Humanity is afflicted with a real spiritual condition: blindness. 
We are all spiritually blind unless God intervenes through Jesus Christ, opening our eyes.
Jesus’ describes the symptoms in Mark 8:17-21:
- Difficulty perceiving or understanding spiritual things
- Hard heartedness
- Unseeing eyes
- Unhearing ears
- Poor memory
Discussion Starters
- Read Mark 8:14-30 together.
- Thinking specifically about verses 14-21, how would you describe the disciples’ problem? Have you seen evidence of this problem in the disciples or anyone else in Mark 1-8? Can you remember any other Biblical passages that talk about this problem?
- Read verses 29 and 30 again. Why does Jesus charge them to tell no one about him? Do you recall Jesus charging others not to tell about him in Mark 1-8? Are there any people that Jesus allows to tell others about him? What’s going on here?
- Looking at the entire passage, what do you learn about God as you observe Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, the “radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3)?
- If this passage were to have its full effect in our lives, what would it look like? In other words, what would it look like to live perfectly in light of this section of God’s word? What would need to change in our lives? In our church?
- Since we’re called to “live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6), what do you observe about Jesus in this passage and how can we grow to be more like him?
- What is your biggest takeaway from this passage? How will it effect your life?
- Pray over these things together.
