Mark 10:32-45

Christ’s Glasses

Introduction
As you may remember from last week from marks gospel we looked at a couple of scenes from Mark 10, where Jesus continues to explain to his disciples what discipleship will mean for them. Jesus try to explain to them what it means to follow him and he explains it through engaging a cast of characters who come to him and ask him questions.

So in the first scene last week, Jesus was talking with the rich young ruler, the one who was unprepared to give up his idol of money in order worship and serve the true and living God. Then in the second scene we saw Jesus interact with the disciples, and in particular Peter who said that he has left everything to follow Jesus. But now he like the rest is going to find out just how deep the rabbit hole will go for them in following Jesus.


Now again our versus today break into two scenes. The first scene sees Jesus announce a teaching and prophetic monologue in front of all his disciples, and the second scene seems to split into two parts. In The first part, Jesus talking to James and John, and then in the second part Jesus is talking to the remaining 10 disciples.

Now The heart of Jesus teaching today is from V45, that the Son of man will ransom himself to purchase you.

So let me ask a question straight up, did he get the whole package, Did he purchase all of you, batteries included? Or are you holding out to offer sections of yourself as additional optioned up packages?

God the Son gave his life, is there anything in the whole world more costly than that? Is there anyone else worthy of our whole lives as a response?


Scene 1
So we start in verse 32 and Jesus and his followers are on their way up to Jerusalem. And this is quite amazing really, as Jesus has already predicted twice in this gospel, that he will die at the hands the chief priests. And what is amazing about this scene is that instead of Jesus being dragged kicking and screaming like a normal man on death row heading towards there impending death we read in verse 32 in contrast that Jesus is seeking it out;

‘They were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way and the disciples were astonished all those who followed were afraid and again he took the 12 aside and told them what was going to happen to him.’

We see that Jesus is ‘leading the way’ and the disciples are following, which is a great example of what is really going on in this whole story. Jesus is leading the way he is showing what it means to be the servant of God, and in that his disciples are seeing how they should emulate and follow him.

The disciples are astonished about what Jesus is doing, and as we read this were not sure that we shouldn’t be astonished, at them being astonished, as this is the third time that Jesus has told them that this will happen; and yet they still seem surprised!

Now to be fair their reaction of astonishment is coupled with their reaction of fear, which probably indicates they have some sort of sense that this is not going to end well for Jesus or them either. But in Marks GOSPEL, the disciples are often portrayed as not really getting what is going on. They don’t really seem to fully understand what Jesus is on about, they only seem to see in part, and they don’t really understand what it is that he has called them to either, again they only seem to see that in part too. And this is going to be highlighted in the next scene, in particular with James and John; but then with the other 10 disciples as well.

So Jesus in this verse is resolutely setting out to Jerusalem, knowing what will happen to him. Which in other words is; he did it; ‘knowing what will come to pass’.
There is great sense in Jesus language and intent in this scene, of it all being God ordained, that what is going to happen is God’s will and Jesus sets out to make sure that it happens.

In verse 33 we read we are going up to Jerusalem, ‘he said, “and the son of man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles.”’

Jesus knows not only that his trip is going to cost him his life, he actually knows who’s going to take his life from him. It is quite amazing really isn’t it? He is openly and willingly putting himself (in more than harm’s way) to certain death, because of his obedience to God.

And these verses are quite symmetrical in telling how the son of man is going to be betrayed by the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, then it also says he will be betrayed to the Gentiles as well. The NIV says ‘handing over’ but the same word of betrayed is used of both.
The effect of this is that, The chief priests and the teachers of the law here, have been clearly equated with the Gentiles. Now this is a massive slap in the face when you think about it.

The chief priests and the teachers of the law are the two groups of people who should have known what God’s Messiah would look like, the two groups of people who should have seen him and recognized him when he came, and they are the two groups most responsible for the death of God’s Messiah.

The chief priests and teachers of the law will work in an unholy alliance, (an axis of evil), with the Gentiles, (of all people!) to kill the one who is the son of man, the one who is God’s son.

And in a real sense here, Mark is telling us that the whole world (both Jew and Gentile) is being held responsible for the death of God’s son.

Now the question lurking underneath this whole passage for us should be, Why?

Not why are they being held responsible, that’s pretty obvious, but why are they doing it in the first place?
Why would they want to kill God’s son?
What would drive them to do this?

Well a political explanation is, well because of the Roman Empire itself. If Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah, the King of the Kingdom of Israel, that would be seen as a threat to Caesar. And we certainly learn this in the other gospels as the high priests there were concerned that this row, in a sense, could be the match that lit the flame under the Roman Empire coming down and exterminating the whole Jewish nation. Politically the Jewish leadership sees this as a disaster waiting to happen.

But then you still need to be able to explain why the Gentiles would want to have any part in this? Do they just fear Caesar as well?

IT seems that the heart of the answer is not political, the answer is theological, the answer is sin.

Humanity has always sets up its self as its own idol its own god. Society, (which is another way of saying the creation), has always wanted to throw off the shackles of the Creator, creation has always thought it knows better than God, and tries to take every opportunity to show it. And deep down for the chief priests, and the teachers of the law and the Gentiles, this was just one more chance to rule their own world their own way, another chance (even THE chance) to worship at their own idol, the idol of their own autonomy.

In the most tangible and yet probably in an unconscious way, the chief priest and the teachers of the law gave the ultimate expression to the hardness of every person’s heart, in their willingness and desire to overthrow God’s rule in their own life, to choose to try and rule their own life, their own way. A chance to be their own God.

So what will God do in response?
God is holy, and because of this he is also just. God cannot accept untruth, the unloving and unjust untruth that there is some other god other than him.

God cannot allow that injustice of this bold untruth to stand in his world, and be a just God at the same time. He cannot be a God of truth and allow this of all untruths to stand. And God did not stand on the sidelines, or merely condemn judgment upon this usurping behaviour of man. God entered into his world and did something about it.

In verse 34 we read, Jesus was handed to the Gentiles, who will mock him, and spit on him, flog him, and kill him.

This is how creation has treated its creator, it hasn’t just ignored God as many would have people believe, it hasn’t just not noticed him, it has actively and purposefully set out to humiliate God, and then shamefully kill him.
The one person in this whole mess that creation can be, who does not deserve death, they murdered. And we like all humanity before then, at that unique time and since then, stood there watching on, at best indifferent, and at worst hostile, to the mobs shameful treatment of our creator and Lord.

At the heart of all this, Jesus is giving his disciples a visual demonstration of what discipleship looks like, for the purpose that they may see what it means to serve and follow God.

The disciples will serve and follow God, literally they will follow him up to Jerusalem, but later they will watch him suffer and die, and it is a lesson to them as to what their life will look like also.

Now, we need to make sure we are completely clear on this, there is an absolute uniqueness, about what Jesus will undergo. And will learn a little more about that in a moment in the next scene, but Jesus life itself also a clear example of what the life of discipleship and faithfulness to God in service looks like.

Christ was mocked, he was spat on, he was flogged, and he was killed in a shameful and humiliating death. God the creator, hanging on a thief’s cross as a public spectacle, and an object of ridicule. A shameful act by shameful men, but an act of love by Jesus our Lord who has been ridiculed for it ever since, by every generation that has come afterwards, including ours.

Paul says that I seek to fill up in my body what is missing of Christ’s sufferings, to share in the fellowship of his suffering, and this list is thrown in front of us today to challenge us. What does our discipleship look like?
What of those four things have we willingly undertaken on Christ’s behalf, because Christ on our behalf, undertook all four for us?

Now I’m pretty confident that none of you have undergone the last of those death (If you have let me I never saw mine coming and heaven is something of a let down!). But of the other three, how does our discipleship measure up?
Brothers and Sisters, there are people all over the world, Christian people, who have undergone at least three, and sometimes all four for the sake of Christ, what does your discipleship look like?

The truth is in our society today the worst we will ever suffer is mocking, (and even then it usually will not even be to our face).

How can we keep silent about the cross?
How can we keep silent about all that God has done to demonstrate his love for us, suffering the shame, indignity (for the most dignified of all humanity) and humiliation of the cross?
How can we keep silent about the cross when it is the only hope for lost people, no matter how hostile they are towards God?

The first followers of Jesus definitely and willingly suffered all four (Just look at Stephen in Acts 7). In our society we really only will suffer one; and that is to be mocked, it’s not that bad is it?
How can we be silent about the cross?

The end of verse 34 continues, and Jesus again has a sting in the tail for his hearers, when he tells them, ‘three days later he will rise’.

The disciples no longer need to fear the Roman Empire, the disciples no longer need to fear death. Jesus is the Lord, he is the lord over death, he is the lord over the Roman Empire, he is the Lord of all creation, and he is the Lord of your life.

Jesus has defeated every enemy, he is the Lord! And the proof is that he was raised from the dead and he is now seated in glory with his father.

Jesus costly discipleship ended in glory for him, and he is calling you to follow him, to suffer for him now, that you may share in his glory later.

Scene 2
But as we get to scene two today it seems that some of the disciples would rather have the glory now, and maybe avoid the suffering altogether (I suspect they are not on their Robinson Crusoe their). The disciples throughout Mark’s gospel have been this great foil for us as readers through their frailty and humanity. They seem to just not be able to get it right, they don’t really get Jesus, and they don’t get how they are supposed to act around him, like a teenage boy around girls, they just get weird!

So, if you stop for a moment and consider the scenario, Jesus has just explained to his disciples how he will die, and his disciples (possibly with not the most pastorally sensitive response to someone saying they are going to die), essentially ask the dying man, can I have your house, and my brother your car?
Not exactly the ideal response.


In verse 35 James and John the sons of Zebedee come to Jesus with that quaint phrase we often use, ‘can I ask you a question’, to which the answer is; ‘you already asked me a question’. But unsurprisingly, Jesus being a bit more circumspect than myself, essentially says, ‘sure, what do you want me to do for you?’.

And then the two asked the real question, and it’s not some tiddler like the rich young ruler about how do I inherit eternal life, instead they go one better, they want to be able to sit and Jesus right hand and left hand in glory!
And Jesus rightly says to them, ‘you do not know what you are asking’. No Kidding they don’t!
I mean let’s face it, if you have got one chance to ask someone a favour, these guys haven’t missed the mark have they?

It is a pretty brazen question isn’t it, and especially in the company they were in. Essentially what they’re asking is Jesus give us a share in your inheritance! In fact it’s really asking can we have all of your inheritance, it’s a pretty bold ask, it’s a bit rich isn’t?
But then again what do you pray for when you get the chance to ask God for a favour? Maybe our requests aren’t all that flash either!

And Jesus point out to them that they don’t even understand what it is that just asked for. It is so enormous that cannot comprehend just how brazen they have been, because the position they are talking about belongs to Jesus himself (it seems to me) alongside the father!

They want God’s own position in glory!
(But then isn’t that what every human wants, even if they are not bold enough to ask for it!)

So Jesus asks them, ‘can they drink the cup he will drink, will they be baptised in the way he is baptised’. In this way he means, will they drink the cup of God’s wrath like he will, and will they be baptised into his death like he is.

And they respond, ‘we will’.

But in truth they can’t possibly drink THE cup or undergo THE baptism, because there is a profound uniqueness to Jesus Cup and his baptism. Jesus is the one man, the good man, the God man, who can drink this cup and be baptised in this death in order to pay the ransom for the entire world.
James and John cannot do that, they don’t qualify, only the God man can do that.

Jesus point out to them that their discipleship will in fact involve them drinking a cup and being baptised in a real way into Jesus death (as it does for all Jesus disciples), but it will not be the unique death that only he can die. And that is that!

The glory they were after, even the Son cannot give to them, that glory belongs to the father to distribute. God the son again shows his obedience to God the father in carrying out the fathers will, and not taking for himself that which belongs to the father.

The obedient son of man is the polar opposite Son of God in contrast to; the disobedient Adam, and in contrast to the disobedience Israel, and in contrast to the disobedient chief priests and teachers of the law, and in to contrast to the disobedient gentiles.

Mankind sin was of shameless self service. Christ’s righteousness was a shameful service of others.

The one who was God did not grasp hold of his God-ness but took on the nature of a servant, a Slave, to save those responsible for his own death.

So Jesus tells James and John that they will suffer in a similar way to what he will, but glory belongs to the father to distribute as he sees fit alone.


Now just to prove that none of the disciples seemed to get what Jesus is on about, the other 10 are indignant at James and John, and not just because of the brazenness of the question (although it includes that), it seems they are most upset that they didn’t think of question first!

That the other two would seek such prime positions at the expense of others, but then this isn’t the first time the disciples have done this sort of thing in the Gospel anyway. Back in mark chapter 9:35 a similar event occurred.

Is it any wonder that Jesus feels such a need to explain to his ‘children’ what discipleship looks like for ‘adults’!

Jesus is God, he is Lord over all, he is Lord of the death, his Lord over all creation, and he entered into that creation to become the servant of all. God is not distant from man’s suffering in this world, he entered into the midst of it to deal with it himself, to know it personally, then to fix the problem.
God became the servant of all, and Jesus call to discipleship is the call to follow him. His disciples must be like him, they must be the servants of all.

In verse 45 Jesus sums up the purpose of why he came to earth, (in fact it is the purpose of why Mark wrote the gospel also), ‘for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’.

Christ’s death on the cross has atoned for yours and my sin, that we may have confidence of how we stand before God and hold fast now to sure and certain hope we have. But Christ’s cross also give’s our life purpose, we follow the son of man as his disciples, not to be served, but to serve, to pay the price of discipleship so that many may hear that the ransom has been paid for them, that they may hear of the wondrous Cross of Christ.

This whole section of Marks gospel has been about discipleship, the cross shaped all of Jesus life, from cradle to cross, the question is does it shape your life in the same way?

But being willing and able to follow Jesus in this way is not just an act of our will, but profoundly and foundationly, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing us and changing us to be more like him and for this we need to pray. And pray also for boldness, that we would stand for Christ and his cross no matter what the opposition just like Christ himself did, just like the disciples did, just as many of our brothers and sisters do throughout the world today.