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Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking." Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Then He sent him away to the house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."
Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi, and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?" So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ." Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
- Mark 8:22-33
Yesterday, we read that the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Jesus, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread." But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven." So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?"
Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking." Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Then He sent him away to the house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town." My study bible tells us: "Jesus leads the man out of town, to a private place once again, for another special healing. This man is healed in stages, just as our ability to know God grows gradually. Again, He wishes His messianic secret not to be revealed." In yesterday's reading, Jesus questioned the disciples: "How is it you do not understand?" In the Greek, it reads more literally like "You haven't put it together yet?" They've had plenty of experiences for them to understand something, and yet still fail to grasp it. The gradual sight of the healing blind man in this story is a parallel to the ways in which spiritual sight comes to believers.
Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi, and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?" So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." A note in my study bible says, "Ceasarea Philiippi, a major city rebuilt by Herod's son Philip, who named it after Tiberius Casar and himself, was located some 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus chooses this Gentile area to challenge His disciples with the messianic question in private, apparently wishing to avoid popular repercussions among Jews."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ." Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him. My study bible says, "Peter, on behalf of the disciples, confesses Jesus as the Christ. The Hebrew equivalent of Christ is 'Messiah,' meaning 'the Anointed One.' Because this title was fraught with popular nationalistic misunderstandings, Jesus uses it only rarely, but accepts it when questioned at His trial before the Sanhedrin (14:61-62). The understanding of Christ's identity cannot be gained through human reason, nor do miracles divulge it. It comes only by revelation from the Father in heaven (Matt. 16:16-17)."
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. Immediately after His real identity is revealed to them, Jesus begins to teach about what is to happen to Him. This must be entirely shocking to the disciples, for whom the Christ is expected to rule as king. My study bible says that "Son of Man is a veiled Old Testament messianic title (Daniel 7:13) which Jesus uses frequently as it is more suitable than 'the Christ' for this stage in Jesus' ministry. Jesus must suffer: This is the inscrutable divine will, and the very heart of His redemptive work. Suffering marks Jesus' redefinition of messiahship (see Isaiah 53). Peter is shocked by this unprecedented notion. But Jesus is preparing His disciples -- and Christians today -- for adversity."
But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." A note in my study bible tells us, "Peter unknowingly serves the intent of Satan other than the plan of God in attempting to lead Jesus away from the path of suffering."
Repeatedly we learn from the Gospels, and the Gospel's central story of Jesus' life, death, Resurrection and Ascension, that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not God's ways. Here the disciples finally understand Jesus' revealed identity to them; He is the Christ. This title of the Christ is one that will shake up the establishment, and make it clear to many in power that their desire is simply to be rid of Him. It is considered a threat to the power of all who rule that the Christ is here in the world. Such are the expectations of the One who would be the Christ. But instead, what are the disciples told? That He will suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. How is it even conceivable that the disciples can take in this news after the amazing revelation of His identity as Christ? They are battling against popular ideas about what the Christ will do, nationalistic expectations of a deliverer in a political sense. They are expecting a worldly kingdom that will rule over all others and liberate Israel in this way. This is why Jesus tells Peter that he is thinking about worldly things, and has not got his mind on the things of God. God's ways are not our ways; God's thinking is not our thinking. In yesterday's reading and commentary, we spoke of "acceptance." There are some times when we just will not understand what is happening, what is the message, what is the thing I am supposed to take away from this? We really do have to understand that "our ways are not God's ways" in the sense that God's thinking is so far beyond what we can conceptualize that there will always be mysterious reasons for things. Why do the good suffer? Why do saints suffer? Why has Christ died upon the Cross? There are many ways we can answer these questions for ourselves, given what we understand of spiritual history. There is no doubt that God will call His servants at times to suffer. Here, Jesus' deliberate informing of the disciples, and His very strict rebuke of Peter, tells us the true story of what is to happen, what is to come. Our redemption comes somehow through His suffering the things of this world. His divinity assures us of His suffering. This is quite the opposite of human thinking! Why the Cross? Jesus is with us in our most betrayed times, in the times of our great suffering, in all the places that the world will let us down, disappoint us, and abandon us. In this sense, we can understand the transcendence of God through the Cross: nothing stops the power of the life He has to give us -- not death, not suffering, not anything that the world (and its ruler or prince) can throw at us. There is a kind of transcendence here that implies something more than material power, and implies more than material manipulation, but goes to the heart of the truth that is within us, and asks us what we love the most. This is the heart of the Gospel. What do our hearts dwell on? Where do our thoughts go? What are we willing to change in our own minds to accommodate the One whose ways are not our ways and whose thoughts are not our thoughts? If we love the truth of God's love, there may be times when we share with Christ the suffering that is done on behalf of love. But to get there, we follow Him, and we first know that He doesn't judge the way the world judges, that He is the author of love, and that we are gifted with His love. That is how we get to the place of acceptance. That is what makes disciples of all of us. The blind man who sees people like trees, in this sense, resembles each of us as we find our way to His ways.
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