March 30, 2016 (Wednesday)
This evening at Bethel Baptist Church, Ingleside, we shall continue our study of the gospel of Mark in chapter 10, verses 32-52, in which Jesus again foretells his death, teaches about servanthood and heals a blind man.
After the departure of the rich young ruler, on the way to Jerusalem Jesus again reminded his disciples that when they reached the city, he would be arrested, mistreated and killed, but would rise from the dead the third day.
One would have thought such a revelation would have silenced them and cast out all selfish thoughts from their minds; instead they brought up the subject of their greatness in the kingdom. Jesus taught them once more: “..Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).
They came to the city of Jericho, where Jesus saved Zaccheus, the tax collector (not in the gospel of Mark), and, together with a large crowd, upon leaving the city, passed a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), who was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10:46-52).
The next chapter of Mark shows Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem on what we call, “Palm Sunday.” The rest of the gospel of Mark records the events of what we call, “Holy Week.”
Mark details three incidents in which Jesus, speaking directly to the disciples, specifically predicted his death, burial and resurrection. They should have known what was going to happen in Jerusalem. But they had their own ideas and those ideas clouded their minds and kept them from awareness of the truth. The temptations for us today are just as great, as the enemy, Satan, tempts us to dwell on our own agendas and thereby miss out on what God is doing in this world. Perhaps our first request to God is not, “What will you have me do?” but “What are you doing, and what can I do to help?”
