Gospel – Mark 7-8

The life of Jesus is never boring.  Check it out today…

Bible Passage:  Mark 7-8

Today we will read about problems with 3 of the human sensing instruments – the eyes, ears and mouth. Did you notice them?  We also see from the passages two layers of sight, and we must beware the leaven of the Pharisees!

Its funny how Jesus has performed the miracle of feeding 5000, and subsequently the feeding of 4000, and the disciples can still worry that their master blame them for not bringing bread. But every time I thought about the disciples or Israelites in the Bible looking stupid, I ask myself if I ever behave like them.

At the beginning of chapter 7, Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, faulting His disciples for not washing their hands according to their tradition, performed in a certain manner. It reminds me of the posters we see at hospitals the steps to wash our hands ever since the days of SARS! Haha. Who really follow those steps? Not that they are no good, but as long as we put in reasonable effort to get our hands cleaned, we do not really need to follow the step-by-step instructions.

The Pharisees were obviously using another set of eyes to look at people. They put on the eyes of policemen, to catch those who transgress the law with their actions.

Later the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign, testing Him. Of course since it is not for repentance or glorifying God, Jesus told them off that no sign will be given to such a generation that seeks signs. The Pharisees here use yet another set of eyes to test Jesus, wanting proof by sight rather than comparing the witness of Christ against their scriptures.

Then there was the blind man at Bethsaida whom Jesus healed by touching his eyes twice. When you first read it did you think that Jesus did not do a successful healing at first? How could that be? So it is the purpose of Jesus to show the man the true state of men – walking trees! I believe with this two steps of sight given, the man will live a true man with sight, and not like those who have eyes but do not see.

What about us today? Do we see with our eyes or with our hearts? Do we look at the acts of godliness or do we look at the hearts of men to see if they are godly? Do we look at the colorful and beautiful world or do we notice the sins and the corrupt minds of man?

As we read to the end of chapter 8, we know that Jesus begins to prepare His disciples for His impending betrayal and sacrifice.

The last part of chapter 8 Jesus taught His disciples the value of life.

“Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

verse 35

Isn’t it a paradox? You see your life at the edge and in front of you seems very clear that if you were to choose A, you will save your life and B, you will lose it. Yet what you see will save you might kill you, and what you see might kill you turns out to save you. This is the spiritual eyesight that we need to gain in order to save our own lives. For what is before us is not actually real. The real world can only be felt and seen with our hearts.

I thought I would share some optical illusion images to emphasize the point. Sometimes it takes longer than a glance to know what is actually there.

Hollow column? It’s actually a camera angle thingy… it is something laid on top of the column. Not paint.

Try another one…

Old man and old woman vs man with guitar.  You decide 🙂