Mark 10:32-45
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, March 17, comes from Mark chapter 10, verses 32 through 45. And they were going on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed. And those who followed were afraid. And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. And they will condemn Him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us, whatever we ask of you. And He said to them, what do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. Jesus said to them, you do not know what you are asking, are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? And they said to him, we are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand, or my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. And when the 10 hurted, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called to them them to him and said, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles, lord it over them, and they're great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all, For even the Son of Man came not to serve, to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Here ends the reading. Wow, there is a whole lot going on. So this begins with a a statement of place, it says, And they were going on the road going up to Jerusalem. So Jesus is on his final trip heading towards Jerusalem where He will be crucified. And so the people who are amazed, they're like, Oh, why would Jesus would you go into this place where the authorities hate you. So he tells them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. And they will condemn Him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise. I have to say, sometimes we give the disciples some crap about not understanding Jesus. I read this and I go, I imagined myself in that situation. And I think to myself, would I have gotten anything out of this? Would I really have understood it? As Jesus is saying, Hey, we're going to Jerusalem, and they're gonna beat me up and kill me. Isn't that great? And you know what? Now, that's gotta be a metaphor. Maybe he's telling us a parable. Maybe it'll be close to death or something like that. I can totally understand why the apostles wouldn't, wouldn't get it. Or maybe, maybe rise from the dead is a figment of speech, I don't know. But what they didn't get. And what is hard, even now for Christians to get is that Jesus is laying out a pattern of glory. For the church. The glory does not come from power and might, but sacrifice and service. And that's why it's right next to the story that comes next. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him, Teacher We want you to do for us, whatever we asked of you. And He said to them, what do you want me to do for you? Now, every once in a while, someone will walk up to me and say, Hey, will you do me a favor? And I always respond With what favor do you want with a little apprehension in my voice? Because as soon as you say yes to a request that you don't know the answer to, then you're committed, right? So that's kind of what's going on here. We want you to do whatever we ask. And almost sounds as if they know that their their request is not the coolest, not the best. So Jesus asked for clarification. And they say, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. I'm imagining that they are excited about being the two guys on the thrones next to the king on his Mighty Throne. They want to be the heads of all the feasts and leading the armies and being in front and all the best stuff. Jesus said to them, you do not know what you are asking, are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? And they said to him, we are able. Now they didn't know what was coming. But I'm willing to bet that they did know that there was going to be some hard days ahead. Jesus says the cup I am to drink are the baptism with which I am baptized. Now, if you're following Jesus, and you expect him to kind of be like a hero, a king who would get rid of the Romans, you'd expect there to be some battles and some difficulties and some trouble. That happened to David, the people who follow David, they were in caves. They were on the run. I mean, it was it was really bad. And so I'm imagining that they're thinking, yeah, yeah, it's gonna be hard, but we can do it, Jesus. They're not thinking it's death. Right? They're not thinking, we're gonna watch our Savior die. That just didn't get it. And so Jesus is saying, are you able to do this, and they're not imagining that what's actually going to happen. That's why he says, You don't know what you're asking. They say we are able, even though they don't know what they're asking for. And he says, You will do it. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. What that refers to is that, James, that the apostles are going to be persecuted just like Jesus, that they will end up facing a lifetime of persecution at the hands of their enemies, who will try to kill them and hurt them. Now, John doesn't die at the hands of the enemies, he ends up as, according to tradition, dying of old age, but it's not for lack of trying, and he's persecuted and he's sent into exile. It's all sorts of terrible stuff. But James certainly, and all the rest of the apostles died a martyr's death. So he says, but to set in my right hand, or at my left is not mine to grant. But it is for those for whom it has been prepared. So Jesus is saying, you don't get to choose for those who have been prepared. Now much of my life, I had imagined that this would be when Jesus returns in his glory, that somebody from all the Christians, and usually the person that you'd the least think of like the, the mom, who just day in and day out, served and loved and didn't get all the glory, they would be the ones to sit at Jesus's left and his right when he comes into his kingdom. But I want you to read something. Here's something from Mark chapter 15. And the script inscription of the charge against him read the King of the Jews. And with him, they crucified two robbers, one on his right, and one on his left. So they didn't get the baptism that Jesus would be baptized with. They didn't understand the cup that he was going to drink because they did not understand what it meant when the Christ would come into his glory. It's not on the last day when the angels come and everything is beautiful and powerful, and we'll see all of us rise from the dead and live forever with Christ. The glory of Christ is the cross. When Jesus comes into his glory, and he has crowned king, with the charge above his head and a throne made out of wood and nails, who sits at his right and his left,
two robbers. And so the people the James and John, they didn't understand what they were asking for, because they didn't know Jesus would die. The glory of Christ is his death on the cross and the power of that sacrifice for us. The reading continues, and when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant, and James and John, and Jesus called to him and said, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all, For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. He mentioned the Gentiles, the rulers of the Gentiles, and they have authority. That is exactly how the the world runs their authorities. Violence is how you convince people to do stuff. There's the threat of law, there's taxation, there's laws, there's all these things. And that's how you get people to obey. That is not how it works in the church. God's word is how we rule in the church, by the proclamation of the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, the servants and speakers of God's word, offer it up freely as a gift in Christ. And they serve, like pastors are there to serve and deliver the message and they want nothing more than for people to hear, listen and respond. And it's done this way, because even Jesus came to serve and not be served. And he gave his life as a ransom for many. And it's the pattern of Christ that all Christians not just pastors, all Christians follow. We come to serve, and not to be served we come to not to exercise authority, but offer offer servanthood and work for the good of others, following our Savior. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai