Demanding a Sign (v. 11)
The Pharisees reveal their blindness in that they ask for a sign immediately after Jesus has fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread. Jesus openly displays his displeasure with an angry sigh. Because they rejected Jesus’ identity (about to be discussed in v. 27-30) they cannot or will not see the miracles that are done in their presence.
We are not granted the option of partial or selective vision. God does not allow us to choose what we do and do not agree with concerning His character and activity. As we will see, verses 22-26 are an acted parable that we do receive progressive vision. However, if we reject what God has done in our lives to us, we will not be able to accept the rest of what God has made known.
Reflection Questions: What aspect of God’s character or activity in your life do you have the hardest time accepting? Pray earnestly to God that He would grant you the grace to accept this truth. Speak with a mature Christian friend or pastor about this struggle to ensure your thinking correctly about what you are trying to accept. If need be, start with the prayer, “I believe. Help my unbelief (Mark 9:24).
Do You Have Eyes But Fail to See?
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Don’t you feel sorry for the disciples? They doubt the bread and God does a miracle. They start thinking about bread and miss the point of the miracle. They could answer all the factual questions, but missed the question of relevance. Why? They did not yet understand who Jesus was or what He was up to. This impeded their ability get the significance of all they were blessed to experience.
That raises a very relevant question for us, “Do we understand who Jesus is and what He is up to in our lives?” If not, even the grandest works of God in our lives will be misunderstood. We may be able to answer many factual questions and be willing to give God credit for it all. However, we would still be missing the point.
As you seek to make sense of Christ, consider these foundational truths about His work in our lives.
- Jesus came to glorify the Father and everything He does is for that purpose (John 17:1).
- Jesus is willing to sacrifice greatly for our benefit (John 3:16).
- Jesus expects us to find joy by being sacrificial people (Mark 8:34-38).
- Jesus knows that lasting joy is only found in holy character (Matt 5:48)
- Jesus does not promise to remove suffering (Matt 5:11-12).
- Jesus works in the midst of suffering (Matt 5:43-47).
- Jesus hates suffering even when it is produces great good (Matt 26:38-39).
- Jesus is not soft on those who inflict suffering (Mark 9:42).
- Jesus does not work on our time table (Mark 13:11).
- Jesus will not and does not leave us alone (John14:18, 26).
- Jesus has complete compassion and understanding of our circumstances (Heb :15).
- Jesus rewards those who are faithful (Rev 22:12-16)
If you are in a time when you feel blind to what God is doing, then take time to meditate on these truths about your Savior in light of your circumstances. Pray with a humble, patient heart that God would show you His full character and activity. Pray you would have eyes to see it.
Progressive Vision Restoration (v. 22-26)
Jesus performs this miracle in between His rebuke of the disciples regarding their spiritual blindness and their guessing towards His true identity as the long-awaited Messiah. This is an acted parable of grace. While we must accept who Christ is, our vision may be restored gradually so long as we do not defiantly resist what is made known.
This is truly Jesus stepping out of high usual pattern (instantaneous healing when He heals) to demonstrate His patience with our slow process of understanding. Notice in the next verses the disciple’s eyes are opened to Jesus identity as the Messiah as slowly as this blind man’s site was restored.
Balanced View of God: The disgust Jesus demonstrated with the Pharisees in verse 12 does not carry over to the blind man or the disciples. Both experience spiritual blindness. The Pharisees were willfully blind. The disciples were blind from fear or confusion. Notice that Jesus does not respond to them on the basis of their condition (blindness) but on the condition of their heart (hard or humble). Let this be a comfort to you.
Blog Resource: “Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me” applied to marital communication.
Introduction to the “Living Our Faith” series.
TOOL: “Using Prayer Time to Cultivate Ministry”
BLOG: “Teachers Equipping Ministers Through Prayer Time“
Context makes this phrase amazing. Jesus was hungry and exhausted; so were His disciples (v. 31). They tried to get away for rest (a good model for us to follow as well). In His time of rest needy people found Jesus. Unlike us, Jesus saw them. More than He saw His fatigue, He saw their lostness. They were “sheep without a shepherd (v. 34).”
Take a moment and compare the account of Jesus walking on the water after feeding the 5,000 in Matthew 14 with the account in Mark 6. Do you see one major omission? Mark leaves out the fact that Peter also walked on the water. That is significant because Mark’s Gospel comes from the preaching of Peter to the church at Rome.
“What must I do to be saved?” asked the jailer in Acts 16:30. Paul replied simply, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved (Acts 16:31).” In the parable of the sower, Jesus expands upon Paul’s answer. Below are the four responses we can have to the Gospel and the adversary most prone to disrupt the growth of the Gospel in the soil of our heart (given in parentheses).
Confusion is a common reason for avoiding evangelism. We are not sure how it works, so we don’t know if we have done it right and we sure do not want to foul up someone’s eternal destiny. Jesus says we need not understand how sharing the gospel penetrates a stony, hard heart to bring life from death anymore than a farmer needs to hold a Masters degree in biology to understand how dry and wet dirt combine to produce fruit.
We have all said it, and we all sigh when other’s say it. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” I want to offer you a year’s plan for meaningful conversation and prayer with your spouse in 2010.
Have you ever tried to convince someone they were lying and they genuinely did not believe you? This may be because their definition of lying was reduced to, “Intentionally sharing information that is known to be false for the purpose of deceiving another person to gain some type of advantage.” I believe that is a very good definition of lying. It captures much of what is prohibited in Exodus 20:16, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor,” from the Ten Commandments.
The conclusion of this matter is that denial is deception. It is self-deception that as we interact with others we expect them to buy into (and often become offended if they do not). The application of this material has to do with how to disciple someone in this situation. In order to “win your brother” (Matthew 18:15) in this situation, you must help them see their denial. Until they recognize or acknowledge what they are denying, they will not be convicted of the falseness (of folly) of their statements.
You can guess the age of my children by the title of this post. You may remember the scene I’m about to paraphrase. McQueen lost a race (and the chance to get out of town) to the old, run-down Doc Hudson because he kept sliding out of the turn on the small town dirt track.
Our goal in applying Psalm 119:11 is like another scene from the Cars movie. McQueen has escaped Radiator Springs and finally made it to the big Piston Cup race (my apologies to all adults who do not currently have small children). He is near the end of the race when his nemesis Chick Hicks bumps onto the inner track turf. McQueen’s tires lose traction and as he skids he remembers “Turn right to go left.” As a much humbled (and therefore wiser) car, McQueen places his life-and-bumper in reliance upon these wise words.
The first Christmas was the beginning of the end. Christ came to be the full disclosure of God in bodily form. Jesus’ birth tore the distinction between Jew and Gentile like His death tore the veil to the Holy of Holies. Where there was confusion there would be clarity. Where there was division there could now be unity. While it had been clearly hinted at throughout the entire Old Testament, it must now be recognized “God so loved the world” and not just one people group or geographic region.
The Christmas wars did not begin with the assault on the phrase “Merry Christmas.” From the first records Jesus’ birth has been divisive. The dividing point of history (BC vs AD) is also the dividing point of humanity (believing vs. unbelieving). In spite of the joyousness of the occasion what you believe about Christmas impacts everything else you believe.
