Mark: The Divine Standard
of Service – 8: 31 - 10: 52

Finally, Jesus undertakes to bring them to an understanding of His ultimate mission.

• They had observed Jesus, both the Man and His methods, His teaching and His miracles – and in a limited measure had themselves served successfully.

• A far more testing part of the disciples' training now lies before them.

Three times over, Jesus confides in them the details of His impending death and resurrection.

• In each prediction the key element is different – more intense – going from rejection to betrayal to personal humiliation.

• Their response to each prediction is an exposure of their inability to enter intelligently and sympathetically into His thoughts and feelings.

• Time after time, they fail to understand. But, despite His own foreboding, Jesus uses each failure for further instruction.

Following each prediction and the subsequent failure and specific instruction, there is an interlude of general instruction on:

1. the uniqueness of Christ and their responsibility during His coming absence – 9: 2-29 –

2. responsibility in the sphere of family relationships and possessions – 10: 1-31 – and

3. the overthrow of the world-system – 10: 46-52 – so that they may follow Jesus as He approaches the ultimate test for any servant – death.

How rightly it has been said: A man only truly believes in that for which he is prepared to lay down his life!

Peter had shone in the confession of Jesus as the Christ, but now he displays an abysmal ignorance of what is involved in being Jehovah's Servant. Compare Isaiah 52: 13-53: 12.

• Only after the resurrection did he understand the divine order: "the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these", 1 Peter 1: 11.

• Here he takes it upon himself to rebuke Jesus. Matthew 16: 22 adds, "This shall in no wise be unto thee", making it clear that Peter was guilty of sentimentalism.

• Jesus turning sees His disciples. No doubt weighing up the effect and influence which Peter's statement would have on them,
  • He administers the most severe rebuke to Peter: "Get away behind me, Satan".

• Peter's mind is "not on the things that are of God, but on the things that are of men".
  • This is just sentimentalism, how the matter would be viewed from a merely human standpoint.

• His understanding is defective. This lack of perception and consequent failure is repeated over and over again as Jesus seeks to share His heavy burden with His disciples.

• Let us, as servants, learn to listen to the Lord and to ask for understanding of His thoughts, rather than rushing in with our own frail and feeble assessment.
  • "Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things. Remember Jesus Christ raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, according to my glad tidings", 1 Timothy 2: 7-8.

Jesus meets each exposure by bringing in specific instruction to correct the particular failure in understanding His prediction.

• He does not specifically mention crucifixion in any of the three predictions, only stating that He will be killed. See chapter 8: 31; 9: 30-32; 10: 32-34.

• But He immediately brings in the cross to set aside sentimentalism.
  If I myself deny, where I could gratify,
  I suffer bitterly, but sweet is liberty.

• Every follower of Jesus must say no to himself, to his hopes and ambitions, to all that might be gain, to his very life, and take up his cross and follow Jesus. Where? Where, but to the cross?

• In rebuking the Lord, Peter not only rejects death for Jesus in pursuit of His service for God and men,
  • he also rejects death and the cross for himself. How subtle is man's mind!

In answer to the predicted sufferings there is a glimpse of the coming glory which will be the Servant's ultimate vindication.

• "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?", Luke 24: 26.

• For the second time, Jesus takes Peter James and John, the favoured three, apart with Him. Compare 2 Samuel 23: 13-17, 19, 23.

• The first occurrence was at the healing of Jairus' daughter and the last time will be in Gethsemane. See chapter 5: 37; 14: 33.

• How privileged were these three selected by Jesus to be with Him on such special occasions! Let us be alert and in a suitable state for the Lord to grant us similar experiences.

Such occasions are not only great and holy privileges but they also become sources of strength to all servants.

• Peter never forgot that they had been "with Him on the holy mountain", 2 Peter 1: 18.

"By themselves apart" they see Jesus transfigured, even His clothes becoming dazzling white, and both Moses and Elijah – the outstanding Old Testament servants – talking with Him.

• The three were overwhelmed with this great sight. Peter is so carried away that, not knowing what to say, he suggests building three tabernacles, not distinguishing the uniqueness of Jesus.
  • How like Peter many of us are! If we do not know what to say then let us learn to be silent.

God Himself intervenes, and "there came a cloud overshadowing them", drawing attention to Jesus in all His uniqueness. "This is My beloved Son: hear Him".

• Peter calls it "the excellent glory", 2 Peter 1: 17.

• Compare Deut. 19: 15; Isaiah 42: 1; Psalm 2: 7.

• The Servant is the Son. He is not only our Teacher and Exemplar, He is also our Lord.

• What a rebuke to Peter who had rebuked Jesus for speaking of suffering and death!

• As Peter, we are only servants and must learn to "hear Him", to take our lead from the Son and to follow His directions.

Not only must we not step out of the place of servants ourselves,

• but we must learn not to attempt to put even the greatest of our fellow-servants, who are but men, on the same level as our Lord and Master.
  • Compare 1 Corinthians 3: 4-8.

Here we see, in the favoured three, the practical working out of the two miraculous healings peculiar to Mark.

• See chapter 7: 31-37; 8: 22-26 – the healing of the deaf and dumb man and the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida.

• Rather than not knowing what to say they are to learn to hear – "Hear Him" – so that they can speak "right";

• instead of seeing servants "as trees walking", they are to see "clearly" so that "they no longer saw anyone, but Jesus alone with themselves".

• Let us also learn these lessons well.

As they descend from the mountain, Jesus charges them to tell no one of what they had just seen until after He was risen from the dead.

• Instead of being sympathetically with Him and inquiring as to His resurrection, they question each other as to it and only compound their collective ignorance.

• As so many today, they are more interested in prophetic events, asking about Elijah.

• Jesus answers them briefly, turning again to the imminent sufferings which are before Him.

• If John the baptist – the forerunner of the Christ – had come and been rejected, so also will be the Son of Man, the Servant-Prophet.

• "The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who has sent him", John 13: 16.
  • We too, as His followers, must therefore also expect to be rejected.

While Jesus was above in the glory of His transfiguration with the privileged three,

• the remaining nine disciples were being tested below, surrounded by a crowd and unable to answer the scribes.

• A man in desperate straits over the plight of his spirit-possessed son had brought him to Jesus for healing.
  • In Jesus' absence he asks and expects the disciples to cast out the spirit, but they lack the power.

• Earlier, as a result of Jesus having given "them power" i.e., authority "over the unclean spirits … they cast out many demons", 6: 7, 13. But here they are powerless.

• Had they been relying on past successes or on their reputations?

We may claim to be the Lord's servants and to have a special relationship with Him, yet when needy souls come to us for help we may find ourselves completely unable to meet their needs.

• How humbling for us! How dishonouring to our Master!

• "Bring him to Me". Jesus must act Himself, as He still does when we fail Him. He inquires about the son. The father explains and then pleads:
  • "But if thou couldst do anything, be moved with pity on us, and help us".

• The Lord uses the father's doubts to bring out the necessity of faith.
  • The failure of the disciples had even engendered lack of faith in this man as to Jesus' own ability to heal his son.

• How important our influence is, and what effects our own failure can have!

• Jesus acts, the spirit reluctantly leaves and the boy is restored.

Chagrined by their failure, the disciples wait until they are alone indoors, and then shamefacedly ask Jesus why they could not drive the spirit out.

• Jesus' answer is embarrassingly simple: "This kind can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting".
  • They lacked faith and had been neglecting prayer, dependence on God and His power.

• For us the Spirit is here in answering power to Jesus' position as glorified at God's right hand.
  • See John 7: 37-39; Acts 2: 33.

• Our only source of power as servants is faith in Christ above and prayerful dependence on the Spirit here.

Again, the understanding is the problem. We must learn to understand our Lord's words if we are to enter into His thoughts and be usable in His service.

• Many can quote traditional authorities and even yards of Scripture but this, however valuable, can never be a substitute for knowing His mind in any situation.

• Why did they not ask? Why fear? Are not we the same? Sometimes we are afraid to admit our ignorance, keeping ourselves from the answer we so urgently need.

• They had asked why they could not drive the unclean spirit out, because that affected them personally. Why not ask about the betrayal? Did they fear the answer?

• If we fear failure through weakness, or for any other reason, let us not hesitate to go to the Lord. He will give us the answer to our fears and failures.

When they arrive at Capernaum, Jesus questions them as to what they had been arguing about on the way.

• "Do not quarrel on the way", Genesis 45: 24.

• They were too ashamed to answer Him because on the way they had been reasoning about which of them was "greatest" – the sin of rivalry.

Their lack of understanding and complete insensitivity to the solemn matter of their Lord's imminent betrayal and death, and His desire to share His thoughts and feelings with them, is exposed.

• Like little children caught in some naughty act by their parents, they are speechless in their obvious guilt.

Instead of inquiring of the Lord about His prediction, and seeking to sympathetically enter into His foreboding, they had been completely self-occupied in a worldly spirit of rivalry –

• each drawing attention to his own fancied superiority, or supporting the one he most admired.

• They completely ignored Jesus' prediction: "The Son of man is delivered into men's hands", 9: 31.

Only one close to Him and in His confidence, as they were, could betray Him.

• They ought to have each been searching his own heart as to what could lead to His betrayal rather than vaunting themselves.

• The disclosure, "One of you shall deliver Me up; he who is eating with Me", finally produces the self-searching "Is it I ?", that His prediction demands. See chapter 14: 12-26.

• "Let nothing be in the spirit of strife or vain glory, but, in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves; regarding not each his own qualities, but each those of others also", Phil. 2: 3-4.

Jesus does not directly rebuke them. He sits down, calls them and directs their innate desire to be first in the proper direction for servants:

• "If any one would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister of all".

• If you want to be first, go ahead. Be first by being last, the least. Excel in service to all. Become leader in service, by putting others first.

Then He takes a little child – perhaps there were several there – and has it stand among the disciples

• so that they can have a good look at that which represents His own spirit and attitude among them.
• No one considers a little child great; and in the presence of adults a little child does not consider itself great. Such is the spirit that Jesus manifested among them.

• He then takes the little child in His arms showing how closely He identifies Himself with the spirit of the little child.
  • "Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in My name, receives Me; and whosoever shall receive Me, does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me".

Just as Jesus came in lowliness and humility, a Servant representing God,

• so we, in the spirit of a little child, claiming no greatness of our own, ought to represent Him and thus draw attention to the greatness of the Sender.

What a powerful rebuke to the worldly spirit of rivalry to which those in the place of servants are so susceptible!

Another evidence of the disciples' insensitivity to Jesus' imminent betrayal and death comes out in John's confession. It appears that his conscience had been reached.

• Jesus had just spoken of receiving even a little child in His name, thus receiving Jesus and Him who had sent Him.

• John's tender conscience causes him to blurt out this confession: "Teacher, we saw some one casting out demons in Thy name, who does not follow us, and we forbade him, because he does not follow us".

• What had they done? Had they gone against Jesus and the One who had sent Him? John had good reason to wonder and be troubled.

• The sin of sectarianism – unquestionably, it is sin – is one to which Christians in general are extremely susceptible –
  • and especially so if out of accord with the Lord's mind, as the twelve were.

• Our inflated thoughts of ourselves as the sole authorized representatives of Christ and custodians of truth, and our disdain and contempt for other believers of different convictions,
  • seems to be in proportion to our distance from Christ and our indifference to His present thoughts.

Jesus forbids interference. Let us then pay attention. The test is whether the miracle is done in Jesus' name.

• No one who values the name of Jesus and honours Him can turn around and immediately speak against Him.
  • "He who is not against us is for us".

This is a basic principle to follow in service: Don't interfere with others but, instead, thank the Lord Jesus for all that is truly done in His name.

• The smallest service done in His name will surely be rewarded. It is His name and He will decide as to how it has been used.

• Let us leave that to Him, and go on with what He has given us each to do.

He goes on to issue a stern warning as to any action against those who believe in Him. Then He turns us to consider our own propensities to sin.

• Rather than rivalry and sectarianism – sins against others – we should deal effectively with those sins in ourselves which impair our own service.
  • "Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own master he stands or falls. And he shall be made to stand; for the Lord is able to makes him stand", Romans 14: 4.

If we are occupied with others and their service, we lose our ability to judge ourselves.

• "If the salt is become saltless" of what use can we be in His service? "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another".

Let us be before the Lord in self-judgment as to every feature of our service.

• This is the only way to effectively deal with rivalry among ourselves and sectarianism towards others, and thus we will be at peace with one another.
  • "Walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace", Ephesians 4: 2-3.

On this final journey Jesus follows the usual route taken by Galileans, crossing over the Jordan to the east bank and continuing southward through Perea–Moab.

• Mark only records the final events of Jesus' extensive Perean ministry – see Luke 10: 1-18: 34 for the full account –
  • and does not even allude to His trips over the Jordan to Bethany and Jerusalem. Compare John 9 – 11.

• It is consistent with Mark's presentation of Him as the Servant to portray Jesus travelling directly on to Jerusalem.

• The only interruptions recorded are the brief accounts of His ministry, as if of necessity:
  • "Again crowds come together to Him and, as He was accustomed, again He taught them".

His teaching is on family relationships, marriage and children, and man's basic relationship to God in the light of material possessions.

• This is in keeping with the typical meaning of the geographical area in which He was, "the plains of Moab, on the other side of the Jordan from Jericho", Numbers 22: 1; 26: 63; 33: 48.

• This was the last stopping place for Israel before crossing the Jordan into the promised land.

• It was here that "Balaam … taught Balak to cast a snare before the sons of Israel, to eat of idol sacrifices and commit fornication", Rev. 2: 14; Numbers 25: 1-9.
  • This bears upon the question of the Pharisees about divorce.

It is recorded of this same area that the tribes of Reuben and Gad said to Moses that

• it "is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle … let this land be given to thy servants for a possession: bring us not over the Jordan", Numbers 32: 4-5.

• This clearly relates to the question of the man who "sad at the word, went away grieved, for he had large possessions", 10: 22.

Two of Satan's most successful weapons – at the present time – to hinder persons coming to Christ and to hinder the people of God from crossing the Jordan to enter their heavenly privileges are these:

1. the breakdown of family relationships through sexual immorality, and the alienation of parents and children through the so-called 'generation gap';

2. secular materialism, the lust to acquire and retain earthly possessions.

Jesus meets both of these matters head on. Nothing hinders Him.

• Just as the Ark at the head of the people approached the land from the east side of the Jordan,

• so Jesus in His service will cross the Jordan, pass through Jericho subduing it – compare Joshua 3 and Joshua 6 –

• and pass on triumphantly on His final journey to Jerusalem to lay down His life "that through death He might annul him who has the might of death, that is the devil", Hebrews 2: 4.

As those committed to His service, we ought to review our relationships and – without reserve – be prepared to follow Him whatever the cost.

• We are to learn to fulfil each of our responsibilities – as to our families and as to our possessions – in a manner pleasing and honouring to God, not seeking to fulfil our own lusts.

• Compare Ephesians 5: 22-6: 9; Colossians 3: 18-4: 1; 1 Timothy 6: 17-19.

Earlier, Jesus resolved personal problems and restored family relationships.

• There the emphasis was on the absolute helplessness of each component of the family – and the necessity of divine power, mediated through the Lord, to set matters right.
  • See The Family Trilogy, chapter 5: 1-43.

In this and the two following sections, relationships to family and to possessions are viewed from the standpoint of responsibility.

• Either the evasion or the rejection of responsibility is implied in each instance.

The disciples must learn, as we also must, how to hold family relationships and material possessions in responsibility to God.

• Servants cannot rightly represent their Lord if they ignore their responsibility in these matters.

• Evasion or rejection of responsibility is a practical betrayal of Christ.

Satan alienated Adam and Eve from God and from each other by effecting a subtle breakdown in the marriage relationship.

• He enticed the woman into acting independently, ignoring the commandment of God and the headship of the man.

• The man failed to protect the woman, and he tried to put the responsibility for the failure on the woman – and even on God Himself.

• Ever since, men and women in their fallen state have evidenced their innate susceptibility to Satan's efforts to mar and, if possible, destroy the divinely established prime human relationship.

• Paul warns the Corinthians that Satan still uses the same strategy in his attempt to rob Christ of His rightful place in the affections of the assembly. See 2 Corinthians 11: 1-15.

Day the same situation prevails; men and women use any excuse to escape their responsibility to God and to each other.

• The old new morality immorality, unethical situation ethics and lowest common denominator community standards, embraced by the world, have been let into the public church by the back door.

• Even some who claim to be the Lord's servants have been affected. Jesus names the result as adultery – legalized nowadays, but still adultery.

The preceding section exposes an irresponsible, negative and selfish attitude towards marriage.

• When God's viewpoint is rejected it is no wonder that the expediency of divorce should be embraced and elevated to almost the same respectability as marriage.

The servant must beware of embracing the world's standards. A valued servant of the Lord warned:

• "Man, going on naturally at a distance from God, consults no one but the world. The world is his oracle; he determines everything by the judgment of the world.

• "Whereas the man of faith turns his eye to God, and seeks counsel and direction from Him; and then he overcomes the world.

• "Worldliness is the manner, habit or act suggested or recommended by the world. It may be necessary and quite right in itself, but if I measure what is necessary by man's judgment, or seek to supply it according to man's estimate, it is worldly".
  • Ministry by J. B. Stoney – New Series, 10: 314-15, 1879.

Having adopted the world's low view of marriage, it inevitably follows that children, the fruit of marriage – though not the only fruit – are looked down upon, if not actually despised.

• How much these dear little ones, so often mere pawns in divorce cases, suffer!

• Even when parents remain together, children are often unwanted and ignored or, worse, mistreated and abused.

• Sadly, some who take the place of servants ignore the welfare of their own children, absenting themselves from their homes and families for extended intervals as they self-importantly pursue their fancied ministries.

• Servants must never forget the value of children to Him who is pleased to be called "a father of the fatherless", Psalm 68: 5.
  • Compare Deut. 6: 1-9; Joshua 4: 6, 21; Acts 2: 39; 21: 5; Eph. 6: 1-4; Col. 3: 20-21.

The disciples evidently thought that Jesus would consider Himself too great and important to be bothered with blessing little children.

• But He who was, and is, so great came as a little child Himself.

• True greatness consists in using the authority and power with which one is entrusted for the benefit of the weak and defenceless, and not for proud and selfish ends.

• Jesus, as always, exemplifies true servanthood. He was ever ready to bless children, feed the hungry, heal the afflicted and comfort the mourners.

• Finally, He met man's greatest need by laying down His life.

Jesus had taught the disciples earlier about "the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things", 4: 19.

• The affluence of the twentieth century has contributed greatly to the growth of materialism, but it certainly did not produce that insidious earthly error.

• Materialism began when God was displaced from the supreme place in the heart and life of man.

• It must be shamefully admitted that it even finds acceptance among some who profess to be crucified to the world and united to the heavenly Man.
  • Compare Phil. 3: 18-19 and Genesis 4: 16-32.

• Thus this rich man is not alone in desiring eternal life without relinquishing his hold on his earthly possessions.

• Indeed, it is altogether likely that he wanted eternal life so that he could go on enjoying what he had, like the rich fool, "for many years", Luke 12: 13-21.

As always, Jesus answers the man and not the question.

• He skilfully draws out the rich man and his pride in his outwardly blameless life and then, in effect, offers him the desired eternal life on the one condition he was both unwilling and unable to fulfil.

• He tested the man at the point of greatest vulnerability, and found him wanting. Compare 1 John 3: 15-17.

The man sincerely wanted eternal life, but not at the price of giving up his wealth, his material possessions.

• Jesus put His finger on the man's weak spot: "One thing lackest thou".

Every disciple must face and pass this test if he is to become serviceable.

• Some have great wealth; most of us do not; but we do not want to give up what we have.

• We want Christ and our possessions – Christ and our position – Christ and whatever we value most.

• But it cannot be. Jesus is going to Jerusalem to die, to give up all.

• It was the very desire for money that would give birth to the betrayal of Jesus, of which He had earlier warned.
  • See chapter 9: 30-32. Money is only desired in order to acquire material possessions. Compare 1 Timothy 6: 3-19.

It is only by giving up, for Him, that which we hold dearest that we will find that which is best.

• He provides "a hundredfold now in this time" in which we can enter into the present enjoyment of the eternal life which will mark "the coming age".

• He is no man's debtor. We must choose to leave everything and follow Him as He goes on to the cross for "many first shall be last, and the last first".
  • It would be at just this point on His journey to Jerusalem that Jesus would – as the Ark of old – cross the Jordan.

Family relationships and having possessions are not wrong in themselves, but if Christ and our commitment to Him do not have the first place in our lives they will lead us to betray the One we profess to follow.

• He is ready to show us what He can and will do for those who leave everything for Him and the gospel.

• The nearer He gets to Jerusalem the greater the challenges become to His followers.

• Let us who desire to serve the Lord answer to the challenges in a way that is worthy of Him.

There was a general foreboding as to what would take place in Jerusalem – for the disciples "were amazed, and were afraid as they followed Him".

• In this atmosphere of anxiety He takes the twelve aside again and tells them what is about to happen to Him.

• In the first prediction He emphasized His rejection, and in the second the betrayal.

• Here He adds the final feature – His humiliation.
  • "The nations … shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and" finally "shall kill Him".

As Jesus draws nearer to the end He emphasizes the keenness of His personal suffering.

• Rejection by those in power, who should have been the first to receive Him as God's Servant, would be difficult and might daunt even the boldest.

• Betrayal by an intimate friend would strike closer home:
  • "For it is not an enemy that hath" by betrayal "reproached Me – then could I have borne it … But it was thou, a man Mine equal, Mine intimate, My familiar friend … We who held sweet intercourse together. To the house of God we walked amid the throng", Psalm 55: 12-14.

• But the one kind of suffering from men that is the hardest of all to bear is personal humiliation,
  • being physically exposed publicly, and being heartlessly insulted and taunted by a mob. This is the hardest to bear!

His sufferings at the hand of God as the sin offering are of an entirely different character and intensity from His sufferings at the hands of men.

• The severity of His suffering at the hand of God is expressed in the agonizing cry,
  • "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Psalm 22: 1.

• Following that, the Spirit of Christ expresses His deep personal feelings at His public humiliation:
  • "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and the despised of the people. All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lips, they shake the head … I may count all My bones. They look, they stare upon Me; They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture", Psalm 22: 6-7, 17-18.

Jesus anticipates His public humiliation with the deepest emotions.

• There are times when a faithful servant will experience this kind of suffering – possibly in its full intensity in martyrdom, perhaps in some lesser degree before the public and the government

• or, and it is shameful to have to admit it, among his brethren as endured by some in recent times.

• Let the example of the model Servant strengthen us for whatever humiliation our faithfulness in service may bring upon us.

• Again, as following the previous predictions of His death, the disciples display their complete and utter insensitivity.

As servants we should be listening to our Master and entering into His thoughts, rather than thinking about ourselves.

• At this critical juncture, Jesus is contemplating the sufferings and humiliation which awaited Him in Jerusalem. How welcome the sympathy and understanding of His disciples would have been!

• But James and John, two of the intimate inner circle, from whom He ought especially to have been able to expect sympathy, are utterly oblivious to His deepest feelings and needs at this crucial moment.
  • James and John were His cousins, according to the flesh, as their mother Salome was the sister of Mary, the mother of our Lord. See chapter 16: 1-8. They may even have thought that this close relationship entitled them to the positions they sought.

Matthew 20: 20-23 indicates that their mother was involved, possibly even the motivator, in the unseemly and untimely request.

• But here the full responsibility is laid on the two disciples. Servants are not to be influenced in their service by even the closest of relatives.
  • Jesus had exemplified this lesson in chapter 3: 20-35.

• Indeed, what servant with any understanding at all would seek a place for himself?

Earlier they had all been guilty of being marked by the spirit of rivalry, "reasoning with one another who was greatest", 9: 33-37.

• Here, however, the issue is who is going to be the greatest in the coming kingdom.

• Evidently James and John were not satisfied with Jesus' promise: "in the coming age life eternal", 10: 30.

• They attempt to preempt the two chief places either side of the Lord in His coming glory. How unworthy! But how like us!

• They will allow the Lord the privilege of saying which of them will be on His right and on His left, as long as they are assured of the chief places. What audacity!

Apart from the utter unsuitability of servants seeking places of honour for themselves, they are completely out of accord with the moment.

• They are not thinking only of His "glory", but of theirs, when He had just been speaking of His sufferings and humiliation.

• Let us as servants accept that the way to glory is through suffering.
  • See Luke 24: 26; Philippians 3: 10, 21; Romans 8: 17-18; 2 Timothy 2: 12; Hebrews 2: 10; 1 Peter 1: 11.

Jesus says, "Ye do not know what ye ask". What a rebuke!

• They do not understand "the cup", submission to God's will or "the baptism", the overwhelming sufferings and death.

• When challenged as to their ability to face these solemn matters, they glibly reply, "We are able".
  • This is reminiscent of Israel's facile commitment: "All the words that Jehovah has said will we do!", Exodus 24: 3.

• Jesus assures them that they surely will endure the awesome results of following Him.

• He makes crystal clear, however, what every servant ought to know and to fully accept.

• As Jesus, the model Servant, submitted without reservation to the authority and sovereignty of the One above Him, so must every servant for, says He,
  • "to sit on My right hand or on My left is not Mine to give, but for those for whom it prepared".

We are not told how the ten heard about the audacious appeal of James and John.

• Jesus may have related it as a warning, or perhaps the sons of Zebedee told the others themselves in order to gain prestige for such boldness.

• Whatever happened, the ten learned of the attempt and "began to be indignant about James and John".

• They may have thought: 'How could those two have done anything so unworthy and dishonourable?
  • How could they have thought they were so much better or more worthy than the rest of us? Just who do they think they are anyway?'

Would we react similarly if we learned that some of our closest friends had been attempting to get ahead of us?

• Very likely we would! We might say, 'They are only servants, like ourselves'. And we would be 'righteously indignant', as men call it.

• Indignation it might be, but certainly not righteous.

• In reality it would be jealousy and resentment, leading to strife.

• The righteous thing to do would be to weep over the insensitivity of the whole twelve to what Jesus was bearing in His spirit.

Jesus deals with the root problem of James and John, as well as of the ten.

• They all wanted to be "great", and not only great but "first".

• They had the rulers of the nations as their models, persons who exercised lordship and authority over their subjects.

• As disciples of Christ and servants of God, we are to be "great" by serving all and "first" by being bondman of all.

Having been "with Him" for so long, they ought to have discerned the principle that overned Him, their Master, in His service:

• "For also the Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many".

• In His life and service He had been a consistent example, not demanding but giving,
  • not seeking His own ease or pleasure but anticipating and meeting the needs of others,

  • not waiting for someone else to act but taking the lead in service, ready to "give His life a ransom for many".

Peter showed that he had not forgotten this important lesson. Many years later, he passes it on to others:

• "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am their fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ, who also am partaker of the glory about to be revealed:

• "shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising oversight, not by necessity, but willingly; not for base gain, but readily;

• "not as lording it over your possessions, but being models for the flock.

• "And when the chief shepherd is manifested ye shall receive the unfading crown of glory", 1 Peter 5: 1-4.
  • Peter is not mentioned in the gospels as being at the final scene of our Lord's sufferings on the cross, but this suggests that he was there, perhaps hidden in the crowds. Compare 1 Peter 2: 21, 23.

• May we who aspire to serve never forget this lesson either. Jesus, "the chief shepherd", is the true model for all servants.

"Joshua said to the people, Shout; for Jehovah has given you the city … And the people shouted, and they blew with the trumpets.

• "And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpets, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat", Joshua 6: 16, 20.

• In the same way, "Bartimaeus, the blind man … having heard that it was Jesus the Nazaræan, he began to cry out … And many rebuked him, that he might be silent; but he cried so much the more".

The true spirit of servanthood shines in Jesus even though He must bear the pressure of His impending rejection and crucifixion

• as well as the burden of the lack of understanding and sympathy of those He had chosen, called and appointed to be "with Him".

• The great pressure, however, does not prevent Him from hearing the urgent shouts of Bartimaeus.

• By His example He silently rebukes those who rebuked Bartimaeus, who did nothing themselves except to seek to hinder the Servant in His ministry of mercy.

Always alert to need, and especially to expressed need, "Jesus, standing still, desired him to be called".

• He interrupts His final fateful journey to heal this needy soul.

• "For also the Son of man" the promised Son of David "did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and" – as He would do in Jerusalem – "give His life a ransom for many", 10: 45.

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell", Hebrews 11: 30. And Bartimaeus received his sight in Jericho by faith.

• "And Jesus said to him, Go, thy faith has healed thee".

In this final testimony to Jesus' power Bartimaeus receives the blessing, is delivered from the power of blindness – which marks the official leaders –

• and follows Jesus "in the way" as He proceeds towards Jerusalem.