better understanding of what it is that they want their readers - us -to know and to learn. And at this stage in the story, Mark wants us firstly to understand who Jesus really is and what He has come to, and secondly to note how embarrassingly slow the disciples are to 'get' it.
Following a needless discussion among the disciples about "yeast" (8:15-17), we sense Jesus' frustration with their inability to make spiritual connections: "Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember… Do you still not understand?" (8:17-22).
Seeing clearly. Hearing carefully. Understanding fully. That's what these disciples don't do. Mark doesn't want his readers to make the
same mistake. So what happens next in
the story is fascinating. Mark
immediately tells the story about Jesus with someone who can't see (8:22-26). But the miracle of restoring the blind man's
sight happens in two stages, not all at once (v24-25). He initially sees some things, but not
everything. Did Jesus somehow get the miracle "wrong" at his first
attempt? No. He's making a point for the disciples to grasp: they 'see' some things about Him correctly,
but not everything. If they are going to
be any use in the service of the Kingdom after Jesus is gone, they still have
truths to 'see', very important lessons to learn. So onto the next stage…
Jesus quizzes them
about who He is (8:27-30) and amazingly, they are right: Jesus is the Christ. But as yet they don't fully understand what
that means; that's why they must not pass on this good news just yet. There's something more they need to hear
first: namely, that this Christ "must
suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of
the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke
plainly about this" (8:31-32). But are the disciples listening to
what Jesus has said? Not at all. Peter
rebukes Him for speaking like this showing himself at this point to be an
instrument of Satan rather than a servant of God (v33). The disciples don't yet "see" Him
as He really is; they are not "hearing" Him properly. Maybe a hiking trip up the mountain might
help? Onto the next stage…
Jesus is
transfigured before their very eyes (9:2-3), they can't fail to see His glory
(8:38 - 9:1). This is who Jesus really
is. He really is the King of Heaven. Do you see it now? But then a voice grabs
their attention, they can't fail to hear the Father speak: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to
Him!" (v9). Listen to Him about what? About what He has just been saying about His
death. And do they really 'hear' this time? Sadly
not. Jesus has to repeat Himself again,
and again (9:30-32; 10:32-34).
The disciples'
preconceived notions about who the Christ (or Messiah) would be and what He
would do had blinded their eyes and closed their ears to the real Jesus. They did not see; they would not listen. Mark
has spent time on this so that we would learn from their mistakes. Don't try and squeeze Jesus into the mould
that you have made for Him. He is the Christ, yes; but He must suffer, He must
go to the Cross. Don't be like Peter and imagine a cross-less Jesus. After all, We may not know, we cannot tell, What griefs He had
to bear; But we believe it was for us He
hung and suffered there.
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