The Unexpected Journey (Mark 10:32-45)

In Mark 10:32-45 Jesus predicts his death and resurrection for the third and final time. The passage inspires a question for modern-day disciples: What are you expecting from Jesus?

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) For the third and final time (8:31, 9:31) Jesus predicts his death and resurrection. Following the three lessons on discipleship in 10:1-31, the third passion prediction, which is the most explicit of the three, reminds Jesus’ followers that discipleship is always and ultimately following Jesus who goes to Jerusalem to suffer (vv. 33-34) and “to give his live as a ransom for many” (v. 45). Discipleship is thus not only characterized by identifiable behaviors within marriage (vv. 1-12), with children (vv. 13-16), and with possessions (vv. 17-31), but, as demonstrated by Bartimaeus, by expressly “following Jesus along the road” (v. 52). The centrality of Jesus is further emphasized by Mark who, in contrast to the third passion prediction recorded in Matt 20:17-19 and Luke 18:31-34, shows Jesus “leading the way” (v. 32) to Jerusalem.

Into the Unknown

Jesus now gets focused on his mission as he makes his way to Jerusalem. His disciples are filled with awe and fear as they follow him into the unknown.

Mark 10:32-34 (NLT) They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Again Mark expressly states that Jesus is “on the way,” reminding his readers that to know Jesus is to follow him, even on the way of suffering. For the first time Mark also identifies the destination: they are “on their way up to Jerusalem.”
• Why were they amazed?
  • At Jesus’ resolve? His public ministry is narrowing down. He’s clearly focused on the cross now. This is what he came for.
• Why were the others afraid?
  • Heading toward Jerusalem; religious leaders weren’t fans of Jesus. What’s going to happen there?
  • One step removed from the 12 disciples; still contemplating following Jesus. What will that look like? 
  • Fear of walking into the unknown on the journey with Christ
    • Will I have to live like a monk?
    • Will I ever have fun again?
  • Does this fear come from the enemy? 
• Then Jesus gets the most explicit: compare 8:31 and 9:31
  • Not so unknown anymore, at least for the twelve
  • (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Nowhere else in Mark, notes Eduard Schweizer, does Mark speak of Jesus leading the way, except in the prophesies of 14:28 and 16:7. “Here he is the Master who goes before his disciples, whose responsibility it is to follow him.” When it comes to humility and suffering, Jesus does not only teach: he leads the way.
  • Pattern for these teaching moments: 
    • Jesus reveals his mission
    • Disciples say something stupid
    • Jesus turns it into a teachable moment

Drink the Cup

James and John ask Jesus to grant them the places of honor next to him. They are trying to earn glory and prosperity, but Jesus offers a cup of suffering. Mark 10:35-40

Mark 10:35-40 (NLT) Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.”

“What is your request?” he asked.

They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”

• These two are excited about the unknown future!
• ESV: “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
  • James and John’s request… Peter got left out! Remember that Mark likely got his info from Peter, and he wouldn’t have forgotten this!
  • Like a child’s request to the parent…
  • They’re asking with an expectation of a checklist.

But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”

• Jesus is pointing them back to what he literally just said!
• They’re framing it in terms of “glory” and he’s framing it in terms of “suffering”
  • (Pillar New Testament Commentary) In the OT, a “cup” usually symbolizes something allotted by God. It can signify joy and prosperity (Pss 16:5; 23:5; 116:13), but more frequently it signifies God’s judgment and wrath (Ps 11:6; 16:5; 75:8; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15-28; 49:12; Hab 2:16).
• Q. What are you expecting from Jesus?

“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

• They really thought they could keep the checklist and earn their way.
  • This is what the disciples were thinking. Yes we’ll suffer so we can have the seat of honor! They were essentially saying, “This is about us. If we do this for you, what can you do for us?”
• He’s not saying they can earn it. He is saying they will pay a price to follow.
• The journey into the unknown: it may be filled with trials
• The most misunderstood verse in the Bible: Philippians 4:13 (NLT) For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
  • Context: Paul is talking about drinking the cup! Not being the next great college quarterback.
  • Philippians 4:12 (NLT) I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

The Ransom

Jesus brings the focus back to his personal mission. He himself will give up his life as a ransom for many, setting an example for his disciples to follow. 

Mark 10:41-45 (NLT) When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

• “But among you it will be different”
  • No more following Jesus for the wrong reasons, for what you’ll get out of it.
• He gets all the glory; you get all the grace.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The cardinal point of v. 38 is that Jesus’ question (“‘Can you drink the cup . . . ?'”) requires a negative answer: despite their claim, the disciples cannot drink the cup and undergo the fate that only Jesus must undergo. The reason why becomes apparent in v. 45 when, for the first time in Mark, Jesus reveals the vicarious effects of his self-sacrifice for others.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The preeminent virtue of God’s kingdom is not power, not even freedom, but service. Ironically, greatness belongs to the one who is not great, the diakonos, the ordinary Gk. word for waiting on tables (on diakonos, see further at 9:35). The preeminence of service in the kingdom of God grows out of Jesus’ teaching on love for one’s neighbor, for service is love made tangible.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) a slave (Gk., doulos), who was inferior even to a servant (Gk., diakonos), was in ancient society the last and least of all. The idea of a slave being first is as absurdly paradoxical as a camel going through the eye of a needle (v. 25) – and it probably likewise induced smiles and shaking heads from Jesus’ audience.
• What are you expecting from Jesus?
  • A conquering king?
  • No, a suffering servant (See Isaiah 53)
• Jesus paid the price so we could get “Everything I wanted (needed) but nothing I expected.” JS 
  • The more you follow Jesus, the less you’re interested in your glory and the more you’re interested in his.

Close

You might suffer as you follow Jesus, but it’s worth it. You’ll get everything you needed but nothing you expected.

• The journey with Jesus is an unexpected one. Ultimately, God has called us to have the same resolve Jesus had on his way to the cross. Following him doesn’t mean success in worldly terms…
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The initiative of his atoning work lies within himself as Son of Man, who, in stark contrast to the power-mongerers of v. 42, freely offers his life as the ransom price for all (John 10:11; Rom 8:2-4).