8:24 - The man looked up and said, "I can see people. They look like trees - only they are walking about."
8:25-26 - Then Jesus put his hands on his eyes once more and his sight came into focus. And he recovered and saw everything sharp and clear. And Jesus sent him off to his own house with the words, "Don't even go into the village."
8:27 - Jesus then went away with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who are men saying that I am?"
8:28 - "John the Baptist," they answered. "But others say that you are Elijah or, some say, one of the prophets."
8:29 - Then he asked them, "But what about you - who do you say that I am?" "You are Christ!" answered Peter.
8:30 - Then Jesus impressed it upon them that they must not mention this to anyone.
8:31-33 - And he began to teach them that it was inevitable that the Son of Man should go through much suffering and be utterly repudiated by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He told them all this quite bluntly. This made Peter draw him on one side and take him to task about what he had said. But Jesus turned and faced his disciples and rebuked Peter. "Out of my way, Satan!" he said. "Peter, you are not looking at things from God's point of view, but from man's!"
8:34-38 - Then he called his disciples and the people around him, and said to them, "If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, take up his cross and follow me. The man who tries to save his life will lose it; it is the man who loses his life for my sake and the Gospel's who will save it. What good can it do a man to gain the whole world at the price of his own soul? What can a man offer to buy back his soul once he has lost it? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the Father's glory with the holy angels around him."
2 comments:
As Friends may have noticed, I tend to read the gospels as narrative rather than as history. Jesus may very well have healed a man in this manner -- it seems a traditional folk healing kind of approach.
But what interests me far more than issues of whether miracle stories are historically accurate or not (for me a dead end trap whichever position I take on it) -- but where the story takes me.
Immediately following are stories of Jesus interrogating his disciples regarding how they and others view him -- a different kind of seeing. And then -- then a call to discipleship right to the point of death by persecution.
In effect -- we learn to see when Christ clears our eyes and touches us with his hands. The closer we are to Jesus the better we see. And on seeing, we hear a call to discipleship. And when we resist this call to discipleship we risk losing our sight.
Personally -- I spend time in prayer seeking guidance. But that's not the process is it? The Quaker insight (don't know which Quake said it first) -- is be faithful in what has been revealed and more Light will be given.
Obedience then understanding. Not the other way round.
I like that post, David; as Quakers are given to say, 'the Friend speaks my mind'.
Men as trees walking. We see through a glass darkly. How imperfect, shallow our vision is. We see only what attracts us, and we miss everything else.
God has a work on us that will last our entire lifetime, and we see only how far we've come, not how far yet remains.
But you're right: when we act on what we see, we see more, perhaps just the next step.
Post a Comment