"Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly." Mark 8:25
This passage is merely the midpoint of a fascinating trilogy of stories concerning faith, understanding and the identity of God's son. There was a man born blind found in the city of Bethsaida whom the residents brought to Jesus to be healed. Jesus responded favorably to the request due to his compassion for the man suffering. He would not, however, perform the miracle within the bounds of Bethsaida because they had not repented despite his many miracles previously performed there. Jesus proceeded to apply healing to him, but when first asked if he could see, his reply was in the affirmative but only partially so. Jesus applied additional healing and he was then able to see clearly. Do not doubt that Jesus could not have healed him on the first try if that was his aim. He is in fact making a point.
The first episode of this trilogy occurred among Jesus' apostles. Having just come from feeding the 4000, they entered a boat to journey to the other side of the lake. One of them discovered that they had very little food and began to worry. Jesus instructed them to "beware of the leaven (yeast) of the Pharisees and of King Herod." They mistook his words to be chastisement for not bringing more bread. When Jesus detected these thoughts, he reminded them of all that was left over from the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 when they had begun with so little. His reprooving question to them was, "Do you not see clearly? Have you no understanding?"
Part 3 of the narrative involved Jesus' famous question of the apostles regarding who the general population thought he was compared to who they thought he was. Peter supplied the answer, "You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God." This confession was evidence that the apostles could now see clearly who is.
Beloved, before we meet the Lord, we are blind, struggling in spiritual darkness, unable to find our way and without hope. Yes we live our lives and raise our families, but without Christ, we have not received illumination beyond this secular world. When we do meet him, we do not experience immediate clarity because a relationship is a process. The apostles had been with him for some time and witnessed things never seen before on earth, yet they, those closest to him, still didn't quite understand. They only saw partially. In the end, however, the experienced perfect understanding of who he is to the universe and more importantly, who he was to them.
Let us, in all that we do, pursue clarity of who Jesus is that we may understand all he has, does and will mean to our lives and eternal souls.
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
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