Reflections on "More Than a Healing Touch" Mark 8:22-26

I had fun working on and preaching this sermon.  I'm not convinced the opening illustration fit the sermon, but I've had that story in my sermon file for about 20 years and wanted to use it.  In fact, it's a story someone told to me back when I was not very concerned with source citations (before the Internet meant illustrations were being read by lots of people), and I cannot remember the name of the person who told me the story.  Admittedly, the person who told me the story may have exaggerated, but I repeated the story as it was told to me.  

this is another one of those sermons that when I finally get to the third point, I don't develop that part of the sermon enough.  The "so what?" question did not get answered very fully.  but, I love digging into the text and exploring it.  I could have done more with the John Griffin illustration at the end of the sermon.  It seemed to set the stage well for answering "So what?" 

In the Sanctuary service, I spoke the first paragraph of the sermon before reading the Scripture lesson, and then started the "official" part of the sermon with "There's a lot of touching...." That worked better than reading the Scripture lesson and then starting with the reference to the sermon series as the first line of the sermon.

I was freelancing quite a bit with the sermon yesterday (which is usually a sign that I don't have it worked out well enough before it it preached), which means that what was heard yesterday might be quite different than what is written below.

“More Than a Healing Touch” Mark 8: 22-26; FPC, Troy; May 10, 2015

Introduction:  We continue our preaching series, “Being Touched by God” in which we read different biblical stories in which people are touched.

There's a lot of touching going on in this story we read from the Gospel of Mark.

Presumably, the people who brought the blind man t Jesus had to lead him by hand.

I had a conversation at college with a blind student.  He started telling me some off the crazy things that had happened to him. 

A blind person tells this story on himself. It seems he was driving through campus one night with a friend giving him instructions about where to turn, etc. They got pulled over by the campus police. When the police officer approached the car, he asked for a license. Blind driver asks officer why they were pulled over and was told they did not have the lights on. Driver then tells passenger to give officer his license. Officer says no, he needs license of driver.

Driver says he doesn't have a license.

“Why?” asks the officer.

“Because I'm blind, which by the way, means I don't need lights on to drive anyway.” 

The officer somehow agrees and sends them on their way.

The blind man living in Jesus' time was totally dependent on others.  He needed someone to hold his hand as he walked.  No raised bumps on the sidewalk or crosswalk signals that ding.

He had to be led by hand by friends, who want Jesus to touch him, presumably to heal him.

Jesus takes the blind man by hand and leads him away from the crowd and touches his eyes not once, but twice, as he heals him of his blindness.

Jesus leads the blind man by hand away from the others .Let's dig a little deeper into this story by looking at how Mark tells this story; what it tells us about Jesus; and what it might mean for us.

Move 1:  Background to the story.

            a.  This story in Mark is not paralleled in the other three gospels.

1.              It is unique to Mark's gospel.

2.              It is possible to read Mark's gospel as a journey, with each section separated by the place where the action occurs.

3.              The journey is headed to Jerusalem, where Jesus will be crucified and then resurrected.

b. In reading the Gospel of Mark as different stops on the journey, this is the last section before arrival in Jerusalem.

1. The section begins with the first verse we read that notes that they were in Bethsaida.

2.  The section finishes a couple of chapters later when they move on to Jerusalem.

3.  The section will begin with the healing of the blind man that we read this morning, and the section will finish with the healing of Bartimaeus, another blind man.

4. IN between, is another healing story – this time a young boy who cannot speak.

5. The section also includes Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah.

6.  The transfiguration of Jesus.

7.  Jesus telling them a couple of times that he must die and then be resurrected.

8. The story of the rich young man who wants to follow Jesus.

9. And several other comments from Jesus about how difficult it will be to follow him.

10.  In summary, the final section before Jerusalem is book-ended by the blind being made to see, with the stories in between about the disciples mostly not being able to see what Jesus is trying to tell them about being his disciples.

11. a certain irony in the text – Jesus can heal the blind, but he's having trouble making his disciples see (I referenced The Interpreter's Bible's notes on this passage for background to the sermon).

            b.  This passage also makes it clear that the prophet Isaiah's words about the coming Messiah are fulfilled in Christ.

                       

1.              The prophet Isaiah had described the day when the Messiah comes as one when  (Isaiah 35:5-6) “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;” (NRSV)

2.              After this section in Mark, it is clear, or at least it should be clear, that the one about whom Isaiah prophesied has arrived.

c.    If we were to title this section of the Gospel of mark, we might call it “What you need to know about Jesus before he goes to Jerusalem to die for you.”

Move 2:  Jesus bring more than a healing touch

            a.  It's Mother's Day.

1.    if I asked most of you to reflect on a time your mother touched you, particularly if you were hurt or were sick, you could probably come up with a nice memory.

A cool touch on a feverish forehead;

Holding  your hand at the doctor's office, or at the ER when you were getting stitches

the comfort and reassurance of a mother's touch.

2.    One of the reasons we celebrate Mother's Day is to give thanks to our mothers for those times they touched us.

3.    In fact, I picked this story for this week because I had planned on using a nice Mother's Day story to parallel the healing touch of Jesus.

b. But as I studied the text, I realized that this story is not about a sweet Mother's touch.

1.  As Tom Long, professor of preaching at Candler School of Theology, notes that 'sermons preached from the Gospel of mark these days tend to be far too timid."

2.  He suggests that we do not acknowledge the "warrior" role Jesus has in Mark as he does battle with the powers of death that "hold humanity captive" (Journal for Preachers, "Whose Work? Whose Healing?" Volume XXXVIII, Number 4, Pentecost 2015, 31).

           

                        3.  Long also argues that all the "strange bits" in the healing stories in Mark are important because they remind us that "Jesus is not just doing a good deed...but instead making apocalyptic warfare on the reign of death that holds sway over him and over us all"  (Journal for Preachers, "Whose Work? Whose Healing?" Volume XXXVIII, Number 4, Pentecost 2015, 33).

            c.  The title of the sermon changed from This is making me think of the sermon as more than "A Healing Touch."  In fact, the title perhaps should be "More Than a Healing Touch."

1.    Jesus has come to do more than heal the blind.

2.    Jesus has come to do more than make the mute speak.

3.    Jesus has come to take on sin and death for us as he redeems us and the world.

4.    We are singing "there Is a Balm in Gilead" as the hymn after the sermon. It's melody and soothing sound suggest a soft touch;

5.    but the words, "to make the wounded whole" and to "heal the sin-sick soul" speak to the power of God to transform lives in the face of sin and death.

6.    Not a minor healing, but a major transformation.

7.    In other words, the healing touch comes with the punch of the one who does battle with evil to save us.

Move 3:  Welcome to following this Jesus.

            a.  I find it curious that Jesus had to rub the eyes twice. What is that about?

1.    It seems implausible that Jesus could not do the healing in one shot.

2.    Maybe it was to make the point that the blind man has more than some eye irritation that anyone could heal; Jesus had healed a completely blind person.

3.    Maybe it's an indicator of how hard it is to cure blindness, which might also be a metaphor for how hard it is for the disciples to see what Jesus is trying to show them.

4.    That seems to fit with this section in Mark.

5.    Peter makes the confession that Jesus is the messiah, and then when Jesus talks about dying, Peter no longer gets it.

6.    The rich young ruler is ready to follow Jesus, until he sees how hard it would be to sell his possessions and follow Jesus.

7.    The vision to be a disciple of Christ is not easily attained.

c.  John Howard Griffin, Scattered Shadows, describes what it is like to regain sight after being blind for ten years. 

1. An accomplished pianist, he lost his sight in accident while serving in the Army Air Corps. In 1946. 

2.            Almost ten years later he regained his sight.

3.            Very difficult to adjust to seeing again.

4.            Physically it is hard.  The eyes have to be retrained.

5.             Mentally, it is exhaustive as well.  The new possibilities his regained vision came him were overwhelming.

6.            Jesus' disciples face that challenge just as we do.

7. What will be make of the opportunity for new vision and new life that Jesus brings us?

Conclusion: Jesus comes with more than a healing touch.  He overcomes sin and death for us.

He invites us to a life of new possibilities.

Can you see that vision?