Men Like Trees Walking

Last night I taught through one of my favorite chapters in the bible.

That sounds weird - a favorite chapter?

You better believe it, just act like you know… this is really cool.

See, the people who wrote books of the bible didn't fall into a trance and pull a "Stairway to Heaven" and mysteriously produce a bunch of stories.

Things are written in the order that they are, to make a point.

So Mark 8; One bread miracle, next to an account of an argument with religious jerks, next to an illustration about multiple forms of "yeast", next to a weird halfway-then-all-the-way-healing of blindness, next to a confession from Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, next to that Messiah referring to Peter as Satan because of his bad yeast.

This whole chapter shines light on God's provision and Jesus identity, the sin of legalism and how it misses that identity, how the disciples can be so blind as to miss the truth and meaning of Jesus identity, next to an illustrative healing of how receiving "sight" itself works, to Peter's correct "sighting", to Peter's blindness to the implications of his newfound sight… to Jesus correcting Peter sight (for a "second time") by telling him that the coming kingdom and following Him involves bearing a cross…