Please turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10. Near the end of Mark 8, Jesus first predicted his suffering to come and his death. Right after he said that, he said that whoever wanted to follow him must prepare to die for him. If I want to follow him, I must prepare to die for him. It was that simple. That’s what it means to deny yourself and take up your cross. That’s Mark 8.
The Scripture we read today answers an important question: How do we deny ourselves and carry our cross when no one is trying to kill us? How do we answer that call when it is safe to follow the Lord? When he calls us to live, not die? Jesus will answer that today.
1 Jesus Out Front – Mark 10:32
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid.
Jesus had the Twelve disciples, and he also had a crowd of dedicated men and women who followed him from Galilee. Perhaps two hundred people. The disciples, the Twelve, were bewildered about going up to Jerusalem. Why was Jesus so determined to go there, when he kept talking about the bad things that would happen to him.
This threatening atmosphere had affected the larger crowd of followers as well. There was fear in that group. Jesus, though, for his part, was striding along out in front, a little ahead of the rest. He wanted to get this done and over with.
2 Jesus Predicts His Death for the Third Time – Mark 10:32b-34 (8:31–32; 9:31-32)
Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
This is the most detailed prediction of the three. They were nearly in Jerusalem when Jesus said this. This is near the end of Mark 10, and they arrived in Jerusalem first thing in Mark 11. What Jesus foretells for himself is awful. He knows it is coming. Jesus always said these things just to the Twelve. But they were not always silent with the other followers.
3 James and John Request Greater Honour – Mark 10:35–40
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
James and John want to sit on Jesus’s right and left in his glory. Could there possibly be a worse response to the suffering Jesus has just predicted about himself? I don’t think so. The story goes immediately from Jesus’s suffering to their request for position over the other ten disciples.
There is no break between these two speeches. As soon as Jesus finished speaking about his rejection and suffering, they ask power and position over the others. Mark wants to jar us with how inappropriate that was. They are not thinking about his suffering at all, only how they might get ahead.
This had happened before. In Mark 9, right after Jesus predicted his suffering and death the second time, the disciples argued among themselves about which of them was the greatest. Here in Mark 10, we see that James and John want to make sure they come out over the other ten.
In the Gospel of Luke, after the Last Supper, did you get that, after the Last Supper, the disciples again argued with each other about who was greatest. Each thinks they are the best. It never ended. Jesus always patiently taught them the better way.
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” The cup of Jesus and the baptism of Jesus are the sufferings he just described. “They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him.” That’s his cup, that’s his baptism. Without knowing it, that’s what James and John were asking for.
“We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.” James was the first of the Twelve to be martyred. That story is in Acts 12. And John, when he was old, was exiled on a desolate island called Patmos. Not the kind of place to spend the end of your life.
In what sense did they drink the same cup as Jesus? God handed Jesus over to his enemies, and God also handed James and John over to their enemies. That’s the cup, that’s the baptism. A few chapters later we will hear Jesus pray desperately, “Father, take this cup from me.” That’s the cup, being handed over to his enemies. Jesus himself says that James and John will drink the same cup he drinks. That’s how we need to understand his Gethsemane prayer.
4 Jesus Teaches: Great in the Kingdom – Mark 10:41–44
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
The other ten were no more ready to be servants than James and John. They were indignant and offended that James and John would try to get positions over them. Perhaps they wished they’d thought of it first. Remember, this was a regular squabble among the Twelve.
The New Testament has a peculiar stance on “authority.” The New Testament regularly calls believers to submit. Children submit to your parents, slaves submit to your masters, wives submit to your husbands, congregations submit to your church leaders, all of you submit to the governing authorities.
But when speaking to parents and masters and husbands and church leaders, the New Testament does not give them authority. Leaders have to lead, but not with authority. Fathers, be kind to your children. Husbands, love your wives and honour them. Masters, treat your slaves with respect, and provide for them. Church leaders, lead by example, not lording it over them. If those who should submit to their leaders do not submit, that’s on them. Leaders can still lead faithfully.
Even Jesus did not have authority over people. He had authority over the demons, and over the wind and the waves. But not over people. Jesus spoke with authority, and amazed people. When he spoke, people knew he was saying it how it was, he was speaking for God. But he did not have authority over people. Mark 7 – “Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he commanded them, the more they kept talking about it.” Not unusual in the Gospels.
The New Testament is big on submitting, but it pulls leaders away from authority. “It will not be that way among you,” said Jesus. “Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant.” Jesus was talking to the Twelve, who argued about which of them was the greatest. The great one among the Twelve would be the servant of the other eleven.
Take this to heart, people. Those Twelve apostles did many remarkable things out there in the world. It is easier to serve the world than to serve one another. But their service to one another would make them great in the kingdom. Our service to one another will make us great in the kingdom. Being slave of all means that no one is below me. I am not too good, or too important, to do any humble task.
Who has power? And who serves? The kingdom of God clashes with the world when it comes to power and service. According to the world, the kingdom is upside down. “Serve one another” is a lot like “love one another.” Service is love in action, the new command.
This is why we have our covenant of membership, where aim ourselves to love and serve one another. A lot of things happen between the people of this church because we are serving one another. That is just right. Let’s not get weary of doing that.
5 He Came to Serve and to Give his Life as a Ransom – Mark 10:45
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.”
How do we show that we will die for Christ when no one is trying to hurt us? We serve one another. For Jesus, serving his people, and dying to ransom his people, are not separate actions. Dying to ransom his people, for Jesus, was just another way of serving us.
Jesus tied serving and dying together in this verse, to explain why he said the great one among you must be your servant. To imitate the Christ who served and died, we serve one another. We cannot imitate Jesus giving his life as a ransom for many. That is his alone. But serving and giving sacrificially to the needs of the many – that is for all disciples.
Until this point, Jesus has never told us why he needed to suffer and die, only that he must do this. It must happen. But this short line in Mark 10:45 takes us much farther. He came to serve, and he came to give his life as a ransom. This has been his purpose all along. He came for the purpose of serving us and giving his life as a ransom.
A ransom is a payment to free a slave or a prisoner. In the Colossians 1 prayer, we give joyful thanks to God because he rescued us from the authority of darkness. The authority of darkness is a slavery far worse than what happened to Israel in Egypt. We have all been rescued from the authority of darkness by Jesus giving his life to ransom us. He bought freedom for us, when we were slaves and prisoners. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
We imitate Jesus by serving one another. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. But, people, he did not do whatever people asked. Sometimes he did, and sometimes he did not. Being slave of all does not mean we take orders from everyone. Keep that in mind.
I cannot sort out for you how to manage a life of service, how much to do, when to say yes, and when to say no. I don’t know a clear way to decide these things. Jesus regularly did what people wanted, and he regularly did not. He obeyed his Father, and listened to the Holy Spirit. He was very loyal to the Twelve. But he did not keep everyone happy.
A few years ago, some popular Christian bracelets asked the question, “what would Jesus do?” There’s much good in that motto. What would Jesus do?
In the New Testament, when we are told to imitate Jesus, it is almost always to imitate him in his suffering and death. We imitate his obedience to the Father, not my will but yours be done. We imitate the love he showed us in dying for us. We imitate his silence when he was insulted and provoked, but he did not curse or threaten. He died to serve us, so we serve each other. Jesus modeled many different things during his final hours, and those are what God calls us to imitate. He was our example above all in his suffering and death.
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 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.
Jesus wants every church to be a congregation of servants. He’s our Leader, and he was the greatest servant of all. Amen.
PRAYER: Father, in Colossians Paul prayed for those believers that they would live lives worthy of the Lord and always please him. Since it is in the Bible, we know this is a prayer you like to answer. Father, help us live lives that are worthy of the Lord and always please him. We’d be delighted if you would do that. Fill us with your Spirit for this. Do this for our church. We will give you glory forever. Amen.
BENEDICTION: Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. He made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Go in God’s peace to love and serve the Lord.