Looking for a Sign

As we continue our series: The Crown & The Cross sermon, Mark’s Gospel shows Jesus as a man of decisive action with a clear message and mission, and the reader is called to actively response to the message.

Mark divides Jesus’ life into two parts: his identity as Messiah and King over all things in the first 8 chapters (the crown) and then in the last 8 chapters we see Him fulfilling His life’s purpose in suffering and dying on the cross.

Last week, Dan Jones preached on the first part of chapter 8 with the feeding of the 4,000.

This morning we will continue in chapter 8 and reach the mid-point of the Gospel completing the focus of Jesus Christ’s identity as the Messiah and King over all things - the crown. After Mother’s Day we will start the second half where Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem to fulfill His life’s purpose in suffering and dying on the cross.

Intro

Today’s passage is Mark 8:11-26 and we will find the parallel passage in Matthew 16. Because of his Jewish audience, Matthew spends more time with OT references, where Mark omits some of those details and gets right to the point.

Jesus responds to the religious leaders demanding a sign from God and Jesus warns his disciples about doubt and unbelief. His message is framed between two miracles where Jesus heals a deaf man and a blind man. There are clear comparisons to people being spiritually deaf and blind to the truth and missing the Gospel message.

Doubt and preconceived ideas about the Messiah kept the religious leaders blind and deaf to the truth about Jesus.

We will see that only God can open our eyes and ears to understand and accept the Gospel and be saved.

PRAY

READ Mark 8:11-26

Pharisees look for a sign vv. 11-13

The pharisee came and began to argue with him. You can tell from their approach that they were not coming to actually understand and believe. As usual, they wanted to discredit him, his ministry, and his claim to be the Messiah. Potentially, these men had seen a number of miracles performed by Jesus. Many were witnesses at Jesus’ baptism, when God spoke from heaven declaring “You are my beloved Son with you I am well pleased.”

But they were looking for further proof from heaven or God himself. Jesus sighed deeply. It grieved his spirit that his own people were rejecting him, rejecting God’s mercy and salvation.

In Matthew 16, Jesus said you know how to read the sky and predict the weather, but you cannot read the signs of the Messiah right in front of you.

My father taught me the saying “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

v. 12 in Mark says Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. But Matthew, again writing for a Jewish reader, included these additional words from Jesus.

Matt 16:4 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.”

The sign of Jonah refers to Jesus, like Jonah coming back from the great fish, Jesus will be three days and three nights in the grave, before coming back to life. That is the greatest sign of all! Proving without a doubt, he is the Son of God.

The OT prophets spoke from God warning about unbelief when the Messiah came.

Jeremiah 5:21 ““Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.”

Ezekiel 12:2 ““Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.”

These references to the deaf and blind are matched in the miracles performed just before in Mark 7 and after in Mark 8. Clearly Mark wanted the reader to make those connections of Jesus healing physical deafness and blindness and the spiritual deafness and blindness of the religious leaders and even his own disciples.

v.13 So he left them, got into the boat again and went to the other side. Jesus is done with the pharisees and religious leaders. They had chosen to not believe in him. There was no point in discussing it further. They were deaf and blind to all the amazing things Jesus did and the heavenly teachings he said.

Jesus warns about unbelief vv. 14-21

v. 14 They forgot to bring enough bread - they only had one loaf for the thirteen of them.

Jesus was masterful in connecting their every day problems with spiritual matters. In v. 15 Jesus warned them to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. And leaven is the rising agent in bread like yeast. Leaven is usually a symbol of sin that permeates everything like yeast in a ball of bread dough.

So they begin discussing their lack of bread. What are we going to do? We only have one loaf of bread. We’ll starve!

v. 17 Don’t you perceive or understand? Are you hearts hardened like the pharisees and Herod? You have eyes but don’t see and ears but don’t hear.

And Jesus has to remind them of the things they have been seeing and hearing. He asks them questions so they can arrive at the answers themselves.

When I broke five loaves and fed 5,000 people, how many baskets were left. Maybe Peter thought, hey I got this one! Twelve, they answered.

And when I fed 4,000 people with just seven loaves, how many baskets did you collect? Seven! They were getting good at this.

Jesus, said, Do you still not understand? Don’t you get it?

It’s as though He was saying, If I can multiply a few loaves and feed thousands of people, don’t you think I can feed the thirteen of us? But he didn’t force anything. He just prompted them with questions.

Their doubt and unbelief was different from the pharisees. They were not trying to discredit Jesus. They were not hostile. They truly wanted to believe and understand, but they were just having a hard time connecting the dots. And Jesus lovingly continued to ask them questions and let them arrive at their own conclusions.

That’s a really good method for sharing your faith and helping someone come to believing in Jesus as Savior. J.C. is finishing one of my books, called “Ask Them Why.” It provides a clear framework of asking questions about what some believes, why they believe that, and how they came to those conclusions. Maybe you will want to borrow it next. I have several new books from the conference that can help you share your faith. You can borrow them at the Welcome Center.

Jesus also mentioned the leaven of Herod. If you recall from Mark 6, Herod arrested John the Baptist for speaking out against his illegitimate marriage, but Herod protected John and wanted to keep hearing his message of repentance, the Messiah, and God’s kingdom. Herod was conflicted and greatly perplexed. He knew he needed God’s forgiveness but he loved his sin and the praise of people. Later on, when Jesus was arrested Herod wanted to meet Jesus and hoped to see a miracle.

Jesus heals blindness vv. 22-26

They went on to Bethsaida on the northwest shores of the Sea of Galilee.

A group of people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him.

Instead of attracting another crowd, Jesus compassionately took the man by the hand and led him out of the city.

Jesus put his saliva on the man’s eyes and asked “Do you see anything?” The man looked up and said “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”

Then Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes again - he opened his eyes and his sight was restored. Jesus didn’t ask if he could see because he knew the man was healed. He saw everything clearly.

This is the only two-stage healing in the Gospels. And the other Gospels don’t even record this healing. Some commentators said it might be because the miracle didn’t work and Jesus had to try again.

I don’t think, it was because Jesus’ didn’t know what to do and had to try twice. I believe Jesus was demonstrating that spiritual sight being gradual like the disciples. This is a teaching parable in the form of a physical miracle. jesus was showing his disciples and the readers today, that faith and belief can develop through a process of revelation.

Our spiritual understanding and growth also happens in this way. When you become a follower of Jesus Christ - you can spend a lifetime learning more about him and his Word.

Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

The disciples did not fully believe until after Jesus’ resurrection when they saw him and he touched them again.

v. 26 Jesus sent the man back to home to share his healing and his encounter with Jesus. He said, “don’t even enter the village.” Again, Jesus was not looking for crowds or proving his divine power, he was healing people out of love, compassion, and a desire for them to see and hear the truth and believe in Him as Messiah and Savior.

Take Aways

Be ready to share the Gospel

As Peter said in 1 Peter 3:15 always be prepared to answer anyone who asks for the reason you have hope.

You may be asked to “prove” the existence of God. And you can share the teleological and cosmological arguments for a creator and first mover of the universe. Some will listen, but many people have already made up their minds to not believe. They have closed their eyes and ears to the truth. Their hearts have been hardened. At that point you can pray that the Spirit would soften their hearts and call them.

Don’t forget God’s blessings and worry or complain.

Just as the disciples experienced Jesus’ amazing provision and quickly forgot where help comes from.

God meets our needs, but then when the next problem arises, we begin to worry about how this will be resolved. We may complain or become frightened. Psalm 103:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,” The NT is filled with reminders to give thanks always and for everything.

Lessons Learned

The disciples saw and heard amazing things that would encourage them later in ministry as the Holy Spirit helped them recall all that Jesus had said and did.

1) Don’t look for signs and wonders - but live by faith in God’s all-sufficient Word

2) Trust Jesus’ promises to meet all your needs

3) let Jesus work as He wills - don’t expect Him to do the same thing twice

Benediction

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