INTRODUCTION
How do you respond to tense conflicts? Crack a joke? Climb in a hole? Explode with vindictive anger? Escape? One option we are loathe to try is to follow Jesus up to Calvary. True leadership is Wallace-like, being the first to charge into enemy lines.
THE TEXT
And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. […]
Mark 10:32ff
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Mark is quite picturesque here: Jesus ahead, the disciples fearfully following behind (v32). So, for the third time, Jesus teaches His disciples about the sufferings which await Him in Jerusalem. Instead of avoiding the cruelty which is ahead, Jesus makes it plain that this suffering is His very mission. His suffering and death at the hands of the Jewish scribes and the Gentiles rulers will usher in the resurrection life which all of His miracles and messages have been revealing (vv33-34). James and John ask Jesus for the privilege of sitting to His right and left when He obtains His glory (vv35-37). Jesus responds with two OT allusions: the image of being made to drink up the cup of God’s wrath (Cf. Is. 51:22, Jer. 25:15), and the image of being drowned in a flood of God’s wrath (Ps. 42:7, 69:2, 124:5). Jesus is going up to Jerusalem in order to stand before God on behalf of mankind and drink the cup of God’s wrath. Can Zebedee’s sons drink this cup? Can they swim in that ocean? They say they can. The Lord reveals that they will indeed face similar sufferings as He will, for to follow Jesus is to take up His cross; but their request to sit to his right and left is appointed for others (vv38-40, Cf. 15:27).
Their request for preeminence becomes know to the other ten and the static electricity of envy begins sparking amongst them (v41). Jesus reminds them of something He has taught before: greatness comes through humility, service, and selfless death. His purpose as the Son of Man is to minister unto others, not for others to minister unto Him, and this will be seen most clearly in His death as the ransom for many (vv42-45). Right on cue, Mark relates a healing story.
On His way up to Jerusalem, Jesus performs His final healing at Jericho. Bartimaeus is the only healing in Mark’s Gospel where the sufferer is named. As the great crowd flows by the blind beggar hears that the commotion is due to the presence of Jesus of Nazareth he shouts aloud, “Son of David, have mercy” (vv46-47); a dangerous thing to cry out so close to Jerusalem. This blind man sees the everlasting heir of David’s throne, thus the crowd try to silence Bartimaeus; but he shouts all the louder (v48). He gets Jesus’ attention and calls for Bartimaeus to be brought to Him. The crowd relays this message to the blind beggar and he casts aside his garment, rises up, and comes to Jesus (vv49-50). Jesus asks what Bartimaeus desires, and he asks for sight. Jesus responds, “Go where you want, your faith has healed you.” And immediately his sight was restored. Where does this once blind man choose to go? He follows Jesus in the way up to Jerusalem (vv51-52).
JESUS’ MISSION
What exactly did Jesus come to do? What is His mission? In 10:45 Jesus makes His mission abundantly plain: “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister (diakoneō), and to give his life a ransom for many.” Throughout the last few chapters Jesus has been making His mission more and more clear.
What does He mean that He is the ransom for many? The OT law gives us a clear picture. Someone guilty of manslaughter (Ex. 21:30) brought a death sentence upon himself, unless he could produce a required sum of money. Another reference to this can be found in the laws detailing what is required to set a captured slave or indentured servant free (Lev. 25:51). Effectively, every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God, we all have a death sentence over us, we all have been made captive to sin.
So then, this is the service which Jesus came to render for you. You were a captive of sin, and Jesus offered Himself as the ransom payment so that as many as trust in Him might go free. The Father receives this payment and reckons you free of the debt of your sin. You are free. You can go where you please. If you are liberated, where will you go? You will follow your Liberator.
WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE
Mark’s Gospel is marvelous here. Where Jesus makes His Gospel abundantly plain, Mark punctuates it with a climactic healing story. But if we take a step back and observe the ordering of Mark’s healings we see the big picture. Man is being made whole in both body and soul through this service/ministry of Jesus.
| 1st Set | A. Peter’s fevered mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31)
B. Healing many at evening (Mark 1:32-34) C. Cleansing a Leper (Mark 1:40-45) |
| 2nd Set | A. The paralytic (Mark 2:1-12)
B. The man with a withered hand (Mark 3:1-6) C. Healing many by the Sea (Mark 3:7-12) |
| 3rd Set | A. The woman with 12 yrs. internal bleeding (Mark 5:25-34)
B. Raising Jairus’ 12 yo daughter (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43) |
| 4th Set | A. The deaf/mute man (Mark 7:31-37)
B. The blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26) |
| 5th Set | A. The boy with a deaf & dumb spirit (Mark 9:14-29)
B. Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) |
Mark has arranged these healings strategically. Imagine putting a match to the corner of a piece of paper. At first it spreads slowly. Then it rapidly engulfs the entire paper. The entire body is being restored by Jesus. His salvation was not a disembodied salvation. He came to make mankind whole, and to restore us to true service of the Living God. This final healing completes the cycle. Jesus has healed outward uncleanness, feet, hands, multitudes, internal uncleanness, death, ears, mouths, and eyes. Is there anything left? What affliction is there that is not encompassed by these? Like the stone statues which Aslan makes live, Jesus has breathed upon dead, lifeless, deaf, dumb, paralyzed, unclean, blind, mute, maimed mankind and now they are restored.
Our therapeutic age insists that you carries your traumas and sufferings with you. Your victimhood is a fossilized part of you. But the Son of David came in order to take mangled humanity out of the jaws of evil, and restore wandering lambs.
THE RICH MAN & THE BEGGAR
Contrast the Rich Young Man with the blind beggar. He was unwilling to relinquish his wealth to follow Jesus, but Bartimaeus casts aside his cloak. When given his sight, and thus freedom to go where he pleased, he follows the Son of David into danger. The Rich Young Man is unnamed, but the blind beggar is named. And Mark seems to indulge in some Greek & Aramaic wordplay here with Bartimaeus’ name. “Bar” is the aramaic prefix which means “son of”. So, a literal rendering of the text would be: “the son of Timaeus, Son-of-Timaeus the blind”. In Greek, Timaeus means “highly prized;” but the Hebrew root for “unclean” is tame (טָמֵא). Putting this together, Mark wants to underscore the contrast between what is highly prized and what is unclean along with his first/last last/first Kingdom (10:31).
This “son of uncleanness” shouts out for mercy from Royal David’s lawful heir. Isaiah had foretold that the Gentiles (the unclean) would cry out praise and cling to Yahweh’s Messiah for mercy and that this Messiah would make the blind to see (Cf. Is. 35, 42-43:7). This blind son of uncleanness begins the chorus that carries over into Christ’s triumphal entry in the next chapter. When David’s Son, the Christ, opens your eyes, it isn’t so you can return to your begging, or to your ratty cloak. He opens your blind eyes so that you follow Him to the cross.
RANSOM FOR MANY
Jesus is the ransom for many. High and low, rich and poor, adult and child, Jew and Gentile, the first and the last. Jesus is about to march into Jerusalem as her King, yet He is a King who serves. He is a King who serves by laying down His life in order to ransom many. There was an un-payable price upon your head. You deserved death, and so does your rival. But Jesus paid it all. If you are free, will you to follow Him and serve those you are called to lead like Jesus did. Can you see yet?