The Gospel According To MarkНамуна

Continuing Preparation for Jesus’ Suffering: Mark 9:30-10:52

The second part of Mark’s account of Jesus’ preparation for his suffering, death and resurrection deals with the values of the kingdom of God, and is found in Mark 9:30–10:31.

Like each section of Mark’s account of Jesus’ preparation for Jerusalem, this one begins with Jesus predicting his suffering, death and resurrection. This helps us see that Mark was still emphasizing the disciples’ preparation for those events. After this prediction, Jesus continued to prepare his disciples by explaining that God does not judge things the same way human beings do. So, no matter what they suffered, and no matter what strange things happened, they weren’t to judge matters in the way the world does. Rather, they were to be assured that God was using these events to bring in his kingdom and to glorify Jesus. 

After Jesus’ prediction in Mark 9:30-31, Mark reported Jesus’ teachings on the values of the kingdom. In this section, Jesus demonstrated how worldly intuitions clash with God’s truth in five areas of life. 

First, Jesus talked about honor in Mark 9:32-42, pointing out that those who are most honored in the kingdom of God are the ones that are honored least in this life. 

Second, Jesus talked about worth in Mark 9:43-50. Specifically, he instructed his followers to get rid of anything that hindered them from pursuing the goals of the kingdom of God, regardless of how valuable those things seemed to be in this life. 

Third, Jesus talked about marriage in Mark 10:1-12. His point was that marriage and divorce should ultimately be reckoned according to God’s law rather than human law — even if human law seemed to be intuitively more fair. 

Fourth, Jesus talked about children again in Mark 10:13-16. Despite what Jesus had said earlier, his disciples were still preventing children from approaching him. In response, Jesus reminded them that God had already given the kingdom to these children, so that by refusing the children the disciples were opposing God. 

And fifth, Jesus talked about wealth in Mark 10:17-31. This is the well-known story of the rich young ruler, who was dismayed when Jesus told him that his attachment to money was hindering him from embracing the values of the kingdom of God.

In each of these sections of teaching, Jesus explained the values of God’s kingdom so that his disciples would be better prepared to accept his suffering death, as well as the hardship they would have to endure as his followers. 

The third part of Mark’s account in Jesus’ preparation for Jerusalem deals with leadership in the kingdom of God in Mark 10:32-52.

After predicting his suffering, death and resurrection in Mark 10:32-34, Jesus addressed the question of leadership in the kingdom in three parts.

First, he said that James and John would have to share in his suffering in Mark 10:35-40. They would drink of the same cup and undergo the same baptism. These metaphors implied that Jesus’ followers would have to share in his sufferings because of their service to him. 

Second, Jesus described leadership in the kingdom as service in Mark 10:40-45. He had mentioned this idea twice before when talking about the values in the kingdom. But this was the first time he had explained the reason behind it: Christian leaders have to be servants because they follow the model of Christ, who himself acted as a servant by suffering and dying for sin. 

Third, Jesus demonstrated the motivation for servant leadership by showing mercy to the blind man Bartimaeus. Servant leaders are not to make sacrifices just because they want a greater reward in the kingdom, but because they truly have compassion for those they serve.