Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in issue no. 4 (weeks 13-16; March 31โApril 21, 2019) of The Lookoutย magazine, and is also available online atย www.lookoutmag.com.
______
Lesson Aim:ย Let Christโs miracles move you to believe he is Godโs Son.
______
Miraculous events make up 31 percent of Markโs Gospel. With only two discourses in the book, the accent is clearly on the deeds of Jesus. Jesus is portrayed as no mere slight-of-hand magician but as a true worker of wonders. Miracles are sprinkled in these middle chapters of Mark (4-10) as the events move us through boat narratives, bread narratives, and blind narratives.
Our text today concludes the bread stories (6:30-8:21) and gets us ready for the blind stories (8:22-10:52). The bread stories climax with the disciples learning about hardness of heart. The blind stories, which function as brackets in this section of Mark, teach the disciples the importance of having spiritual sight.
The Miraculous One Can Open the Heart | Mark 8:14-21
Jesus was good with bread. He was born in the โhouse of breadโ (Bethlehem, Luke 2:4). He lived by the bread of God (Matthew 4:4). He was the bread of God (John 6:35, 48). He multiplied bread (Mark 6:30-44; 8:1-10). He consecrated bread (Mark 14:22-25). He broke bread (Luke 24:30).
The disciples, who often are portrayed in Markโs Gospel as โout to lunch,โ needed to go to the culinary school of bread. Jesus had just fed the 4,000 and showed his exasperation with the Pharisees over their request for a sign (Mark 8:1-13). Since they wanted a sign โfrom Heaven,โ they were probably thinking of something dramatic like manna (i.e. bread). Jesus used it as a teachable moment.
Jesus noticed the skimpy supply of physical bread due to the disciplesโ forgetfulness. They had only one loaf (think of a pancake). Jesus said, โBe careful . . . and . . . watch out.โ But he was not talking about physical bread. He elevated the conversation with his disciples by talking with them about the โteachingโ of the Pharisees and the Herodians (Matthew 16:12). Leaven (yeastโa bacteria of sorts) became the metaphor for Jesus to drive home the truth of the Phariseesโ hypocrisy and the Herodiansโ lack of a moral compass.
Jesus drew a bead on the connection between bread and the brain. He spoke about the physical multiplication of bread in the two miraculous feedings of the 5,000 and the 4,000. The miraculous provisions were so abundant that leftovers were picked up both times. Those two bread meals should have served as evidence that Jesus could not only provide for the disciplesโ needs but also free their minds and hearts from โstinkinโ thinkin.โ Twice in the text the phrase, โDo you still not understand?โ occurs. The miracle of multiplying bread is one thing, but a miracle on the human heart (and mind) is even greater.
The Miraculous One Can Open the Eyesโof the Heart | Mark 8:22-28
The miracle of the blind man healed in stages is unique to Markโs Gospel. He lived at Bethsaida, a little fishing village on the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. He must have had his sight at one time because he knew what a tree looked like. But at some point he had become blind. He had probably heard that this worker of wonders had touched other blind people and made them see, so he made his request (beseeched or begged).
The miracles of Jesus on blind people are some of the most tender. Jesus had no interest in some kind of carnival show, so he led the man out of the village and attended to his need with the compassionate bedside manner of a loving physician. He used spittleโbelieved to have medicinal qualities in Jesusโ dayโon the manโs eyes. Jesus asked him, โDo you see anything?โ
What happened next is most intriguing. The man did seeโsomewhat. But his sight was blurred and people looked like trees to him. There might be several scientific explanations for this phenomenon, but legally blind people have testified that this is exactly what they see at timesโmovement but no clarity. Did the man have insufficient faith that required a second touch? Did Jesus have a power shortage? Neither.
Just as Jesus elevated the conversation about bread in the previous event, so he used this miracle to demonstrate and teach about spiritual sight. Three verbs are used to help us โseeโ this. When Jesus touched him a second time the man could see โup, in, and throughโ (opened, restored, and clearly). The disciples needed this lesson as much as the man needed to be healed. Jesus sent him home so he could reunite with his family and not have to beg any more.
There is such a thing as spiritual sight (John 9:39-41), having the eyes of our hearts enlightened (Ephesians 1:18). Jesus would teach on several other aspects of discipleship until he encountered Bartimaeus, another blind man, who, upon being healed, would follow Jesus โin the wayโ of the cross.
________
Lesson study ยฉ2018, Christian Standard Media. Print and digital subscribers are permitted to make one print copy per week of lesson material for personal use. Lesson based on the scope and sequence, ยฉ2018 by Christian Standard Media. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, ยฉ2011, unless otherwise indicated.
Author: Mark Scott
Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. He also serves as minister with Park Plaza Christian Church in Joplin.
