We sometimes experience involuntary blindness. Something might be sitting right in front of us, and yet we don’t see it; like, “where are my keys?” or “I can’t find my cell phone” or “where’s the salt and pepper?” They are right in front of us!But sometimes our blindness is a lack of paying attention, or we may simply ignore something, and other times it is an on-purpose ignorance. For instance, consider some of the signs we are prone to ignore: “Keep off the grass,” “No swimming,” and especially speed limit signs.Jesus deals with the problem of spiritual blindness. Sadly, those who were experiencing the blindness toward Jesus and His mission weren’t just the crowds or the Pharisees, but also included the apostles as well.In Mark 8:1-10, we read of the feeding of the 5,000. They had no provisions to feed the hungry crowd, but found five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus blessed this meager supply and it fed the whole crowd! Later He performed a similar miracle with 4,000 people.First of all, keep in mind that Jesus often performed miracles in the context of human need and prompted by His compassion, but His reason was to point them to who He really was—the Messiah. As disciples of Jesus, our goal should be to follow His example expressing the same kind of compassion and kindness.In the second feeding of the 4,000 the disciples asked, “Who can provide food for this crowd?” Now they should have known from the earlier miracle of feeding the 5,000. Their ignorance was probably a lack of paying attention. Now maybe we shouldn’t be too hard on them. How many times has God provided for us in the past and yet we still have trouble trusting Him in the present?Following the feeding of the 5,000 Marks reports that the Pharisees came demanding a “sign.” Now Jesus had just given a tremendous miracle, and think of all the many miracles that He had already done. Their purpose was not to believe but to test Him and trip Him up so they would have more evidence to condemn Him. Their blindness was willful.Unfortunately, today our desire for signs displays a lack of faith. In fact, our demands for some “physical” proof removes the necessity for faith. We are walking by sight and not by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). In John 4:48, Jesus rebuked those who would only ...
