In the Old Testament, the prophets rebuked God’s people for their spiritual dullness. And when they did this, they often described the people’s problems in terms of the senses. The people had eye and ears, but they weren’t truly seeing and hearing. Obviously God was not speaking in a physical sense. He was speaking in a spiritual one. The people were spiritually blind and deaf. They were dull to understanding the spiritual truths of God. In our passage for today we see that the disciples fall into this same category. In verse 18, Jesus rebukes the disciples concerning the same thing – having eyes but not seeing, having ears but not hearing. The disciples show that they are typical Israelites, and typical humans – spiritually blind and deaf; hard hearts; unable to understand the things of God. That is the state of all of us without Christ. And yet the good news is that this passage shows how Jesus is the solution for our spiritual blindness and deafness. As truly as he brought sight to the blind man in our passage and hearing to the deaf man, he can bring true vision, true hearing, and true understanding to our spirits. So let’s dig into this passage and see God’s message for us today.
Passage: Mark 7:31-8:30
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/20/2008 in Novato, CA.
Click here for the manuscript.
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