WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.360 We do thank you for the Lord Jesus, for his compassion, for his love, for his work on the cross, for his death. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:17.519 I do uh pray that as we uh read of him this morning, you would open our eyes to see him more clearly, to uh know him more fully, to trust him more deeply. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:19.920 Uh, please do good to us through your words. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:20.800 Amen. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:23.679 Friends, please do take a seat. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.600 Uh and a very good morning. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:27.280 Uh, my name is Gavin Wright. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.000 I'm the associate minister here in Emmanuel. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:34.960 And it is my uh privilege this morning to be opening God's word for us. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.679 Uh we're going to be in Mark's Gospel, uh, Mark chapter 8. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:46.640 If you've got one of the church Bibles, uh you'll find that on page 461, I think. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:48.960 No, that can't be right. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:50.640 That's the psalm. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.840 841 might be closer to the mark. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.799 So it'd be great if you could uh have that open in front of you. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:06.480 Uh, children, there are some uh learning sheets coming round to help you follow along with what we're doing. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:13.840 And if you come over to the front at the ends, we may have some chocolates to share as we have uh a little chat about uh what we've been learning. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:23.519 I'm gonna read uh from verse 11 of Mark chapter 8. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:38.400 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, with Jesus, that is, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:44.719 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, Why does this generation seek a sign? 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:49.040 Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.599 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:02:05.920 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they only had one loaf with them in the boat, and he cautioned them, saying, Watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:10.879 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:16.080 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.800 Do you not yet perceive or understand? 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:21.120 Are your hearts hardened? 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:26.879 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear, and do you not remember? 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:32.879 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.039 They said to him, Twelve. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:40.319 And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:42.400 And they said to him, Seven. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.240 And he said to them, Do you not yet understand? 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:54.000 And they came to Bethsida, and some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:57.039 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:02.800 And when he had spat on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, Do you see anything? 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:08.240 And he looked up and said, I see people, but they look like trees walking. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:13.199 And Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and he opened his eyes. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:18.400 His sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.719 And he sent them to his home, saying, Do not even enter the village. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.759 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:32.960 And on the way he asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am? 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:41.360 And they told him, John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others one of the prophets. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:44.639 And he asked them, But who do you say that I am? 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:49.599 Peter answered him, You are the Christ. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:54.000 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:07.120 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.560 And that's where we're going to stop this morning. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.680 We thank God for his good words. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:16.879 Children, can I just have you for a minute? 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:22.959 Do any of you have dreams about exciting jobs that you would like to do when you grow up? 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.720 Anyone got any idea what they want to be when they grow up? 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:27.920 Go on, Rory. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:30.319 Footballer, classic. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.439 Anyone else know what they want to be when they grow up? 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:34.160 Kara. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:36.319 An author. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:38.319 Heady dreams. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.279 There are a few dreams that we often have about jobs we want to do when we grow up. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:50.879 This morning I am standing in front of you not as a pilot or a fireman. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:56.959 Which is actually a great shame because I think those are probably extremely exciting and very cool jobs. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:00.240 But I'm not a pilot or a fireman this morning. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:06.480 And the reason, the main reason that I'm not a pilot or a fireman is that my eyes don't work properly. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:10.639 I get various colours mixed up, especially reds and greens. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.000 So if there are berries on a hollybush, I can't see them. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:16.000 They're practically invisible to me. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:29.680 And it turns out that mixing up reds and greens when you're trying to work out what kind of flame you're fighting, or when you're in charge of a giant metal bird 25,000 feet in the air full of people, it's kind of important not to mix up your colours. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.839 You don't want to make a terrible mistake. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:38.319 So I am not a pilot or a fireman because my eyes don't work properly. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:48.079 Our passage today is about seeing, it is about sight, it is about whether we can see properly or not. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:54.879 It is a slightly annoying thing mixing up your colours, and it probably explains why I dress the way I do. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:59.439 And it is a much worse thing to be properly blind. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:15.199 But what we're going to discover in our passage today is that it is more awful still to be spiritually blind, to not see Jesus properly, to have blind hearts, if you like. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:21.040 This morning, I want us to see two big things and ask one big question. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:27.040 And the question, I'll tell you now, the question is do you see Jesus properly? 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:29.839 And maybe you can think about that as we go through. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:32.879 Do you see Jesus properly? 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:41.199 Well, in that true story we read today, uh, here's the first big thing that we see on the way to answering that question, perhaps. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:44.240 Spiritual blindness is a real problem. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:45.360 That's the first big thing. 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:47.680 Spiritual blindness is a real problem. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:53.759 In those first few verses, verse 11, we bump into this group called the Pharisees. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.759 If you've been with us, if you've been in Mark's gospel, we've met them before. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:00.480 They were the religious leaders of the day. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:05.199 And the more they got to know Jesus, the more they hated him. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.560 They were defensive and proprietorial. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:17.199 You know, Jesus was sticking his nose into their business, taking their business from them, disrupting the order of things which for so long had kept them at the top. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:31.040 And we learn back in chapter 3, both from Jesus, who was grieved at the hardness of their hearts, that they had hard hearts, but also that they were plotting to destroy him. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:39.199 So the Pharisees, when we bump into them here in verse 11, when they approach Jesus here, they are not neutral people. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:41.279 They've already made up their minds. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:44.560 They are hard-hearted enemies of the Lord Jesus. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:50.560 And they come to Jesus and they tell him they want a sign, something they can see, something amazing. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:52.959 And we're all they're doing it to test him. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.120 They're trying to disprove him, discredit him. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:04.720 But the thing is, the Pharisees we know have already had signs. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:14.000 And we know Mark's gospel, at least of three things that the Pharisees have been present at, three lives that have been miraculously changed. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.439 They've seen a paralyzed man be made to walk. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:26.079 They've seen a wicked, cheating liar turned into uh someone generous, someone hospitable. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.839 They've seen him heal a man with a withered hand. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.120 They don't need signs, not really. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:36.799 Because they've made up their minds. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.120 They're not going to see Jesus properly. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:46.480 Everything that their eyes have told them that here is someone amazing, here is someone who changes lives, here is someone to come to in humility. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:49.039 Essentially their hearts have said no. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.879 And they've refused to see what was right in front of them. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:55.120 They are dead set against Jesus. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:56.960 They can't and won't see him. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:59.039 They are spiritually blind. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:04.080 And so Jesus tells them he's not going to give them a sign. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:10.799 And so he leaves and he gets back in the boat that he's been traveling with, uh, travelling in with the disciples. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:12.639 And we're going to carry on the story. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:18.240 From verse 14 to 20, we're in the boat then with the disciples, having just met the Pharisees. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:22.639 And it turns out, verse 14, that they had forgotten to bring bread. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.480 They've only got one loaf. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:31.519 Now, uh, especially people with small families, it's hard when you're out and you realize you've forgotten to bring something to eat. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:37.200 So when my wife Jessica goes out with the boys, uh, she always loads up the backpack with snacks. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:43.919 You've got Oti bars, you've got boxes of raisins, you've got chopped-up vegetables, because she's, you know, got a good conscience. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:48.799 Uh, she she can magically produce fruit roll-ups, whatever it is, from every pocket. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.840 Daddy, when he takes out the children, always forgets. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:10:00.240 And Daddy reaps the consequences of having three hungry, tired, miserable boys on his hands. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:08.559 And so I get the question that verse 14 poses of how 13 fully grown men are going to keep going on just one loaf of bread. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:28.159 The difference is, though, when you're talking about a loaf of bread in Mark's gospel, and you've been there for the first eight chapters, which I have, and many of you have, and the disciples certainly have, then you go, ah, we've already been told about loaves of bread, haven't we? 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.279 And so what did we learn before? 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:37.279 That Jesus only had five loaves of bread and two fish, and yet he fed five thousand people with them. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:41.360 And then at the beginning of chapter eight, it's really recent. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:46.799 He only had seven loaves of bread and a few fish, and yet he fed 4,000 people with them. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:51.840 And now we've got 13 people and one loaf of bread. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:11:00.080 And, you know, statistics, this is by far the best bread to people ratio that we've had in Mark's gospel. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:04.159 And we're probably thinking, well, I know what Jesus can do with bread. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:12.320 And Jesus says to the disciples who were talking about this in verse 15, he said to them, Watch out. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:16.080 There is danger here for you. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:22.720 He says, Watch out, beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:24.159 We'll come back to Herod in a minute. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.799 That the leaven, if you're making bread, right, it's something that gets into everything, it infects everything. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:31.840 So if it's something bad, it ruins everything. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:38.480 And Jesus is saying, be careful that you are not like the Pharisees. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:41.360 Now, what are the Pharisees like again? 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:50.240 They are hard-hearted enemies of Jesus, who, even though they've seen the signs with their eyes, refuse to see Jesus properly. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:12:02.080 And what is going on here is actually a bit of a shocking comparison because we're probably in the Gospels used to the idea that, you know, boo, the Pharisees are the baddies, and yea, the disciples are the goodies. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.039 But Jesus says to them, You are awfully similar, and you are walking a dangerous road. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:16.639 And so the disciples, what do they do with what Jesus says to them when he warns them? 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:17.519 They hear the question. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:25.519 Then in verse 16, they turn around to each other and go, Yeah, but we've still got the issue of the fact we haven't got any bread. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:32.879 And in his human nature, I think Jesus feels keenly the frustration of their blindness. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:36.080 You can hear it in the questions that he asks them. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.360 He says to them, Why are you still talking about this? 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:41.279 Do you not understand? 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:45.759 He says, Are your hearts hardened like the Pharisees? 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.240 Having eyes, do you not see? 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:49.759 Like the Pharisees? 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.559 Having ears, do you not hear? 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.159 Like the Pharisees, do you not remember? 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:14.080 And he goes on to remind them of these feeding miracles that they ought to know and remember themselves, where the compassion and the generosity and the provision of Jesus had flowed so much that there were far more leftovers at the end than there was food to begin with. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:20.559 The feeding miracles that painted a picture of the rescuing God, the deliverer of the Old Testament. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:25.039 But if you are blind, you don't see. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.720 If you're deaf, you won't hear. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:32.879 And the disciples were blind, just like the Pharisees. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:35.519 Their hearts were hard. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:38.480 Like the Pharisees and like Herod's. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:53.360 Herod's uh he was this figure, powerful figure a couple of chapters before, who was interested in Jesus, chapter six, but in his hardness of heart, he couldn't see that trusting Jesus was more important than his own reputation. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:00.320 He actually ended up as an enemy of the Lord Jesus because of it, even ended up beheading John the Baptist. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:05.679 Now in the Old Testament, you go back a long, long way. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:13.440 In Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the language of blindness is used there of those who rebel against God. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:18.559 Language used for those who love and worship false gods instead of him. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:28.000 They love and worship other things, of people who have made themselves God's enemies, who've hardened their hearts against him, and who face judgment by him. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:38.320 And so it was for the Pharisees, for Herod, and for the disciples, as things stand. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:42.000 Spiritual blindness is a real problem. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.399 And they couldn't see Jesus properly. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:52.879 But here is our second big thing, and it's a wonderful thing. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:57.039 Jesus opens blind eyes. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:01.039 Jesus is the one who opens blind eyes. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:05.440 So our time with the disciples, we carry on the story, is interrupted in verse 22. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:13.600 We're going to come back to them, but it's interrupted by a literal blind man who begs Jesus to touch him. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:16.480 Now, why does he beg Jesus to touch him? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:24.240 Well, though he has no eyes, I suspect that he can see more of Jesus than the disciples can at this point. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:32.960 Where they have forgotten, he remembers that Jesus healed a leper by touching him. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:40.159 That the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touched Jesus and was healed. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:48.639 We remember as we read this that Jesus held the hand of Jairus' little daughter and brought her back from the dead. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:54.480 And when this man is in trouble, he has understood who he can run to for help. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.480 And Jesus honors his soft-heartedness. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.039 He spits on this man's eyes and touches him. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:02.639 Can you see anything? 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:03.840 He asks. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:06.320 And well, he can see a bit. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.360 It's a bit fuzzy, it's unclear, it's hard to tell what's going on. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.320 People look like walking trees, a bit Lord of the Rings. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:16.000 And so Jesus lays his hands on the man again. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:17.519 What happens? 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:22.559 We read his sight was restored, verse 25. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:26.240 He could see, he could see clearly. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:28.960 Jesus has done the impossible. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:36.559 And I will come back to why Jesus did it in two parts in a minute, because that's unlike any of the other miracles. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.039 But for now, what did Jesus do? 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:42.399 He made the blind see. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:44.960 Jesus made the blind man see. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:48.559 It is another in a long line of miracles that Mark tells us about. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:50.799 But why this miracle here? 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:53.919 What is he trying to tell us? 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:55.919 Well, let's carry on. 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:58.879 Jesus sends the man home, verse 27. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:04.240 He carries on with his disciples, and Jesus asks them, Who do people say that I am? 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:09.839 It seems like a question, maybe slightly out the blue, but it is a question people were asking. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.079 Verse 28, they've been chatting about it. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:19.200 Well, some people think he's John the Baptist, or the ghost of John the Baptist, who has been beheaded by this point. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.599 Some people think that he's Elijah, this long-dead prophet, or one of the others. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.880 And those were actually rumors, too, that Herod had heard back in chapter 6. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:35.119 And they feel like sort of crazy explanations. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:41.039 People are reaching for answers to try and explain this thing where they actually want to avoid the actual answer. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:50.000 They want to avoid the reason, the real reason that Jesus can be doing such amazing things without actually acknowledging who he is. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.640 So some people say this, and some people say this. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:57.680 So Jesus says to them, Okay, but look, how about you? 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:02.240 Who do you say that I am? 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:07.839 And Peter in verse 29 answers Jesus. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.079 And Peter gets it. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:16.400 He says to Jesus, you are the Christ. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:23.839 And I think we need to feel the weight and the significance of this moment to get what's going on here. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:31.279 In some ways, actually, this verse verse 29, it is sort of the centerpiece of all that Mark's gospel is about. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:42.160 The very first verse of the first chapter told us that this was the beginning of the gospel of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.359 This is what we're supposed to be getting as we read Mark's gospel. 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:47.119 This is who Jesus is. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:54.079 And yet, we are halfway through the book, and this is the first time that someone has used this language to describe him. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.200 Peter calls Jesus the Christ. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.599 That's the same word as Messiah. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:08.880 He's the anointed king of the Old Testament, promised, who would come and rescue his people and rule them properly. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:15.920 He was God's chosen answer to the problem of sin and rebellion and suffering in the worlds. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:20.720 He would be strength and compassion, power and provision. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:25.519 He was the one who for hundreds of years all of Israel had been waiting for. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:28.720 Peter calls Jesus the Christ. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:42.720 Despite the fact that you remember back a few chapters, after Jesus rescued the disciples in chapter 4 from that terrible storm by calming it with just the words, the disciples turned to each other and said, Who is this? 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:45.519 That even the wind and the waves obey him. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:48.880 They didn't know the answer to the question, who is this guy? 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:52.799 Despite all they'd seen, they couldn't answer the question. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:58.079 But Peter now calls Jesus the Christ. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.000 He sees him more clearly than he's ever seen him. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:03.279 He knows him. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:05.599 He's beginning to trust him. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:09.039 But how? 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:10.640 Why? 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:12.559 What changed? 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:17.599 And I think that the way that Mark tells this story makes it really clear. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:20.880 So follow the narrative through. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.880 Verses 14 to 21. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:24.480 The disciples didn't get it. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:29.599 They were like the Pharisees, and Jesus asked them, Having eyes, do you not see? 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.240 Now Peter understands that Jesus is the Christ. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:36.160 Peter can see him properly. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:38.240 And what happens in the middle? 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:41.839 Jesus opens a blind man's eyes. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:48.960 Jesus is the one who opens blind eyes. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:55.599 And that little miracle he did with the blind man, it is a sign of what he does at a deeper level in people's hearts. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:01.920 As he opens the physical eyes of this man, so he opens spiritual eyes. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.000 He unplugs deaf ears. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:06.319 He softens hard hearts. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:13.119 Jesus does the greater miracle of opening eyes to see him clearly. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:18.400 And friends, this is true of every person that trusts Jesus. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:24.960 We don't know and trust Jesus because we're more insightful than everyone else. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:26.480 You remember Peter, right? 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:31.200 He was right in the thick of being compared to these hard-hearted Pharisees. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:37.839 We don't know and trust Jesus because we've got better hearts or purer lives. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:41.920 We were just as much like Herod as the next person. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:49.440 We don't know and trust Jesus because of special miracles done just for us to make us believe in him. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:55.599 We know and trust Jesus because he has done a miracle in us. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:58.720 He has given us eyes to see. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:02.079 He has given us spiritual sight. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:11.839 And it is a beautiful thing, and it is not simply that our minds have been enlightened, it is also that our hearts have been softened. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:19.599 Without Christ, remember, we are rebels and in danger of being cut off from the rescue that Jesus brings. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:24.480 But open eyes speak not just of revelation but of mercy. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:35.839 Back in the Old Testament again, the prophet Isaiah tells us that opened eyes, well, is all to do with the arrival of God's promised salvation. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:38.640 Listen to these words from Isaiah 35. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:47.359 Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.640 Behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:55.359 He will come and save you. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:01.920 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:06.480 Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:11.279 But when Jesus opens blind eyes, salvation has come. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:17.359 Peter is not the hero of his salvation story. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:18.720 Jesus is. 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:21.440 And I am not the hero of mine. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:24.720 And if you know Jesus today, you are not the hero. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.079 You are not the reason. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:30.720 He and he alone has brought you from blindness to sight. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:34.160 To him be the glory, friends. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:39.519 And so I just want to ask us this one closing question. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:44.960 Do you see Jesus? 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:50.880 Do you see Jesus? 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:58.240 Seeing Jesus, it is all wrapped up with seeing Jesus truly. 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:01.200 It's wrapped up with seeing and trusting what he can do. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:05.359 So the last verse we read, verse 31, what does it tell us? 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:11.119 As soon as Peter gets it that you're the Christ, he begins teaching them what Jesus came to do. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:22.640 That he must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:28.799 This Easter weekend, we are remembering the work of Christ. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:47.039 We're remembering the work of Christ on the cross, suffering and dying in the place of sinners like me, so that anyone who sees him, who knows him, who trusts him can have the slate wiped clean, can be truly forgiven, can be safe in him forever. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:52.400 We remember Christ's work on the cross, suffering and dying. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:55.759 We also remember Christ's work in resurrection. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:02.640 He rose from the dead, the conquering king, whom not even death could hold. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:13.599 Jesus smashes sin, he smashes death, that we might know him, that we might know life in him, life forever now, and life forever, forever. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:19.519 If we see him truly, friends, do you see Jesus? 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:31.359 If you don't, yet maybe today is the day to talk to him and ask him to open the eyes of your heart. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:41.119 If you do see Jesus, but sometimes you don't see him clearly or love him properly or live him as you wish you would. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:43.839 Take comfort from Peter's example. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:50.960 So this miracle with the blind man, I said I'd come back to it, I think speaks to Peter's experience of Jesus opening his eyes. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:52.960 It doesn't happen all at once. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:26:00.079 There is a time when things are fuzzy, when things are starting to click into place, but they're not all there. 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:02.319 And that's okay. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:12.720 Maybe a good question to ask yourself is do I see and know and trust Jesus more clearly than I used to? 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:20.720 Are you able to pray that lovely prayer we're going to get there in a few weeks in chapter 9 of Mark's Gospel? 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:24.559 When that guy says, Lord, I believe. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.640 Please help me in my unbelief. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:33.039 You know, that tension, I believe, but but I know I don't get it all. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:34.000 Please help me. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:35.839 Help me to see Jesus more clearly. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:38.319 I trust you, but I feel I've got like I've got so far to go. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:39.359 Lord, help me. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:42.400 You know, Peter is a real work in progress. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:46.079 This sounds like a defining moment, you're the Christ, and he's going to be perfect from here on. 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:51.920 And we discover in the very next couple of verses that he is not the foot the finished article. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:53.200 He is not there. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:27:00.400 But he does see Jesus more clearly because of a miracle done in his heart. 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:11.680 If you do see Jesus today, if you know him, trust him, know your hearts to be softened and your ears unblocked to the gospel. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:13.839 He has done a miracle in you. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:16.880 He has opened your eyes. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.519 He has shown you mercy. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:22.799 And all the glory belongs to him. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:27.119 And so I'm gonna pray as we finish. 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:30.559 Our Father Gods. 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:48.559 We come to you as people who have had blind eyes and closed hearts, and we are sorry for our rebellion, our rejection of you, for the ways that we've turned against you and forgotten about you. 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:54.400 Father, uh, we ask again that you would forgive us for that. 00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:11.599 But we come to you also truly, deeply grateful that Jesus uh hasn't left us in our blindness, but that he has opened our eyes, that he has rescued us, that he has done a miracle in our hearts that we have not deserved and we could not do ourselves. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:14.240 We thank you that he opens blind eyes. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:16.240 Help us to see Jesus. 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:18.799 Help us to know him, to love him. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:22.880 Help us to see him more clearly tomorrow than we do today. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:28.400 Please uh help us keep knowing him more deeply, keep loving him more truly. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:34.240 And we ask that you would do this work uh in us uh for your glory and for our good. 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:35.119 Amen.