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Mark 8:22-30 (Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ)

INTRODUCTION: We will be looking at two accounts in one passage today: Jesus giving sight to a blind man, and Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ. At first glance these two accounts may seem unrelated, but I believe there is a reason God had Mark put these two accounts side by side, and we can benefit by looking at them together today. (Pray.)

I. A two-stage miracle: Jesus gives sight to a blind man (verses 22-26)

So let’s begin with the miracle of Jesus giving sight to the blind man. Look at verses 22-26:

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village.” (Mark 8:22-26)

It is interesting, there are a lot of similarities in this miracle account to the healing of the deaf and mute man back in 7:31-37. In both cases it is other people who bring the person to be healed to Jesus. In both cases they beg Jesus to touch the man. Both times Jesus takes the man away from the crowd. In this case he actually takes him by the hand and leads him outside the village, a beautiful picture of Jesus’ personal care and compassion for this man. In both miracles Jesus uses spit as part of the healing process. With the deaf and mute man he spit and touched the man’s tongue. In this case he spits on the man’s eyes. And then with both miracles after Jesus heals the man, he commands them not to tell others what happened.

So there are a lot of similarities between the two accounts. But the big difference in this healing is that it took place in stages. Now this is very unusual. In fact this is the only example of a two-stage healing in all the gospels. All the other healings of Jesus recorded for us in the gospels are instantaneous and complete. Jesus gives the command and the person is healed immediately.

So, of course it raises the question, why not here? Why did this healing take place in stages? Was it a more difficult healing than the others? I don’t think so. Was Jesus tired? Was he having an off day? I doubt that very much. Or was there another reason why Jesus why Jesus might have healed this man in stages?

Well, one thing I want you to notice about this miracle is that Jesus never gave an actual command for healing. Often when Jesus healed he would give a command like “Rise up and walk,” or like he said to the deaf man, “Be opened,” or he would make a pronouncement like “Your faith has healed you.” He doesn’t do that here. There is no command, no pronouncement of healing. Instead, Jesus merely asks a question: “Do you see anything?”

That is highly significant. In other words, Mark does not see this as a failed miracle or one that only succeeded part way, but rather he is simply recording how Jesus performed this particular miracle. And by the words Jesus uses and the question he poses, it is clear that Jesus intended to perform this miracle in stages. By asking the man this question after the first stage of the healing, Jesus was making it clear to any witnesses that this miracle did not take place all at once.

I love the man’s answer. Jesus asks him, “Do you see anything?” And he says, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Trees walking? No, this is not some scene out of the Lord of the Rings, where you have these giant trees walking around called Ents. This was just how he described his partial vision at this stage in the healing. Jesus had restored his vision partway, but things were still a little blurry, so he looks around and he can see the forms of people walking around, but no details, sort of like trees walking. By the way, his answer to Jesus means it is likely that this man was not born blind but had become blind at some point in his life. He obviously had some conception of what trees looked like in order to make this statement.

So Jesus asks, “Do you see anything?” and the man answers “I see people like trees walking,” and the healing has begun. Now that is a miracle in itself. Could you spit in a blind man’s eyes and restore even partial sight to him? Of course not. But Jesus was not going to stop there.

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village.” (Mark 8:25-26)

When verse 25 says Jesus put his hands upon the eyes that most likely means that he put one hand on each eye. And now we get the complete healing: the man’s eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. The word “restored” means “restored to a former state” which is another indication that this man was probably not born blind. And the word “clearly” means “clearly and from a distance.” Not only could this man see again, but he was Mr. Eagle Eye now. He could see things clearly and from a distance. And notice Mark says he could see everything clearly. Now the text doesn’t tell us one way or another, but I’d be willing to wager this man’s eyesight was better than it had ever been before! This was a complete healing in every way.

Jesus tells him not to go into the village, and the implication here is that Jesus does not want him to tell anyone about the healing. We have seen that this is a common theme in the gospel of Mark.

But back to our original question. Why did Jesus do this? Why did he do this two-stage miracle of healing? We know from Jesus’ track record that he could easily have healed this man in one stage if he wanted, but he chose not to. Why? Because once again, Jesus’ miracles were not miracles just for miracles’ sake, but they were also vehicles for teaching. On the one hand Jesus’ miracles affirmed that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah who had come from God, but we have seen that they also symbolized spiritual truths.

We saw this last week with the disciples in the boat with Jesus and the bread. Remember? It’s not about the bread! Jesus’ miracles had a spiritual meaning as well. Each of the diseases Jesus healed was symbolic of some spiritual need in our lives. Deafness is symbolic of our stubborn refusal to hear God’s words. When Jesus healed the lame, it was a reminder that we are unable to help ourselves. Leprosy is a reminder that we are spiritually unclean before God and stand in desperate need of forgiveness. And blindness is symbolic of our spiritual blindness, that is, our lack of spiritual understanding.

Remember where we left the disciples just last week? Jesus was questioning them about their lack of understanding.

Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? … Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:17-21)

II. A two-stage confession: Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ (verses 27-30)

If physical blindness is symbolic of spiritual blindness and our lack of understanding, then this two-stage healing makes perfect sense as the prelude to the next section where Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ. Look at verses 27-30:

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:27-30)

Caesarea Philippi was a city about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. There were actually a number of Caesarea’s at that time, all named after Caesar. This particular city had been rebuilt by Philip the Tetrarch and thus had the designation Philippi added onto it.

I want you to note Mark’s phrase “on the way.” This phrase is repeated seven times in the next few chapters and represents a theme of sorts for this section. Jesus and his disciples are “on their way,” first to Caesarea, and then to Jerusalem, but in another sense they are “on the way” in the sense of discipleship. The Christian life is often likened in Scripture to a path or a way. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” (John 14:6) and early Christians were even called “followers of the Way.” (Acts 19:9,23, 22:4, 24:14)

So they are “on the way” when Jesus asks them a question, just like he asked the blind man a question. “Who do people say I am?” And they answer with some of the popular opinions about Jesus in their day. “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” These were the exact same opinions that were being floated by the people back in Mark 6 when King Herod was wondering who Jesus was. (Mark 6:14-15)

But Jesus doesn’t just want to know what the people think. He wants to know what the disciples think. So he asks, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

Peter – always the bold one, always the first to speak and the last to think, Peter who so often has to swallow his words in Scripture – Peter speaks out for the disciples here, and for once he gets it right! Peter replied, “You are the Christ.” The word “Christ” is simply the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah.” And so Peter is proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah, he is the Christ that God promised in the Old Testament and has now sent into the world.

And although Jesus has been demonstrating that he is the Christ again and by his miracles, this is the first time the actual word “Christ” has appeared in Mark’s gospel since the very first verse where Mark wrote: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)

Everything in Mark’s gospel has been pointing forward to this confession, from Jesus’ earliest miracles, to his opening the ears of the deaf, to his opening the eyes of the blind (see Isaiah 35:5-6), but now Peter is the first boldly to make the good confession: “You are the Christ.”

Notice Jesus does not correct Peter. In the book of Revelation when the apostle John falls down at the feet of an angel to worship him, the angel tells him, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” (Revelation 22:9) The angel refused John’s worship, because the angel knew that he was not God. But Jesus accepts Peter’s confession, although he does warn the disciples not to tell anyone.

Jesus knew that he was the Christ, and the time would come to proclaim that to everyone, but right now the timing was premature. First of all, the Jewish people had wrong expectations of the Messiah. They thought that the Christ would come as a political savior to deliver them from Rome, but Jesus had come as a spiritual savior to deliver them from sin. Also, if word got out that Jesus was accepting the title of Messiah, that would mean conflict with Rome, and it was too early for Jesus to go to the cross. Everything had to unfold according to God’s plan. And so Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone about him.

So what does Peter’s confession of Christ have to do with the two-stage healing of the blind man? Remember, physical blindness is a symbol of spiritual blindness or lack of understanding about God. And isn’t that exactly the question that Jesus asked his disciples following the miracle. “Who do people say that I am?” And the people couldn’t really see clearly who Jesus was. They knew he was important. They knew he taught with authority and had the power to do miracles. They knew he had something to do with God. They were willing to say he was a prophet or maybe even Elijah! But they did not yet know he was the Messiah. They saw Jesus through unclear eyes, with partial sight, like the blind man who saw people like trees walking.

But then when Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” Mark gives us the abbreviated version of Peter’s words, focusing our attention on Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, but the gospel of Matthew gives us Peter’s full confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15) and there is a sudden clarity of confession, a God-given understanding of Jesus’ identity, just as the blind man needed Jesus’ full touch to see fully and clearly once again.

And so I believe the two-stage healing was meant as a prelude to prepare us for the two confessions of Jesus’ identity to follow: the people’s confession which showed a partial understanding of Jesus and his mission, and then the full clarity of Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ.”

CONCLUSION: One of the most important questions you will ever answer in your own life is “Who is Jesus Christ?” If he was just a good teacher, well, there have been lots of good teachers over the years. Or if he was just a prophet, well, there have been lots of prophets, too. If he was just a man, then you can easily dismiss him. But if he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then you need to deal with him. It’s that important.

Larry Norman is a singer-songwriter that I have enjoyed over the years. One of his early songs was called “The Outlaw,” in which he reflected on the various views people might have had about Jesus when he was here on earth. Let me share the words with you:

Some say he was an outlaw, that he roamed across the land
With a band of unschooled ruffians, and a few old fishermen
No one knew just where he came from or exactly what he’d done.
But they said it must be something bad that keeps him on the run.

Some say he was a poet, that he’d stand upon the hill
And his words could calm an angry crowd or make the waves stand still
That he spoke in many parables that few could understand
But the people sat for hours just to listen to this man.

Some say he was a sorcerer, a man of mystery
He could walk upon the water, he could make a blind man see
That he conjured wine at weddings and did tricks with fish and bread
That he talked of being born again and raised people from the dead.

Some say a politician, he talked of being free
He was followed by the masses on the shores of Galilee
He spoke out against corruption, and he bowed to no decree
But they feared his strength and power so they nailed him to a tree.

Some say he was the Son of God, a man above all men
But he came to be a servant and to set us free from sin.
And that’s who I believe he was ’cause that’s who I believe
And I think we should get ready ’cause it’s almost time to leave.

Do you see clearly who Jesus is this morning, or do you just see trees walking? I pray that God would open your eyes that you might see the glory of God in Christ the Savior. Jesus asks you this morning just as he asked the disciples: “Who do you say I am?” I pray that you might reply as Peter did: “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Let us pray.

© Ray Fowler

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By Ray Fowler. © Ray Fowler. Website: http://www.rayfowler.org

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