Discovering Discipleship Through the Lens of Blindness in the Gospel of Mark
How 2 blind people helped me see discipleship with fresh eyes
Have you ever considered how modern Bible formatting might obscure some of its important lessons?
The addition of chapters, verses, and headings has made the text easier to navigate but often at the cost of hiding the literary structures crafted by its authors. This realisation led me on a journey to rediscover important discipleship patterns in the Gospel of Mark.
To Reverse the Curse of Chapter and Verse (and Headings) I started:
reading and rereading books of the bible in big chunks, and
forcing myself to read through Chapter breaks and Headings until it became second nature
Two Miracles of Sight in Mark: A Deeper Look
When I applied this method to the Gospel of Mark, I noticed there are only two recorded healings of blind people:
Mark 8:22-26
Mark 10:46-52
I also noticed that the first healing is placed immediately after the disciples demonstrate their own spiritual blindness in Mark 8:14-21.
Connecting Physical and Spiritual Blindness
In the first 8 chapters of Mark, Jesus had done remarkable things that pointed to who he was. This culminated in the feeding of the 4000. Yet despite all of the obvious signs, Pharisees asked him for a sign!!!
When Jesus warns about the "yeast" of the Pharisees, the disciples misunderstand, thinking He's talking about literal bread. So he asked a series of probing questions:
“Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”“Twelve,” they replied. 20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.”21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:17-21)
The unwritten answer is clear - they were spiritually blind.
What they needed is reflected in the details of the two physical healings:
The first healing is unique; it's the only two-stage healing by Jesus (Mark 8:22-26). This mirrors the disciples' having a partial understanding and needing further insight to truly follow Him.
Contrast in Spiritual Insight:
There is no record of the first blind man acknowledging Jesus’ identity or following him after Jesus sent him away. But in the second healing, Bartimaeus, calls Jesus "Son of David" before being healed and follows Him immediately after Jesus told him to go (Mark 10:46-52).
This mirrors the content of Mark 8:27-10:45 which explores Jesus identity and what it means to follow him.
A Discipleship Manual
Mark 8:22-10:52 can be seen as a Discipleship Manual dealing with spiritual blindness. It explores:
Theology: Christology and Crucifixion
Character: Greatness and Servanthood
Competence: Casting out demons, the nature of ministry
Narrative Frameworks for Money, Sex, and Power
However, this section doesn't just contain content, there is also a vital process:
Planned and Unplanned Small Group Meetings: Almost every episode in this section is either a planned small group meeting or an event followed by an impromptu small group meeting. The only exception is when Jesus blesses the little children in Mark 10:13-16 and he deals with the disciples actions on the spot.
Running both types of meetings was core to Jesus' method of discipleship. By closely reading this manual, we can uncover processes Jesus used within those meetings. And they can help us run Jesus Shaped Small Groups today.
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