When You Can't See Jesus

The question this Mark 8:22-26 asks us is simply this, what do you see when you look at Jesus? What do you see when you look at Jesus?

This miracle story only appears in Mark’s Gospel. Mark was the only Gospel writer to record this event, so he must have had some special purpose for doing so. And, well, it’s just a bit of a strange miracle isn’t it? It’s hard to think of another time when Jesus needed two goes at performing a miracle. He raised Lazarus from the dead with a simple command, He didn’t have to talk Him into it. He fed 5000 men with a boys lunch with a simple blessing, He didn’t have to have two or three tries at doing it.

I think Mark wrote down this miracle because he wants to help us know what to do when we’re like the man. When we don’t see Jesus clearly, what do we do?

The disciples, at this point, didn’t see Jesus clearly. Just before this miracle, in verse 21, Jesus said to them, ‘how is it that you do not understand?’ how have you seen me, and heard me for these years now, and you still don’t get it. But just after this miracle, in verse 26, Peter says that Jesus is the Christ. Now they see clearly. So I think this miracle, which really happened, is also a parable, a story with a meaning for you and I today.

This guys problem is our problem. He can’t see Jesus clearly. When he looked at the Son of God, He was out of focus and blurry. He was in the same position as the people that Peter mentions in verse 28. The people who thought Jesus was John the Baptist, or Elijah, or one of the prophets. And people, maybe some of us this morning, are in the same position.

I’m sure all of us can remember a time when we couldn’t see Jesus clearly.We couldn’t work out His will in a situation or we couldn’t see Him well enough to follow. Sometimes things get in the way of our relationship with Jesus don’t they, and we struggle to see Him. Sometimes it’s an activity or a hobby that becomes more important to us, and we fail to see Jesus clearly. Sometimes it’s a relationship that gets in the way, sometimes it’s work, sometimes we’re just lazy, but whatever it is, there are seasons in our lives when we don’t feel close to God, when we struggle to see Jesus for who He really is.

We’re confused, we’re joyless, we don’t know what to do. We want to commit to Jesus, we want to follow Him, but there’s something stopping us. When we look at Jesus, we don’t see the glorious Son of God, we see a tree.

So what’s the solution to the problem? Aren’t you glad Jesus always gives us the answer in His Word? Jesus isn’t like so many modern religions, or philosophies, or politics, that just point out problems and leave us by ourselves to face them. Jesus will take us by the hand, if we let Him, and lead us to the solution. Now, it may not be as quickly as we like, it may not be in our time, but it will happen.

This guy got alone with Jesus. He was taken outside the village, which, though small would have been full of people willing to stop and watch a miracle, full of the constant hustle and bustle of a fishing port. So he found Jesus, and got alone with Him.

Are you doing that?

Are you making time to be alone with Jesus in your daily life? are you looking at Him? If not, you’ll never see Him clearly. Are you desperate enough to see Jesus that you’ll set the alarm 30 minutes early to read the Bible? Do you want to see Jesus more than your favourite TV show, so you’ll turn it off and go to pray? When you have leisure time, what’s your priority? Is it seeing Jesus? Is it spending time with Him? Time with Jesus is never time wasted, it’s never time you’ll regret.

And he was honest about the problem. We have to be honest about how our Christian life is! Imagine what went through his head when Jesus asked him what he saw. Imagine the pressure. Jesus has healed everyone else, can’t I just say that I can see?’ But he was honest, and so must we be. Be honest with Jesus in prayer. Ask for His help, tell Him you wish you could see Him more clearly. Pray, I believe, help my unbelief. There’s no prayer that Jesus is so eager to answer as prayers that show our total dependence on Him! So ask Him for help. Be honest. Lord, I want to see, I want to serve, I want the joy of a close walk with you, but when I look at you, I see a tree. Don’t plaster on a smile, come to church and pretend everything’s ok for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. Be honest, ask for help!

And be hopeful. This guy didn’t throw his hands up in the air and tell Jesus it was no good. He didn’t think to himself, ‘well not even Jesus can help me, woe is me.’ No, he trusted in Jesus. He knew enough about Jesus to know that Jesus was capable, and Jesus was willing. He asked for help again, he was persistent. This is why Jesus encourages us to prayer like a nagging woman in Luke 18:1-8, or like a slightly rude friend in Luke 11. Don’t give up on Jesus. Beat His door down in prayer; wear Him out asking for help.

You understand what I mean. Your situation is never hopeless and Jesus is never helpless. So keep asking, do it again Jesus, try it again Lord.

And look at what happened as a result of these things. Verse 25 tells us that he saw every man clearly. Clearly! Not blurred anymore, he saw them with perfect vision. How sweet are the days when we see Jesus clearly. How wonderful are the moments when we know where to go and what to say, when we know we’re walking closely with the Son of God. How sweet it would have been for Peter, just a few verses later, to be able to say that Jesus was the Son of God.

So the question for us is, ‘do you see ought?’ what do you see when you look at Jesus? do you see Him in His glory in the Word, in prayer, in church, in communion? Do you look at Him and see the One for whom it is worth losing all things. Or do you see a blurred vision, an obscured vision? If that describes you, then you need help, but it’s help the saviour loves to give.