We are at this pinnacle moment in Mark’s account of the ministry and life of Jesus. Things have been building steadily for ten chapters as Mark sets us towards Jerusalem. This account has been building steadily towards something Gospel is moving towards something, and for ten chapters, we have been on the road slowly moving towards this great City. A city that has shaped history for 10,000 years and is still shaping history today. A city where God established his temple would be the place where God would inaugurate his Kingdom, yet it would be in a way the world could not fathom; in a way, they would not even see. The road to Jerusalem would finish with shame, yet it would be that shame which would be the Glory of God and the ultimate display of God’s power, sovereignty and Love in a moment. It is all about the Cross.

I. Jesus Leads the Way to Jerusalem (Mark 10:32)

A Journey to Suffering, Not Glory

Mark is not a detail’s guy. When you read some of the other Gospel’s you will find them painting a picture of the scene or the context to help make a point or to help us understand some deeper meaning or connection to the Old Testament. This is not Mark’s style, he just wants to get to the point and get you to the point. So when he records some little detail, it is something we should always take notice of.

Jesus goes before His disciples (v. 32a)

The disciples and Jesus are travelling, and for the first time, Mark tells us where they are travelling to; they are on the road to Jerusalem. Yet, more interestingly, for me, Mark tells us something about how they are travelling: They are all walking along the road they have walked before, yet as the disciples and the group drop their feet, Jesus is powering on ahead. More so, there seems to be something about it; it’s not that he has more energy to burn and is walking a little quicker, no, there is intent in his walking. The NIV tells us that the disciples were astonished, and the followers were afraid; Eugene Peterson phrases it that those following were puzzled and not a little afraid; but, I think JP Philip’s here captures what Mark is trying to convey as he translates it: “They disciples were dismayed at this, and those who followed were afraid.“

The Disciples’ Fear and Amazement (v. 32b)

Such is the intent that Jesus displays that the people can begin to sense there is something about this moment, they will not understand it in this moment. Yet, they will look back with hindsight and see that the intent Jesus was showing was a messianic one; he knew what was ahead, and he would not be distracted from it. The disciples and Jesus are marching to Jerusalem, and even though they would not understand it, nor would the world see it, Jesus was going there as the Messiah of the world. He is the messiah who is not far off, the leader who stands before them and actively leads, even into suffering. Yet, more beautifully still, such is his care for those who follow him that one last time he takes them aside to ready them for what is ahead.

To speak words of comfort that would not bring much comfort in the moments that the events unfolded but may have kept them going subconsciously through the Trauma of the events around Calvary and would have given them certain confidence about who Christ was when they remembered what he told them was about to come. They did not even grasp how proper their sim right to be fearful, for they did not understand, yet simultaneous amazement and fear were as their confusion abounded, and they slowly began to realise what was ahead even if they did not understand it. They were on the road to suffering, not glory. Yet, from suffering, God would be glorified.

II. Jesus’ Third Prediction of His Passion (Mark 10:33-34)

Numbers have a powerful role in the bible, they help to communicate something that words cannot communicate, they help us to grasp something of the lesson in a way that words cannot always help us comprehend. When we see numbers, we know that there is something else trying to be communicated to the listener and the reader. Think of the biblical numbers are what they try to communicate: 7, seven days of creation, and the biblical number of perfection; 40, the Israelites had forty years in the wilderness, and Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days – for testing. 6, is the number of inperection or evil – the mark of the beast; and so on we could go with a number of different of different numbers and their use in Scriptures. Yet, perhaps the most powerful number used in the bible to convey that something more is three. In terms of the wider biblical narrative three simple seeeks to communicate perfection, wholeness, completion, we know it so naturally in the rythems of our faith; the trinity, that on the third day he rose again, Peters denial, and on and on we could go. Thus, in this section of journeying through Marks gospel, we join Jesus with Jesus and the disciples as again he sits them down to tell them that he is going to be suffer, beaten, mocked, die, and rise again three days later. In Mark we must always notice the little details, and here there are two centered around Jesus’ prediction of his death, that this is the third (and final) time Jesus tells the disciples about what is to come; thee times he has told them he will die, and three times he has told them he will rise again. The point? This message has now be communicated in its fullness and will soon be complete.

The Messiah’s Path: Betrayal, Death, and Resurrection

The disciples may have been fearful, but Jesus here does nothing to allay their fears as he takes them aside to speak to them about what is to come. It is not a pretty picture, nor is it an easy picture to comprehend. Yet, it is an honest picture, and one that they already heard. It is an honest picture because their world is about to collapse, for three days, before it is rebuilt in a way that they would not fathom. They cannot see now, but with hindsight as they have looked back, so they will look ahead and begin to see all the more as they begin to look ahead. What will they see? That Jesus is walking the path of surrender, and so will all those who will be his disciples.

Specificity of Jesus’ Prophecy (v. 33-34)

Jesus has been predicting what is to come in order to show that it is not of man, but part of the Lord’s plan of Sovereign redemption, and Jesus as God was fully aware of the plan. He came to die, so that we might die to sin and live with him. Yet, I wonder as I read through Mark about the pastoral elements to his predictions, In mark 8 Jesus gave a short and precise prediction of what was coming, especially in rebuke to Peters longing for political power; In Mark 9 Jesus again predicts his death and we are told ““But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” (‭‭Mark‬ ‭9‬:‭32‬), and then they showed their obsession with earthly power as they argued over who would be the greatest. Yet, here as Jesus again outlines his death and resurrection and its exact nature: suffering—betrayal, condemnation, mockery, scourging, and death; I wonder if there is two aspects to it:

1. Jesus in in Control: Jesus as the Son of God is fully God, he has come for a purpose and as the disciple’s walk along the road to Jerusalem with him – even though they do not realise it – they are moving towards the pinnacle of his coming – the cross. Before they will understand it Jesus is underscoring His control over the situation.
2. Jesus who Cares: He is the sovereign one, but he is also the good shepherd who cares for his sheep as he will lay down his life for them. Jesus has spent two years with the first sheep of his flock. He cares for them, and by outlining the exact pattern of what is ahead he is preparing them or the chaos as their world will collapse over a few days. He gives them a guide through it, and an anchor for it to hope in – three days later he will rise.
   

Thus he tells them what is to come, that he will be handed over to the cheif priests and the scribes, who will be the ones to condemn him to death, even though they could not do it themselves, so they will hand him over to the Roman authorities (gentiles), to do it. Whom before they get to to the cross will mock him, spit on him, flog him and then kill him. How much did Jesus love us? This much Mark cries as outlines clearly Jesus knowledge of what was ahead and willingness to go through with it. This was the cost of all our sin, and this was Jesus willingness to save us, that he would not just die anyway, but submit himself to the ultimate humiliation, so that we might be spared from it. It is a horrendous pathway, and it again marks all the starker Jesus purpose in his striving as he comes to this point.

The Resurrection Promise (v. 34b)

It is a horrendous prophecy of what is to come, as even before we get to witness the Cross through the words of Jesus we begin to comprehend its horror and agony. We comprehend just how devasting our sin as Jesus readies the disciples for what is ahead. Yet, beautifully still we are reminded that his suffering is not without hope our purpose, and that god will always have the final word. He will be handed over to the religious leader’s who will condemn him to death, who will hand him over to the gentles authorities to be mocked, spat upon, beaten and then put to death – all by humans hands, all by the choice of man Jesus will suffer. Yet, death will not be the end, and the power of man shall not be enough, nor will the principalities of this world shape how God will work in the world. As Jesus, however, promises that death will not have the final word—God will raise Him up in three days and the redemptive journey of God to Jerusalem is complete. Our hope is summed up in a moment and the end of the sentence, and pointed to and looked to. Even though in this moments the disciples did not understand, we are those who see fully and know that by his dying he destroyed our death and in his rising he restored out life.

III. The Request of James and John (Mark 10:35-40)

It is the most horrendous prediction that Jesus could have given in this moment as he outlined the exact nature of his death as the means by which God would work in the world. Jesus was also making clear the way that God will choose to work in the world, and it will be in a way that the world cannot see, nor will comprehend. The work of God in the world is in a way that the world cannot see nor predict, it is upside-down, inside-out, and countercultrual its very nature as essence, yet as God works in the world his work is all powerful and all encompassing. Thus, on the day of Darkness when the religious leaders thought they had got ride of a pain in their side and his little group of rebels, when Satan thought he had won, and the discples scattered – God was working. The Cross would be God’s ultimate display of power and Glory, when the world thought it was defeat. This was something the disciples were still to understand, as to the predictions of Jesus two of them argued among themselves, as James and John the two brothers approach Jesus with a question about a question.

”What do you want me to do for you ?

Misunderstanding Glory

In Jesus prediction of his death, one thing we have to grasp is that it was also a prediction of his Glory. It shows us how God will glorify himself in the world, by displaying his power, love, and sovereignty in a way that the world could not understand. James and John shows their misunderstanding of God’s way and God’s glory as they approach Jesus with a question, that is wrong in every understanding of what Jesus was about to do. They wanted to know the benefit of earthly power and glory, they still assumed that what Jesus would begin for the Lord would begin with the sword and not by the cross. It was that human obsession with political power, not humbling ourselves to the power of God. It is a question than displays a misunderstanding of what Glory is all about.

Ambition for Power (v. 35-37)

It is a question that shows the brothers are still shaped by human ambitions for power and their own Glory, by sharing in the Glory of Jesus. James and John still anticipate an earthly kingdom, asking for seats of honour beside Jesus, not realizing that His glory will be revealed through the cross. In some ways you could say they recognised that there was something powerful and beautiful in the person of Jesus, something that they wanted to get ahead of him as they ask for the two best seats at the table:

They answered him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”

They saw something of power in Jesus, and thus they thought they would get in before the rest of the disciples and find the best seats at the table. They at least had the humility to let Jesus decide which of them would sit where, yet, they still had the audacity to believe that even if Jesus was here to do somethign political or earthly that they would be his top choice for the seats at either side of him. The seats on the right and left of the throne are they key advisors to the king, they woudld be those who would speak to the ruler when he was making decisions and at times would speak on behealf of the King. James and John had ambitions of power, that were. rooted in the flesh, and their misunderstanding of Jesus. Thus, we have this most audacious of request’s in the moment after Jesus final prediction of his humiliation that show just how far the human heart is from God. How does Jesus respond, by again pointing to what is to come.

The Cup and Baptism of Suffering

Jesus responds by telling them of what is to come, of what is to come for his alone in terms of Glory. A road that no one else could walk to fulfil it, but many will walk because of it. A road that these willing brothers would one day follow along, but not yet. Again, Jesus the loving shepherd rather than directly rebuke the sin and folly of these two brothers who are still thinking with a heart of the flesh uses this moment as a teaching momenmt. It was a request that resurfaced the issue of Greatness (9:33), and stood in stark contrast to Jesus prediction of his own greatness. One more time Jesus would teach them what true Greatness would be in the Kingdom of God. A moment to teach them about the fullness of what he would embrace in suffering for the sins of the world:

Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” Mark 10:38 CSB

Can You Drink the Cup? (v. 38)

Jesus uses “the cup” and “baptism” as metaphors for suffering, challenging their shallow understanding of discipleship.

In response to the most audacious of requests Jesus responds with the most humbling of answers that is again rooted in his redemptive work, and stands in contrast to their notions of his kingdom and rule, and their palace in it. As Jsus asks if they are able to drink the cup and be baptised with him baptism we know that he is using them as a metaphor of suffering, and he shows their shallow understanding of what it means to follow him and be his disciple. These are mean steeped in Jewish culture and imagery, they should have know what the picutures mean and just what Jesus was saying, but their misunderstanding was so far misplaced. The cup is the picture of God’s divine judgement on the sins of his people, we see it contasntly used throughout the Old Testament. It is God;s righteous judgement against the sins of man:

• “In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.” – ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭75‬:‭8‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬
• Isaiah 51: “Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger….This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: ‘See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.” Isaiah‬ ‭51‬:‭17-222‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬
• “Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed; you will be drunk and stripped naked. Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion; he will not prolong your exile. But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom, and expose your wickedness.” ‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭4‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬
• “‘Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming round to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.”‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬, ‭16‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬
  
• “‘I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.”‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬
  

It was that quite literally Jesus was asking the disciples where they able to tak upon themselves the wrath of God. To share in one’s cup meant sharing an experience with something, the language we might use today would be “walk in my shoes”. Jesus was asking James and John to think wisely, if they could put on his shoes and walk the road that he was about to walk. Then To be immersed in water implies being overcome or overwhelmed. Do not image the simple baptism’s that we see today, rather picture yourself in a river running rough, it’s cold and the water flows where ever it wants to go – then you are plunged into the depths of the water, and it all feels so real: teh cold, the power of the river, the water rushing over your head. It is an overwhelming experience – thus, Jesus uses the image to picture the overwhelming nature of God’s judgement on sin – a nature only one was prepared for. Yes, Jesus was about to experience betrayal and death and His question asks if they were ready to follow in His footsteps and also experience death.

Misunderstanding that Suffering is the way of God and Their Way (v. 39-40):

To his question the disciples respond with stupid willingness – “we are able.” Oh how naive they are, and how humbled they will be. They are not able, but the sovereign one know’s what will come for them one day as Jesus prophesies that they will indeed share in His suffering; they will walk the road that he has walked, because that is the road of the Cross, and the call of all who seek to follow him. Greatness in the Kingdom of God is not measured by earthly scales: humility, not ambition, defines greatness in His kingdom.

It is beautiful to think of how far the brothers would come, they did not understand but they soon would. And in their understanding, they would radically transformed in their notions of greatness and what Jesus came to do – to the point that they would die for it, and because of it. James through martyrdom (Ac 12:2), and this his brother John would live the longest but suffer perseuection and exile, dying on an Island because of Christ (Rv 1:9). Granting kingdom positions was not His to give, but was His Heavenly Father’s but the day would come when they would hear Jesus say, well done Good and faithful servant.

IV. The Indignation of the Other Disciples (Mark 10:41)

Jealousy and Misplaced Ambition

Yet, James and John are not alone in their shame, as when the disciples hear about their bold request to Jesus we are told that they are indignation. An Indignation that reflects their own competitiveness and misunderstanding of true greatness – they are the same! They are not annoyed because James and John are the last disciples to understand what it is Jesus has been teaching and is about to do, they are annoyed because the brothers beat the rest of them to the punch!

No Place in the Kingdom for This

None of us are immune from the affects of the world, for in a moment the passage highlighting how even followers of Jesus can be trapped by worldly ideas of power. It might be 2000 year’s later, but we can end up thinking through our faith in the same way; thinking about the Kingdom, the church, ourselves and our calling’s not always through the lens of Christ, but by the distorted lens of the selfish world. It is a heart and attitude which is counter cultural to the way of Jesus and to the heart of Jesus, and if the Holy Spirit dwells in us and is making us in Christ’s image we must be those who grasp that there is no place in the Kingdom for this.

V. Jesus’ Teaching on Greatness and Servanthood (Mark 10:42-45)

After the last discussion of Greatness; Jesus used the contrasting image of servanthood to show what life in the Kingdom of God and life for the King would look like (9:35-37). Greatness in the Kingdom would model the servant life of the world, because greatness in the Kingdom looked nothing like the world. Thus, one more time Jesus unpacts the contrast between life with him, and life in the world by contrasting what he has just said, an as the King of Kings what he is going to do against the earthly notions of power and ruling.

The World’s Way vs. the Way of Jesus

To the question of John and James, and the furstration of the rest that they were beaten to the point, one more time Jesus teaches about life in the Kingdom. He contrasts how worldly leaders use their power, and if we are honest it is something we can relate to even all these years later as society has become more developed and we think of ourselves more highly – it is the same problem with our rules: currurption, self-serving, greed, and clinging to power becomes the norm. We can related to Jesus image of how Gentile rulers loved to exercise authority over their people. The world might do this: but the followers of Jesus must not and will not do that. Earthly power will have no place or affect in the Kingdom of God.

Earthly Power (v. 42)

Jesus contrasts the self-serving, domineering nature of worldly rulers with the kingdom values He expects from His disciples. We need to be clear that what Jesus Describes here is the very norm of the world. We are selfishness beings by nature, in the brokenness of our sin we look inward and think only of ourselves; we strive for what we want. Our rulers are simply what we would be if we were in the same position. That might be the way of the world, but it is not the way of Christ, because those who know him, know their sinful nature, and in whom the Holy Spirit dwells produce not the fruits of this world, but the fruit of the Spirit, and that fruit is marked by the character of Christ and the way of the Kingdom.

Greatness Through Service (v. 43-44)

In the Kingdom of God power is made perfect in weakness; greatness is marked by humility. Leaders are servants of all, it is why the bishop walks at the back of a Procession in Anglican worship, because they are the servant. Jesus here flips the worldly understanding of power with the countercultural image that those who wish to be great must become servants. You want to lead James, John, and the others? Well then you are going to serve, not just one another – but all whom God call’s you too. You will bring them into the Kingdom not by the power of the Sword but by service in Love. You want to sit at the top of the table, well that means by nature you will delight in serving the table, like the staff tending to the Lord of the Manner, our greatness is in our weakness and willingness to serve. Those who wish to be first must become slaves of all. There is no hirrearchy in the Kingdom of God, all come in as sinners and all recieve the same Grace, all will eat at the same table. While some are called to different offices and responsibilities – all stand the same under Christ.

The Son of Man Came to Serve and Ransom (v. 45)

Think about the example of Jesus. He who humbled Himself, taking on the role of a servant, when He came to earth and veiled His deity. The incarnation was an act of humility, as God walked among those whom he had created and sustained, and he did so not to receive their adulation; for they could not recgonise him. No! Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as ransom for many (ls 53:11). Meaning, his life was the price to free a captive or a slave. Jesus enslaved himself to death to free us from it, and then rose again so that we who had been enslaved to death might be free to live for him. By Adam sin had entered the world and now by the servant of Jesus it has lost its grip! Jesus simply grounds his teaching in His own example, revealing that the ultimate act of greatness is His sacrificial death,where he gave His life as a ransom for many. This is the paradox of the Cross: It was the world’s most grusume means of death and humiliation; it was used to shame and torture those who had been enemies of the Roman Empire. It was so shameful that Roman citizens where not allowed to be put to death by it, because it would shame their citizens. Yet, it was the means by which God chose to display his ultimate power, sovereignty, and Glory and greatness. The Cross in a moment sums up what Jesus had been teaching, that greatness is found in service, power in weakness. The Cross has the final word, and the Cross models for us what true discipleship looks like.

VI. Conclusion: The Cross Defines True Discipleship

The disciples where amazed by the purpose, intent and power as Jesus walked to Jerusalem, and now he has helped us to understand that this journey to Jerusalem is not one of military triumph or political power, for Jesus was not heading to the senate, not the Palace to claim a throne. Rather, this was a journey of suffering to suffer, a journey marked by self-giving love, love made known in suffering and displayed in suffering. Suffering that would find its fulfilment in the cross. Suffering that would flow from the Cross as Jesus commissioned his disciples to serve this Gospel and carry it, and as the Holy Spirit moved them out of Jerusalem into the service of God in the world, and where ever they went they suffered, and wherever they suffered they showed the value of what they had found. This is it: to follow Jesus is to embrace the road of the suffering servant; knowing that this leads to true glory for the Father.

Application: Our Call to the Ethic of the Cross because of our Hope in the Cross

Seeing as Christ See’s

What say’s this passage of the state of your own heart this day? If you claim to know Jesus as Lord, then have we given to him all things? Does out ambition in the world, and in the Kingdom pale in the light of Jesus call to discipleship marked by service. Or, do we still find ourselves delighting in worldly recognition, or thinking of ourselves as important in the Kingdom and in service of the Kingdom – seeing Kingdom greatness through the lens of ourslves, and not Christ.

The Way of Suffering

To know Jesus, will at some point mandate for all of us a willingness to be known like Jesus. This is not something that should surprise anyone in the Church who seeks to make the kingdom known. Jesus himself told us that it would be the way: “The world will hate you because you are my disciples.” Yet, over the years the wolves have twisted the teachings of Christ, and today’s heresies are greater than all when things like the prosperity Gospel twist what the blessing of God is, and what life for God should look like. When false teachers tell us that if we believe with enough strength of faith, then God will bless us with material possessions and good health all out lives. The true disciple of Jesus delights in graphing the truth that true discipleship involves sharing in Christ’s suffering and sacrifice. This is the way of resurrection road, and as we walk it by the power of the Spirit we will bring glory to God.

Our Call To Serve

Finally, may we remember that Salvation is not an inactive existence. Grace is not a one time event, but an active force in our lives as it affects change in our being. In Grace we are not waiting for the Final coming of Jesus in Glory, rather we are saved to work towards it. We built the Kingdom until the King comes, Jesus paid the ultimate price to free us from sin, not so that we could rule, but so that we could serve. Wherever we are, whoever we are, whatever skills God has given us, what ever positions or possessions God had entrusted to us – it is all with a point and purpose of knowing him, and making him know. Thus, as we delight in our free state by the ransom of Jesus, we must challenge ourslves to consider how are we living out this calling in our daily lives, not for our sake but for the Glory of the King?