Who Do You Say I Am? (Mark 8:22-30)
Theologian, pastor, and writer Dr. Timothy Keller went to be with the Lord today after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
While I only met him once in person, there are few people I've spent more time with when I add up all the hours I've spent reading his books and articles as well as listening to his sermons and interviews. My early sermons at Grace were de facto impressions of Keller, and I can still feel myself slip in expressions and figures of speech that come from him when I'm speaking.
Like most pastors, Keller used some expressions often to remind us of what is most important. One of his go-to ones was, "If the resurrection is true, then everything’s going to be alright." On the day of Keller's earthly death, reflecting on our shared hope of resurrection brings me joy.
This week at Grace, we're going to be in Mark 8:22-30, the pivot point in the book of Mark. The whole book up to this point has been asking the question, "Who is Jesus?" Characters in Mark see parts of who he is, defer to him in some ways, but no one has fully "seen" Jesus yet.
So, when this passage starts with Jesus restoring sight to a blind man in two parts, a parable about seeing but not seeing, we're meant to understand that this miracle is about more than just one man's physical sight. It's about whether anyone will accurately see who Jesus is. That's why the next paragraph is so important: Peter's great confession of faith, "You are the Christ." Yet even that confession is followed by Peter's failure to accept Jesus' path to the cross.
Without the resurrection, the idea of a suffering servant wouldn't make yet. But if Jesus could really rise from the dead, then everything would be alright.
This is our hope.
In Christ,
Pastor Bob
PS. I've written a brief article here with links to some of Keller's materials that you might find helpful.
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.
- Mark 8:22-30