Seeing Clearly: The King and the Suffering Servant

Mark’s Gospel moves fast. “Immediately” keeps showing up as Jesus casts out spirits, heals sickness, stills the sea, raises the dead, and opens ears. Jesus speaks, and things happen. The power is right there on the page.

The healing at Bethsaida does not follow that script. Jesus takes a blind man out of the village, puts saliva on his eyes, lays hands on him, and asks, “Can you see anything?” The man can see, but not clearly. People look like trees walking around. Jesus lays hands on him again, and then the man sees everything clearly.

The double touch miracle sits at a turning point in Mark. The disciples have just failed to understand Jesus’ warning about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. Jesus asks them, “Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear?” The blind man’s partial sight pictures the disciples’ partial sight.

Peter gives the right answer at Caesarea Philippi: “You are the Messiah.” Peter sees that Jesus is the king, the anointed one. But Peter does not yet see what kind of king Jesus is. When Jesus says that the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise again, Peter rebukes him. Peter has received the first touch, but he still needs the second.

Mark brings king and suffering servant together. The mighty Jesus who commands storms and heals bodies is also the Christ who goes to the cross. The resurrection gives the disciples that second touch, because only after Jesus rises can Messiah be understood fully. Jesus is not merely the powerful king, and he is not merely the suffering servant. He is both, all the time.

The temptation is to split Jesus up depending on the need of the moment. The king seems easier to worship when healing, rescue, power, and victory are needed. The suffering servant seems easier to remember when forgiveness and the cross are in view. But worship brings all of who a person is into relationship with all of who God is, to give him glory.

Paul calls Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection “of first importance.” Peter later says that Christ died, “the just for the unjust,” in order to bring sinners to God. The king died. The suffering servant reigns. A clear confession of Jesus holds those truths together and refuses a partial picture.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. The disciples needed the second touch. Mark places the blind man’s healing beside the disciples’ failure to understand because their problem is not lack of information alone. They can see Jesus’ power, but they cannot yet see the cross as the path of the Messiah. The resurrection opens what partial sight could not. [29:16]
• 2. Messiah means king, not mere helper. Peter’s confession is not a vague religious compliment. “Messiah” means the anointed king, the one expected to receive God’s authority and rule. Peter’s trouble is that he expects a king of triumph without a king who suffers. [33:41]
• 3. The king is the suffering servant. Jesus cannot be divided into whichever version feels most useful in a given moment. The powerful king who can heal and rescue is the same one who was shamed, wounded, and killed for sinners. Worship becomes distorted when either truth is separated from the other. [38:55]
• 4. Christ died to bring sinners to God. Peter’s gospel summary does not reduce salvation to comfort, prosperity, repaired circumstances, or even heaven by itself. Christ, the just one, died for the unjust in order to bring them to God. Reconciliation with God is the center of what the cross accomplishes. [44:42]
• 5. Worship all of who God is. Worship must bring more than the happy and polished parts of a person before God. Worship must also honor more than a preferred image of Jesus. The king of the universe and the crucified servant belong together in prayer, song, and daily faith.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [16:53] - The Hallmark Movie Script
• [20:29] - Mark’s Gospel Moves Immediately
• [23:44] - The Deaf Man Is Healed
• [24:55] - The Blind Man Receives Two Touches
• [28:06] - Partial Sight and the Disciples
• [31:11] - Peter Confesses Jesus as Messiah
• [34:40] - The Resurrection Brings Clear Sight
• [36:09] - King and Suffering Servant
• [40:12] - Worshiping All of Who God Is
• [44:20] - Christ Died to Bring Sinners to God
• [46:42] - A Prayer for King and Servant

Bible Reading

Mark 8:22-26
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 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?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.” [24:55]

Mark 8:27-33
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?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 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. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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.” [31:11]

1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, [44:42]

1 Corinthians 15:3-4
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, [37:17]

Observation questions

1. What does Jesus do differently in the healing of the blind man compared with the quick and immediate healings throughout much of Mark’s Gospel? [25:23]
2. What can the blind man see after Jesus’ first touch, and what changes after the second touch?
3. What does Peter correctly confess about Jesus, and what part of Jesus’ mission does Peter strongly reject? [31:48]
4. According to 1 Peter 3:18, who died, for whom did he die, and what was the purpose of his death? [45:02]

Interpretation questions

1. Why might Mark place the story of the blind man receiving partial sight just before Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ?
2. Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, or King, but rejects the idea that the Messiah must suffer. What kind of Messiah was Peter expecting, and why would Jesus’ words about suffering have been so difficult for him to accept? [33:41]
3. How do Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection help believers see more clearly who Jesus is—not only as a powerful King, but also as the suffering servant? [35:17]
4. First Peter says Christ died “that he might bring us to God.” How does this purpose give a fuller picture of salvation than simply escaping trouble, gaining comfort, or going to heaven? [45:09]

Application questions

1. When life feels broken—a health concern, conflict in a relationship, pressure at work, or fear about the future—is there a tendency to come mainly to Jesus for his power to fix the situation? How could remembering that the powerful King is also the suffering servant change that prayer? [38:05]
2. Is there a part of Jesus’ identity that feels easier to worship: his power, authority, and victory, or his suffering, humility, and sacrifice? What might reveal that preference in daily prayers, songs, or expectations of God? [36:16]
3. The blind man needed a second touch before he could see clearly. In what area might there still be partial sight about Jesus, suffering, the cross, or what faithful discipleship looks like?
4. Christ, the righteous one, died for the unrighteous in order to bring sinners to God. How could this truth shape the way a believer speaks about the gospel to a friend, neighbor, or family member? [44:42]
5. What would it look like this week to worship Jesus as both King and suffering servant in one specific prayer? Consider using words such as, “King of the universe, who died for my sins, the just for the unjust, to bring me to God.” [47:11]
6. Worship brings all of who a person is into relationship with all of who God is. What honest emotion—joy, grief, anger, fear, gratitude, or confusion—needs to be brought before Jesus this week rather than hidden from him? [40:45]
7. What is one concrete practice that could help keep Jesus’ kingship and his suffering together: reading “Christ” as “King,” praying Scripture, singing, serving someone in need, or sharing the gospel? Who could provide a gentle check-in about that practice next week? [47:33]