And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. Mark 8.22-25
This is a unique event in the ministry of Christ, for a couple reasons:
Dont try this at home
First, He spit in his eye; man, that always cracks me up! The Lord used so many different methods for healing and that is a good thing. With the tendency we have to try to make a system, to find the magic formula, we would have ended up with “Spit in Your Eye Ministries International Incorporated”.
Seeing Men as Trees
Secondly, that the person touched with the healing power of the Great Physician was not immediately and completely healed. Now I do not know why it happened this way, but I am glad it did because it reminds of a few things:
That I can see people as trees as well. I can “chop” others down with my “cutting” words; I can “needle” others; if they offend me I often ignore them, you know, “leaf” them alone: I can find myself “barking at them”, well you get the idea.
This man saw people through still hazy sight, they were out of focus, what he needed was to be able to see men like Jesus saw them… clearly.
How will we begin to see others as Jesus does, to look upon our brothers and sisters in Christ with love, to look on the lost with a burden for their souls, to look on the needy with hearts of compassion, to look on your spouse as a “fellow heir of the grace of life”, to look on your children as gifts from God?
A second touch
Often it takes a fresh touch, a second touch from Jesus, just to refresh how we look at others.
It is terribly easy to get cynical and bored and impatient and frustrated with those we are around the most.
Perhaps today would be a good day to get a second touch from the Lord that we might see others as he does.
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WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT:
:)
Sometimes I wonder if Jesus healed him that way, only so he could appreciate seeing the bystanding Jesus-wannabes - who used their understanding of the visible realm to try spitting in other blind people's eyes - just to try to replicate what Jesus did without understanding the kingdom mindset that Jesus models for us?
Jesus only did what the He saw his father do - He has Kingdom-vision. Jesus tells us to pray "Thy will be done - on earth - as it is in heaven." - where there is no sickness allowed to "make us a better Christian somehow". I've never seen Jesus or any apostle say that to anybody.
His commission and instructions for our praying is distinctively to "try this at home".
To me, one particular application that resonates with me in this passage of Mark 8 is to confess to Jesus when you have not had enough of His kingdom reality in your life - even if imparted with some - even if it would seem the religiously correct thing to do to be simply grateful to witness any healing gift whatsoever let alone experience one - or be equipped to administer one.
How much of the Kingdom will we see on earth? Are we going to see streets of Gold? Probably not - but I think within scripture there is demonstration of a reasonable measure of it - and an irrefutable intent for it to be continually increasing.
"Ninety-five percent of today's church activities would continue if the Holy Spirit were removed from us. In the early Church, ninety-five percent of all her activities would have stopped if the Holy Spirit were removed." - BILLY GRAHAM
Maybe this passage is actually a clue into the gift of "seeing what the father does" - that we need to confess when we don't - and that He will be gracious and gift us when we distinguish ourselves apart from the 95 percent of churches - that He will not only give us sight, but enable us to not miss out on what He will willingly do through us - and hooray for us not missing out on that.
FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT IN WORD, BUT IN POWER. 1 Corinthians 4:14-20
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM - AND THE POWER - AND THE GLORY
The greatest sermon - the Sermon on the Mount - was merely explaining the "kingdom vision" of miracles that had just occurred.
He preached "REPENT - FOR THE KINGDOM IS AT HAND" - the kingdom is within reach - the kingdom has drawn near. He didn't just say it - He showed them - yet He did nothing on his own power - nor should we - we should rely on the same spirit that enabled the same vision of the father - and what He saw the father do - be it spitting in someone's eye - or whatever. Some might have seen spitting in a sick person's eye as something contrary to scripture - but perhaps it is more accurate to say that Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, only goes contrary to our current understanding of scripture - and did so on so many occasions, that the religiously correct 95% crucified him for it in that day.
How will we preach and demonstrate that the kingdom is here without seeing as He did?
I can't say that Calvary Chapel as a denominational parent organization has held a banner high to be a church that places safeguards it's ministries to rely on the Holy Spirit - as Jesus did - as Jesus taught us to do.
I can't say that it sees being one of the 95% of churches out there in Billy Graham's prior quotes as a bad thing, as long as the word is preached. I still think when they preach "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word", that they fall into the linguistical trap of English not even having an equivalent word for the "rhema-word" that is used there.
It figures that the Eskimos would have so many words for snow, but the English language would translate both "logos" and "rhema" as "word" with no distinction - and perhaps our theology suffers as a result. Help me here, linguists...
:)
How long will we uphold published distinctive doctrines and denominations that declare it is the Lord's word that "My sheep will know me by my book" instead of "My sheep will know me by my voice"?
How long will it be "Faith comes by having heard" and not "Faith comes by hearing"? Where would Isaac be if Abraham heard the word of the Lord to raise the knife and slay Isaac his son, but then didn't hear the Lord the second time? HOW VALUABLE IS THE RHEMA WORD IN THE IMMEDIATE PRESENT!!!
A rhema is a verse or portion of Scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention with application to a current situation or need for direction.
"FAITH COMES BY HEARING - AND HEARING BY THE WORD" (RHEMA is the word used there.)
Come on - lets take the WORD and merge it with our testimony - with what we know the Lord has done and is doing - and not be frightened by the self-appointed watchdogs looking down on the faithful 5% that occasionally spit in the eye of the sick as they see the father spit - and fall victim to somebody's "discernment".
Some days I would spit just to see the Pharisee’s choke on their own leaven... but that is wrong and I apologize!!!
Some days it's funny to ponder that. Some days it's not. Particularly when there are so few real spiritual fathers out there to go to - when you are in the company of precious children that are sick, in pain, and dying - because it is so hard to take them into the manifest presence of the Lord - to let them experience the glory of the kingdom of heaven - where there is no sickness - here on earth - because there are still so many living in unbelief, feasting on the leaven of the Pharisees to quench their hunger for God to move in such miraculous ways - in such a time as this when even on the front page of the Seattle times, the headline story on July 21, 2007 reads,
"You're God. You can do anything."
NOW BACK TO YOUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING...
Matt Haverly
yournextcd@msn.com
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