Sermon:
Improving your Focus

Mark 8:22-26 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.
23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, "Do you see anything?"
24 And he looked up and said, "I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around."
25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.
26 And He sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

Have you ever wondered why a pigeon walks so funny? According to an interesting article in the Detroit Free Press, a pigeon walks the way it does so it can see where it’s going. Because it can’t adjust its focus as it moves, the pigeon actually has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps in order to refocus. This is the way it walks: head forward, stop; head back, stop. Don’t laugh -- that’s how it goes!
In our spiritual walk with the Lord we have the same problem as the pigeon. We have a hard time seeing while we’re moving. We also need to stop between steps -- to refocus on where we are in relation to the World and the will of God. That’s not to say we have to stop and pray and meditate about every little decision in life. But certainly our walk with the Lord needs to have built into it a pattern of "stops," which enable us to see more clearly before moving on.

Today in our text we have man that is blind receiving his sight from Jesus. This particular miracle found exclusively in the book of Mark has some interesting elements. First of all there was personal contact. This is seen in the phrases “Jesus led him by the hand” and the other terms “laid hands on him.” Of course he also had the oddity as two other men before him to have his healing with the element of Jesus spitting involved. Though that factor is some what strange and possibly a test of faith to the recipients of these miracles. The second touch of Jesus is even more interesting. Jesus obviously does everything for a reason. Jesus also knew the man had not yet been completely healed. This is seen by him asking the man, “Do you see anything?”

And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

His reply tells us he knew what trees looked like so we know he has seen before in his life time. His blindness was not {congenital} present at birth.

This healing was unique in that it consisted of two stages. After the first healing acts, the man saw people indistinctly as moving objects, like trees walking. That is, he could distinguish them from trees only by their motion; before he had totally gone blind it may have been that he seen men as trees. Men had become shadows moving about to him. Now that he is gaining his sight back, as man rising out of deep water, he sees men in the same form.

Mark 8:25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

Sometimes we, like the blind man, need a second touch by Jesus in order to see things from his perspective. He looked at men and saw trees he looked at Jesus and saw clearly. He looked intently he used his effort to focus and was restored.
Many feel this story illustrates the relationship of Jesus to the Disciples: They saw little but were