Sun Kwak, “Seeing Silhouettes”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYosFHBL5gc

TEXT: Mark 8:22-33

[22] And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. [23] And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” [24] And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” [25] Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. [26] And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

[27] And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” [28] And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” [29] And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” [30] And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

[31] And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32] And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33] But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

SERMON: “Seeing Silhouettes”

So, I don’t know how many of you have been to Disneyland before. But if you’ve been over our home, you may have seen these on the wall. We have these side silhouettes of our kids. And they used to be done on Main Street right when you enter the park— not sure if it’s still a thing. We haven’t been back for about four years. Well, we have them for all four of our kids. And these side profiles and silhouettes hang on the wall of our living room. And regardless of what age these silhouettes were done, it’s clear who is who. Here’s what one photographer said about the intentionality of silhouettes. He writes that less is more. And that the power of photography is when you’re able to tell a story, capture a moment, evoke an emotion. And sometimes, with silhouettes, the simplicity of it allows for one to focus on the simple details that are intended to be seen. And in today’s passage, that’s what we’re intended to see. That when we as observers of the gospel see the story at its purest, we’re intended to see what Peter proclaims in the central statement of the entire Gospel of Mark — You are the Christ.

And for us who read this story in retrospect, when we read the words You are the Christ, we automatically associate it to the cross, to sacrifice. But for those contemporary to when this was stated and before, the Christ was the Messiah, the Anointed One, the king who was to reign and bring glory back to God’s people. And as we just heard, the center of the Gospel is right here, with the proclamation of Peter — that Jesus is the Christ. And when you look at the end of the previous passage, in verse 21, it ends with a question. Almost like a cliffhanger. And it’s to show something — because Jesus has accused these Pharisees of their blindness. And the cure to this blindness is something that’s done in story form and in doctrine form. And it has everything to do with how the plot thickens with the turn from Act 1 to Act 2 here in this Gospel. Where in Act 1, we ask the question — Who is Jesus? And in Act 2, we start getting the answer to this — that, once again, he is the Christ. And this means not that he’s coming to reign militarily or politically. But as the Christ, he is to die on the cross for the sins of his people. And to make it clear what this means, we’re presented with this story of a gospel silhouette.

There’s this TV series that’s now reached its conclusion — all of five seasons — which many of you are familiar with — Stranger Things. And from the first minute of the first episode, I was all in. There’s a lot that’s in the TV show, and like any good story, it involves the necessarily contributions of many character. But if there was one character’s powers and contributions that rise above the rest, it’s the character Eleven. She’s initially shown to be out of this psychiatric ward. But she’s called Eleven, because that’s what she’s been renamed in this lab, where they train those with telekinesis and superpowers of being able to do things with their minds. And for Eleven, she can move things with her mind. And her trademark move is this extension of the hand with a slight nosebleed. Her friends see her do this against this formidable foe in season 1, the Demogorgan. And so, whenever there’s a force that’s considerably stronger than what’s containable by natural human power, they look to her. In season 3, she loses that power for a bit. And you see her doing that arm extension toward an empty Coke can. And she can’t move it. Mind you, she’s lifted vehicles, she’s shut doors. This Cokecan is nothing. But it just represents that she’s lost it. And panic kind of starts settling in when she can’t seem to recover her powers when the plot starts to thicken and the opposing force starts getting nearer and stronger.

And when you look at the context of our story here in Mark’s Gospel, these opposing forces are gathering, getting stronger, and getting more assertive and aggressive. These Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and Herodians — these religious and political leaders — are starting to team up to scheme how they might put an end to this Jesus story. And here, as Jesus returns home while being abroad for some time, he has these Pharisees seemingly waiting for him. And the wording in the Greek here in verse 11 is not just that the Pharisees came to Jesus but rather came out to him. And as James Edwards notes in his commentary, this suggests a military rank that comes out in order to engage in battle. And as the plot thickens here, we see a miracle that’s a bit of a head scratcher. It’s almost like he’s lost his powers. And the timing couldn’t be worse — as opposing forces are starting to press on Jesus and his disciples.

And I wonder what the disciples must have thought. Because on one hand, he doesn’t heal at once. But it takes two efforts, it seems like, to heal this blind man. Where he gets partial sight, and then, he gets full restoration of his sight. But not just that. Look at what’s asked of him by these friends who bring this blind man to Jesus in verse 22 — [They] brought to him [this] blind man and begged [Jesus] to touch him. Presumably because they’ve heard stories like the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. That just by touching his cloak, she was instantly healed of a condition physicians from every corner weren’t able to heal. But what do we read in the very following verse here in verse 23? And took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him. There’s a lot of touching going on here. And when initially taking him by his hands, they don’t see anything happening. And I wonder if there were questions about what was happening to Jesus’ powers. At the very least, there had to have been questions about why he wasn’t able to make him well the way he had made countless others well just by the power of his speech, just by a touch, just by the will of his heart. But things seem like they’re going a little sideways now. First, he had to put his finger into the ear of the deaf man. And now, he’s having to spit on the eyes of this blind man.

Now, in his sermon on this passage, Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that Jesus dealt with this blind man in the way he did, not because he was fatigued or losing his powers or needing to change methods. But it was actually a lesson for those who were leaning into the story. It was a deliberate showing of the blindness and the progressive sight of the disciples. That they were beginning to see, but their sight was happening in stages and in increments. They were able to see vaguely but they weren’t able to see clearly the full picture at this point. And so, Jesus provides this gospel silhouette to simplify and show his disciples why he had come as the Messiah. In the words of Tim Keller, here is the only one in human history who has ever chosen to die for another. And you might look at sacrificial acts and argue that that’s not true. And not to diminish this, but as Keller hypothetically responds that these, while valorous, were merely choosing an earlier timing for their death. Everyone was going to die. But there was one who didn’t have to but chose death. And why? Because he’s the Christ.

Early on in our relationship, Judy and I walked a lot. We did laps together around this park. And these were moments that were exciting and awkward but very necessary early on in our relationship. It gave us the mobility of trust. Before I learned to take her hand, to sit with her, and to lock eyes with her, I learned to walk with her. And here, when Jesus takes this man on a walk, he’s teaching him to trust. You consider here, he’s placed his trust in his friends, who had brought him to Jesus. They can see Jesus, but this blind man can’t. And so, it’s their faith that leads him to Jesus. And before he can trust in who he can see, he has to trust in who he hears and what he hears. He has to start by trusting in his Word and his voice. And there is this necessary transfer of trust, as he goes from taking his friends’ hands to Jesus’ hands in order to go on this walk with him, one that I presume wasn’t a silent walk out of the village. As Augustine writes in his Confessions: “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. This is what love looks like.” And here, as this man walks with Jesus, his heart gets to see what his eyes eventually will. For by his hands, his feet, his words, Jesus has formed the vision of love in the heart of this blind man.

And here’s where things get interesting. They get out of the village, and we read in verse 23 that Jesus spit on his eyesand then laid hands on him. It’s a bit gross, but this was what was seen as common medical practice in those days — putting human saliva on wounds. Not completely unlike how moms treat breastmilk. I don’t know if you’ve heard or done that. Where if there’s anything wrong with the baby, you’re just told — Put some breastmilk on it. But this is something that maybe was a common and repeat experience for this blind man. He’s most likely had people spit on his eyes before to no avail. So, what would make this time any different? What do we read? Jesus asks him afterwards — Do you see anything? And the man responds — I see people, but they look like trees, walking. And Tolkien fans will call this vision as this man seeing Ents, these walking and talking trees. But that’s not what this is. He’s seeing something that he’s recognized before. Because he’s had to have, at one point, had his vision in order to know what a tree looks like and what walking looks like. He’d lost it, but now he’s starting to see. And he’s recognizing that he’s getting healed. So, he knows that there’s power in this saliva. There’s something different about Jesus’ touch. And so, Jesus touches him again. And what happens? His sight is completely restored. And just a brief moment of application. Like this man, our healing often occurs in stages and in layers. For us who are deeply wounded and have a history of hurt, sometimes, it takes multiple visits, multiple touches. For us who have become so blinded by our own sins, for us who are disillusioned by our religiosity, Jesus takes his saliva off of his lips to put them on what’s rent and bent out of shape. His life-giving Word that touches upon the deepest of our infirmities, for our healing and to his glory.

And here’s how I want to begin closing our time. For spiritual blindness to be healed, it starts with vulnerability and an admitting to the brokenness within, to the blindness and helplessness of our hearts. Just as this man needed to transfer his trust, we not only need the acknowledgement but the experience and willingness to let go of what’s familiar to grasp onto the voice that calls out to us, to be pulled in by his kindness, for our healing and our restoration. I remember when I first started hearing the voice of Jesus through his Scriptures. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I knew something was tugging at my heart and something was calling me out — to put my heart and my faith in another’s hands. It was scary, it happened in stages, but I distinctly remember feeling a tug. And I pray that that tug is here for some of us today. We don’t have to get it all right away, we don’t have to see everything clearly from the very beginning. But maybe you’re being called to a walk with Jesus. So that he might, in his timing, give you true sight in your heart.

Now, every detail in the Scriptures is vital. And something that this man sees, I believe, is not only telling of how to understand what Peter confesses in verse 30 — that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, come to die for our sins. For what he saw was a glimpse of his salvation story and ours. For where did Jesus take him? Outside the village. For here is a man taken outside the village and spit on with hands laid on him. And wouldn’t we know another who would be taken outside the camp to be spit on and to have hands laid on him? For Jesus was brought into the darkness in order that this man would be able to see the light. For in the first healing, what does this man say that he sees? He says he sees people but that they look like trees. With partial vision, seeing the silhouettes of people and trees. And isn’t that what we see? The silhouette of a man on a tree? That in order to see clearly, to truly have his sight restored, he had to have seen the man hung upon the tree. For we can never disassociate the two when we come to acknowledge the Christ, the Messiah— his humanity and his tree. And for Peter and the others and for us, even when they couldn’t, we couldn’t see early, clearer revelation would come in stages. But for us to truly understand the Story of God and his love for his people, we need to see the tree, the cursed tree, the cross of Christ. As the apostle Paul writes — Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’ For all of our questions about Christianity, the place we need to go to start seeing is this gospel silhouette — of the king on the tree, the cross. And from there, we start getting the answers to life’s questions, as we start asking — Why would he die for me? Why would give up his rights, his life? Friends, here is the very lifeblood of the church. Of those who were once blind but now see, asking with one another — Amazing Love, how can it be? That thou my God should die for me?