Spiritual Blindness

Mark 8:11-26

Losing my vision would be a terrible handicap. Mark 8:11-26 explains how tragic spiritual blindness was for the disciples when Jesus was trying to make his disciples understand that he was the Son of God and comprehend his purpose for mankind. Jesus had performed many miracles during his life. Two mentioned in this scripture were the fact that five loaves of bread fed 4,000 people and that Jesus restored sight to a blind man. The healing of the blind man served as an illustration of what Jesus must do to heal the spiritual blindness of the disciples. Jesus sighed and groaned deeply when he was asked to perform more miracles. He asked the disciples “are you blind?”

The disciples lacked the faith Jesus was requiring them to have in his teaching. He asked the disciples two times “do you not understand?” They worried about having enough bread to feed the people and their spiritual blindness made them unable to see that the creator of all bread was in their midst.

Jesus rebuked the disciples for their hard hearts. He wanted them to open and soften their hearts to others who were different from them. Their spiritual blindness and deafness was not removed in a single instant. Our own spiritual blindness causes us to have disbelief and doubt about what Jesus is calling us to do in our personal walk of faith. We are living in a changing world where our faith is being tested and challenged constantly by unbelievers. The scriptures in the Bible are proof of God’s word. He has shown us repeatedly what we need to be doing if we are “doers of the word and not hearers only.” The words of one hymn tell us to “open your eyes so you may see, open your ears that you may hear.” Are your eyes, ears and heart open to God?

Written by Becky Hill