As this lesson begins, with Mark 10:32-34, Jesus was headed for Jerusalem and the suffering and death that He has predicted clearly twice before, and indirectly, even more times. Yet He was walking ahead of the disciples, leading the way. The disciples were both amazed and afraid - amazed at His courage and afraid of what might really happen, though they still did not understand it all. Jesus then took them aside again and for the third time clearly told them what would happen to Him very soon....
As this lesson begins, with Mark 10:32-34, Jesus was headed for Jerusalem and the suffering and death that He has predicted clearly twice before, and indirectly, even more times. Yet He was walking ahead of the disciples, leading the way. The disciples were both amazed and afraid - amazed at His courage and afraid of what might really happen, though they still did not understand it all. Jesus then took them aside again and for the third time clearly told them what would happen to Him very soon. This time, He added that the religious leaders would both condemn Him to die and “deliver Him over to the Gentiles,” who would also treat him terribly and kill Him. The Gentiles (non-Jews) who were ruling in the land were the Romans. The Romans were not allowed to put a Roman citizen to death by crucifixion, but they often executed others by crucifixion, as a very public way of warning people not to oppose Roman authority. Though He did not use the word, Jesus was warning His disciples that death, even by crucifixion, was coming for Him. And He also added, as before, the prediction of His resurrection.
The disciples still did not get what Jesus was telling them, though. They were not thinking about Jesus and the terrible trouble coming, but about themselves and their own wishes and desires, as the verses which follow indicate. They should have been praying for Jesus and for strength for Him, but they were not. James and John approached Jesus with a question (and other Gospels indicate that their mother was involved in this, too, in speaking with Him). They said, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” They wanted what they wanted, even before telling Jesus their request. They wanted the best spots, right next to Jesus, in His coming glory. These would be the spots of highest honor for themselves. Jesus was talking about suffering and the cross, and they were wanting personal glory for themselves (Mark 10:35-37).
This is almost the same situation that Jesus had already dealt with in Mark 9:33-37, when the disciples were arguing about which of them was “the greatest.” Read those verses again and the words of Jesus that those “first” in God’s kingdom are to be “last of all and servants of all,” even willing to serve little children. Jesus almost repeated these same words in Mark 10:42-44, as He taught again the contrast between greatness in this world (“lording it over” others and “exercising authority over” them) and greatness in God’s kingdom (“serving” others and being “first” by being a “slave of all”).
This “serving” could also mean suffering and sacrifice for the disciples, if they were to stay close to Jesus and follow in His steps. James and John did not understand this at this point. Jesus spoke of this in Mark 10:38-39. He described “the cup “He was soon going to “have to drink." This is an Old Testament picture image of the cup of God’s wrath that people deserved to and would have to drink because of their continual sin and rebellion against God. (See passages like Psalm 75:7-8 and Isaiah 51:17. Note that God could also take away the cup of wrath, in His mercy, in Isaiah 51:22). Jesus would soon have to drink that “cup” of suffering for His disciples and for us and the whole world, in what he would suffer on the cross in our place, as the punishment we deserved for our sins (Matthew 26:38-39).
Jesus used another picture image of that suffering. too, “as a baptism with which He would be baptized” (Mark 10:38). This is not the baptism with water and the Spirit, with which we are baptized to bring us forgiveness and new life as Christians (John 3:3-6 and Acts 2:38-39). This was a baptism of suffering in payment for our sins, as described in Luke 12:50. Jesus predicted that James and John would also eventually go through some suffering in this life, as disciples who followed Jesus (Mark 10:39). (See what happened to James in Acts 12:1-2 and to John in exile for his faith in Jesus in Revelation 1:9.)
When the other disciples heard what James and John had asked for, they were angry and jealous, too, as if they all thought they deserved the best spots, close to Jesus, instead of James and John (Mark 10:41). Jesus had to teach them all again about being “first” in service, as we have already heard (Mark 10:42-44). (Remember that Jesus had already been preparing all the disciples for times of suffering and trouble, as His followers. Look again at Mark 8:34-35 and Mark 10:29-30, where there will be many blessings, but also “persecutions” for Christians. See also John 12:23-26 and Romans 8:16-17.)
All of this also takes us back to the statement of Jesus in Mark 10:31, which has not yet been discussed: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Jesus used words like this in other contexts, too. See Matthew 20:16 and Luke 13:30, for example.
The basic point is that in the Kingdom of God what is most important is trust in God and His Word and promises, centered in Jesus our Savior, and seeking to follow Him in faith. What won’t matter, on the last day, is how much wealth and power and honor we have had in the eyes of this world and culture or our nationality or so many other things that seem so important, right now. Many who seem so “high and mighty and first” in this world may not turn out to be so in God’s eyes.
Last week we heard of the dangers of wealth, for example, because it is so easy to put our trust in ourselves and what we have and do, instead of in our Lord. On the other hand, the Scriptures do say that people who are wealthy can keep the right perspective, as they are led by the Lord and His will. See, for example, 1 Timothy 6:17-19.
In the Mark 10 context, Jesus also seemed to be warning Peter and the other disciples (and us) not to focus on our own Christian piety and what we have done for the Lord, looking for rewards for that. Remember Peter’s comment about what he and others had given up for Jesus (Mark 10:28), with the implication that that ought to have earned special favor with God - and all their arguments about who was the “greatest” in God’s kingdom. Jesus had also just said that it is impossible for any of us to be saved by our own efforts and that it is only through God and His mercy and grace that we can be saved (Mark 10:26-27). Jesus taught, on another occasion, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:10). We can never do enough to earn our way with God. We all fall short and are still unworthy sinners, if trusting in ourselves (Romans 3:19-24).
This all brings us to the final words of Jesus in Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” When Jesus died on the cross, He looked, in the eyes of most around Him, to be “last” - a common criminal being executed by the legal authority of the powerful Roman and Jewish authorities of that day. He died with little or nothing that counted as important in the world. Yet He was serving us all and paying the “ransom” price for us and our sins. We were captive to sin and evil, left on our own, never worthy enough; but Jesus paid the price to set us free and give us new life.
The day He died, Jesus looked like a “loser." Yet He was actually the Savior of the world in His death and as He rose in victory from the dead on the third day. We are counted “worthy” through Jesus only. That is what we will be seeing, in the final chapters of the Gospel of Mark.
The final verses of Mark 10 tell the story of a blind beggar whom Jesus healed, as He drew closer to Jerusalem (Mark 10:46-52). We have heard of the spiritual blindness of so many, including the disciples of Jesus themselves, on some issues. It is a reminder of our own spiritual “blindness” at times, and how much there is still to learn from our Lord and His Word. In contrast, the blind beggar called Jesus “the Son of David," the promised Savior, as He actually was, and kept asking just for His mercy. When he was healed by Jesus and could see, he showed his trust in Jesus by “following Him” right away “on the way.” He was one of the “least important” people among the crowds, who just tried to shut him up. But he was important to Jesus and received His mercy and new life and the gift of faith.
We will talk about this story a bit more next week and then move on to the last week of Jesus life, beginning in Mark 11. Notice how almost a third of the Gospel of Mark focuses just on these last days of Jesus, in and around Jerusalem. It is His work of “ransoming” us and the world.
