Many of us played “Blind Man’s Bluff ” as children. It works like this if you have never played it: One group member is blindfolded, and the other players disperse. Then, the blindfolded one must go and find the other players. In some versions, the first person tagged becomes “it.” In other versions, the tagged players are eliminated from the game until all are found.
This game dates back to ancient Greece. The original name was “Blind Man’s Buff.” The buff was a little push given to the person who was “it” to start them in the direction of one of the other players. The account of Jesus healing the blind man in Mark chapter eight brought the game of ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ to mind. Just as in the game, we humans can often be ‘blindfolded’ to the truth, and we sometimes need a push or nudge to get us headed in the right direction to find it.
The text for our study today is Mark 8:11-26. The healing of the blind man occurs at the end of this account, but to me, it seems clear that the man’s healing is an object lesson for what is happening in the earlier part of the text. My teaching is titled “Can’t You See?”
Listen carefully as I read this portion of Scripture. See if you can trace the unique stages of healing in the blind man and how they correlate with the overall narrative. Even though I’ve read this account many times, I saw some things I had never seen before in this text. See if you, too, can gain some new insight as I read. That’s Mark 8, beginning with verse 11.
The various stages of Jesus’ healing of the blind man are not just physical but also connect with our spiritual vision, serving as a metaphor for our own spiritual growth.
The First STAGE of Spiritual Vision is,
Total Blindness
Our text opens with a confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. Mark mentions only the Pharisees and the Herodians, but Matthew includes the Sadducees. These groups hated each other, but their mutual hatred for Jesus fulfilled the saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” They found common ground in their hatred for the Light.
Having just returned from effective ministry among the Gentiles, Jesus is immediately confronted by the hostile religious leaders. Their menacing attitude was in stark contrast to the open-hearted welcome Jesus received from the Gentiles. Mark says, “They found Him and began disputing with Him.” They began at once and kept it up!
They were asking Jesus for a sign from Heaven. Mark says they were testing Him, and the KJV says, “They were tempting Him.” The difference between a test and a temptation is found in the tester’s motivations and expectations; the devil tempts the believer to fail God’s standards of faith and so sin; God tests that he might determine and sharpen true character, with no focus on making the believer fail. So, tempting seems to be the better word choice here.
Notice, too, that the sign they asked for was from Heaven. It pointed to something beyond itself, a mark of the doer’s power, grace, or connection with the supernatural world. The Rabbis assumed that some of Jesus’ miracles had a natural explanation, and they even accused Him of using the power of Beelzebub. So, they specifically asked for “a sign from heaven.” Most likely, they hoped He would try and fail, and they could discredit Him. Knowing what we know, they would not have believed even if Jesus had fulfilled their request....
