Do You See Anything?

May 24, 2026 • Rory Mosley

040 Do You See Anything?

Mark 8:22-26

May 24, 2026

This segment of Mark’s gospel has now become clear to us.

We are moving from CONFUSION to CONFESSION

It is a segment revealing how

The disciples came to see and understand who Jesus is.

It is a segment bookended with the question

Regarding the identification of Jesus.

You see the same misconceptions about Jesus

Stated in both Mark 6:15 and Mark 8:28

Mark 6:14-15 “…and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

THAT IS THE PROBLEM.

While Jesus’ power is clearly documented

No one seems to truly know who He is.

BUT THE REAL PROBLEM that Mark is addressing is that

At the current time even the disciples seem to be confused.

This entire segment documents their blindness, deafness,

Hardness of heart, and overall general lack of understanding.

No insight from His miracles:

Mark 6:52 “for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”

No understanding of His holiness:

Mark 7:18 “And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,”

No remembrance of the benefit of His presence:

Mark 8:14-21 “And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

IT’S JUST REMARKABLE.

· The disciples are not accurately seeing Him.

· The disciples are not accurately hearing Him.

· The disciples are not accurately comprehending Him.

And honestly, their condition is almost LAUGHABLE.

SUNDAY NIGHT, when discussing that conversation on the boat,

We almost chuckle in disbelief

That they were worried about not having enough bread.

We want to say:

· Really guys?

· Jesus is in the boat!

· How could you be worried about bread at this point?

How could they not see who He is?

How could they not remember what He did?

How could they not have unshakable faith for the future?

We read their story and almost laugh.

BUT AT THE SAME time we should be grateful

That they did not have access to read our story,

Or they would be laughing as well.

HOW OFTEN have we been in some sort of dilemma, and given ourselves to fear or worry or anxiety, wondering what will happen?

And if the disciples could read our story

They would shake their heads and say, “Really guys? Jesus is with you! How could you be worried about that at this point?”

Every laps of judgment they or we face, every expression of fear,

Every rise of anxiety, every discouragement in ministry…

Those all flow from a failure to recognize Jesus.

· It is a failure to see who He is.

· It is a failure to hear what He has said.

· It is a failure to remember what He has done.

This was the disciple’s problem.

They didn’t see, hear, or understand…not fully.

And not only has Jesus been explicitly stating that fact,

Mark has also been illustrating it for us METAPHORICALLY.

We’ve already seen 1 miraculous metaphor LAST SUNDAY MORNING.

WE SAW THAT DEAF MAN.

He certainly was an actual deaf man whom Jesus actually healed,

But that miracle was chosen by Mark to include in his gospel

Because he depicted the spiritual condition of the disciples.

Mark also chose that miracle because it so accurately depicted the frustration of Jesus regarding the spiritual deafness all around Him.

As Jesus thrust His fingers into that man’s ears

And touched his tongue with saliva

We saw Jesus lift His eyes to heaven with a sigh.

People who have ears, but who don’t hear are a grief to Him

And that was certainly a picture of the disciples.

They had ears, but they didn’t hear,

Because they didn’t hear, they also didn’t speak well.

· You can’t speak accurately if you don’t hear accurately.

· The disciples needed their ears unstopped too.

Healing the deaf man was a miracle and a metaphor.

Well THIS MORNING we get another miraculous metaphor from Mark.

AFTER HEALING THAT DEAF MAN

Jesus basically walked the disciples back through every miraculous encounter and meaningful message that they had failed to understand.

· He fed a multitude again.

· He corrected the Pharisees again.

· But in the boat it became clear that the disciples still didn’t get it.

SO IT’S TIME FOR ONE MORE LESSON.

It’s time for another miraculous encounter

Meant to open the disciple’s eyes.

And the good news is that this time it will work.

Following this miracle Jesus will ask them again who they think He is,

And this time they will get it right.

So it’s another metaphor, but at least this time it will be a successful one.

So this morning let’s look at this second miraculous metaphor

And learn again of the importance of seeing Jesus.

5 verses here, let’s just break it down into 5 points.

#1 THE MULTITUDE

Mark 8:22

“And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.”

We are still seeing the same issue in Jesus’ ministry.

He cannot get away from the crowd.

· He left Galilee and went all the way to Tyre, but the Syrophoenician woman spotted Him.

· From there He went north to Sidon and then swung way around to the eastern side of the sea of Galilee into the Decapolis, but the crowd found Him again and He ended up feeding the 4,000.

· So He departed from there and crossed the sea over to the west side to Dalmanutha, but the Pharisees cornered Him there wanting to see a sign from Him.

So now He is crossing the sea again,

This time to the northeast corner and a town called “Bethsaida”,

But once again He is spotted and the sick are brought to Him.

WHAT MUST BE REMEMBERED HERE

Is that although this crowd brings a blind man to Jesus,

It was in fact the entire multitude of “Bethsaida” that was actually blind.

We remember Jesus saying about this city earlier in His ministry:

Matthew 11:20-22 “Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.”

· This region, along with Capernaum and Chorazin had seen the mother load of

Jesus’ miraculous activity and yet, “they did not repent.”

Clearly they had an affinity for Jesus.

Clearly they believed in His power.

Clearly they knew to bring their sick friends to Him.

But they still totally missed the point of who He was and why He came.

“they did not repent”.

So we’re not just dealing with a blind man, or even blind disciples,

THIS IS A BLIND MULTITUDE.

No one here gets who Jesus is.

The Multitude

#2 THE MAN

Mark 8:23

The blind man is brought to Jesus.

And here Jesus does what we have grown accustomed to Him doing.

He did it with the deaf man and He’ll do it again here.

“Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village…”

No one is questioning Jesus’ compassion at this point,

But we are aware that simply healing the sick is NOT THE MISSION.

Though the villages,

And perhaps even the 12

Would have been totally content with Him doing nothing more

Than making suffering people’s lives more comfortable,

That is not why He came.

Because He is compassionate, He will heal this man.

But He will not do it publicly

Because the ministry narrative needs to change.

So He pulls this man aside by himself.

But Mark takes us along for this story,

Because like the deaf man, there is a point to be made here.

NOW, WE ALSO LIKE that, similar to the deaf man,

Jesus does a seemingly strange thing in the way He heals the man.

You’ll remember from last week the healing of the deaf man:

Mark 7:33-34 “Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”

· We said it seemed strange until we realized that Jesus was using a sort of charades like sign language on the man.

· A deaf man might have been confused as to why Jesus pulled him aside by himself, but when Jesus stuck his fingers in his ears and then touched his tongue it became obvious what He intended to do.

Well, there is something similar here for the blind man.

No doubt this man could hear everything that Jesus was saying,

But Jesus still performs the miracle in a very hands-on descriptive way.

“after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him…”

Jesus didn’t have to do this.

He has healed the blind before and used different methods.

John 9:6 “When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,”

Luke 7:20-21 “When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’ ” At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.”

Luke 18:42 “And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.”

So spitting is not necessary, but Jesus employs it here.

It is again an hands-on picture of what needs to happen.

THIS MAN NEEDS HIS EYES CLEANED.

Think of it like when your mother licked a handkerchief

And then went to work on a smudge on your cheek.

Jeff Foxworthy said, “You didn’t know it but mother’s spit is the exact chemical composition of Formula 409. You put mother’s spit on a dishrag, you can get rust off of a car bumper.”

Jesus is going to work on whatever is clouding this man’s eyes.

It is a visual picture that this man needs his eyes cleaned.

BUT HERE is where we really like this particular miracle

And where we need to pay attention to MARK’S POINT.

After Jesus rubs the man’s eyes, “He asked him, “Do you see anything?”

I want you just to put a pin in that question

Because it really is the reason Mark includes this miracle.

That is a question for the man,

But it is absolutely aimed at the disciples.

So hang on to that one.

But the multitude brought the man to Jesus and Jesus has just touched His eyes.

#3 THE METAPHOR

Mark 8:25

Here is a second somewhat strange aspect to this miracle.

It is the only miracle recorded in the New Testament

That wasn’t instantaneous.

Incidentally, charismatics like to reference this miracle as evidence that sometimes healings aren’t immediate and may take time.

While it is true that all healing comes from God and some healing does take time, the miraculous healings of Jesus never required time.

JESUS INSTANTLY HEALED.

Withered hands, blind eyes, deaf ears, lepers, even the dead were instantly and totally cured of their infirmity.

Well then how do you explain this one?

Jesus didn’t have difficulty healing this man,

What He did here was on purpose.

It was a message for the disciples.

This is a miracle with a point for the onlookers.

Jesus touched this man’s eyes and asked him, “Do you see anything?”

(24) “And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.”

Let’s just ask the obvious questions.

· Did this man have eyes? Yes

· Did this man see? Yes

· Did this man see clearly? No

If you’re wondering how this man knew what men or trees looked like to even make such a statement, it is because this man was not born blind.

He had developed blindness at some point in his life.

We know that because in verse 25 we read that his sight “was restored”.

That word literally means “to restore to a former state”

He had seen in the past, and developed some type of eye disease or suffered an injury that had caused him to lose his sight.

And now Jesus is restoring it.

But it was not the intention of Jesus to make him see 20/20 immediately.

He intentionally paused the healing process halfway

In order to make a point.

This man could see, but not clearly.

He got the gist of it, but not the detail.

This was a metaphor for the disciples.

That was their problem.

Remember them in the boat in the storm?

(4:38) “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Remember the 5,000?

(6:52) “they gained no insight from the incident of the loaves, for their hearts were hardened.”

Remember the debate with the Pharisees?

(7:18) “Are you still lacking in understanding also?”

Remember the second incident with the loaves and feeding 4,000?

(8:4) “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”

Remember crossing the sea just before this miracle?

(8:17) “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand?”

This man is a living illustration of the disciples.

They have eyes, and to some extent they do see,

But it is clear that they do not see clearly.

They have a blurry understanding of who Christ is.

They see Him, but they don’t see Him.

This man is a metaphor.

So you think of that question Jesus asked him.

“Do you see anything?”

That is the question actually meant for the 12.

It sort of reminds us of after the resurrection when Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love Me?”

· Almost like He was saying, “Do you love Me at all?”

And here, “Do you see anything at all?”

Or perhaps we would ask it like this:

· Are you getting any of this?

· Does any of what you are seeing make sense to you?

Well, unfortunately, like this blind man, the answer would be “NO.”

THEY WERE SEEING WITHOUT SEEING.

Mark is the only gospel writer who includes this miracle

It is because Mark is showing you a picture

Of the spiritual condition of the disciples.

They have ears, but they don’t hear.

· They need Jesus to thrust His fingers in their ears and clean them out.

They have eyes, but they don’t see.

· They need their eyes cleaned even further to bring what is unclear into focus.

The Multitude, The Man, The Metaphor

#4 THE MIRACLE

Mark 8:25

Jesus touched the man again.

“again He laid His hands on his eyes;”

This was NOT because

Jesus’ power was somehow lacking during the first touch.

It is meant to reveal the mercy of Christ

To continue touching those who don’t see until they see clearly.

AND IT WORKED!

“and he looked intently”

(dia-BLEP-o)

“to look through”

“to penetrate by vision”

“see clearly”

Matthew 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

This man now focused in directly on what he wanted to see.

This man sharpened his vision to see clearly.

He was not content with a blurry outline,

He looked with the intent of making sense of what he saw.

“and was restored”

(a-pok-aye-THEES-tay-me)

“to restore to its former state”

Mark 3:5 “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”

Matthew 17:11 “And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;”

This man’s eyes were now restored to see as he had formerly.

“and began to see everything clearly”

“clearly”

(tay-lau-GOCE)

“at a distance and clearly”

He now sees it all and clearly.

Jesus has totally and perfectly opened his eyes.

JESUS PERFECTLY HEALED THIS MAN

This is certainly a miracle, and yet again A FULFILLMENT

Of the prophetic passage Mark seems to have in the background.

Isaiah 35:3-6 “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.”

Jesus is Isaiah’s long-awaited redeemer.

He opens the eyes of the blind.

BUT ALL OF THIS IS ALSO AN ANALOGY FOR THE 12

They see, but don’t see.

They hear, but don’t understand.

· They need to start looking intently.

· They need to have their sight restored.

· They need to see who Jesus is clearly.

They should be watching this and asking Jesus:

“Would you do that for me?”

One more point:

#5 THE MISSION

Mark 8:26

Again, the point is the same throughout the segment.

1) The public ministry is closing.

· The fascination of the crowds is no longer the goal.

2) Jesus does not want the narrative about Him set by those who do not know why He came.

And since the deaf man had difficulty obeying Christ’s commands

Jesus helps this guy out a little by saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

As if to say, “Look, I know you won’t be able to contain yourself,

So just don’t even go around anyone.”

BUT MARK’S POINT IS NOW CLEAR.

This was a metaphor for the disciples.

They, like this man, had eyes, and could see a little,

But their sight was not clear.

They were indoctrinated by the blind Pharisees who had no doubt led to the blindness of all Israel.

They were influenced by the crowds who conceded Jesus’ power, but couldn’t decide if He was some resurrected prophet or not.

They were hindered by their own blind hearts, witnessing miracle after miracle, but still panicking when they were low on bread.

They saw, but they just couldn’t see.

They needed their eyes fully opened to Christ.

You see that in this entire segment over and over and over.

But instead of continuing to focus on the 12 and their weaknesses,

HOW ABOUT WE EXAMINE OUR OWN LIVES?

Let me ask you a question this morning.

WHAT DEGREE OF BLINDNESS IS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU?

When you go to the optometrist and have your eyes checked and they start doing that little “Tell me which one is better” test.

And #1 is really blurry, but #2 is clear.

DO YOU SAY, “It doesn’t really matter, I’m fine with blurry”?

When you get older and your near sight begins to fail, are you just content to not be able to read anymore?

When cataracts develop and vision gets obstructed, are you good with it or do you want some help with your vision?

You see what I’m getting at.

You wouldn’t dare accept blurry vision of the things of this world.

· We live in a day of corrective lenses, bi-focals, even tri-focals.

· We have cheaters.

· We watch UHD tv’s.

· We want high resolution photos.

When it comes to this world we want to see clearly.

BUT WHAT ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO SPIRITUAL THINGS?

What about when it comes to Christ?

· Are you content possessing a blurry view of Christ?

· Are you content with a blurry theology of the gospel?

· Are you ok to simply not be able to understand what you’re reading?

· Are you fine with reading and not getting it?

The disciples did not see Jesus clearly and that was NOT OK.

And it’s not ok for us to not see clearly either.

Now, how do we know they didn’t see clearly?

Well it was little indicators like:

Not being amazed when He fed the 5,000

· Their lack of amazement at Jesus only revealed that they didn’t really see Him.

Or their lack of understanding as to why the Pharisees were defiled even though they were religious.

· Their lack of understanding indicated that they had not seen how different Jesus was from the religious establishment.

Or how about their panic when they realized they only had 1 loaf of bread and they were headed to a desolate region?

· Their concern indicated that they had failed to recognize Christ’s love for them and His ability to provide for their needs.

THEY JUST WEREN’T SEEING HIM.

It showed up every time they demonstrated panic, fear, anxiety...

It only proved they didn’t know who He was.

SO LET’S EXAMINE OUR LIVES.

· When I panic over provision being tight.

· When I fear over what the future might bring.

· When I grow fatigued with ministry labor and no results.

· When I have anxiety about what I’m supposed to do next.

Do not all of those things indicate that I have failed to understand

Who Christ is, what His promises are, and that He is with me?

I want you to listen to what Peter will say later in his second epistle.

2 Peter 1:5-9 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”

Peter there describes basic Christian living and basic Christian attitudes.

How a believer should posses things like knowledge

And self-control and perseverance, etc.

But at the end of the list he says this:

“For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”

That is Peter’s way of saying that this brother isn’t seeing clearly.

His backward behavior

Is evidence of his limited sight.

THAT’S WHAT WE’RE SAYING ISN’T IT?

The disciples backward behavior and responses were evidence of their limited sight.

They needed to see Christ more clearly.

WELL THEN, OUR GOAL AND AIM

Is to not see Christ partly, but to see Him clearly.

It is the request of Paul that he might “know Him”.

· And Paul said he presses on for that.

Philippians 3:14 “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

So THIS MORNING, our goal and objective must be to see Jesus clearly.

In a practical sense that means to be committed to reading His word,

To gazing upon Him, to focusing on what He said.

To not be content with superficial understandings about Him,

But to press on to know Him more fully.

I want you to listen to what Paul told the Ephesians.

There was an extend to which the Ephesians also suffered from a poor vision of Christ.

This is actually why they struggled behaving differently from the world.

Ephesians 4:17-24 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Do you see their problem?

· They were walking too much like the Gentiles.

· They had forgotten what they had learned about Christ.

· They had forgotten what they were taught.

· They were not seeing clearly.

You remember then the beginning of the book

Where Paul does nothing more than systematically explain to them

What Christ has done for them.

And then comes his prayer:

Ephesians 1:18-19a “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

THAT IS THE PRAYER.

· That you would see Christ.

· That you would see who He is and ultimately what He has done.

· That you would see Christ and what He can do.

AND THIS MORNING, THAT IS OUR PRAYER.

That none of us would be content with a blurry theology.

That none of us would be content only seeing the outer form of Jesus.

But that each of us would determined to know Christ better,

More fully, more clearly, more deeply.

· That we would look intently.

· That our vision would be restored.

· That we would see everything clearly.