Mark 10:35-45 - The power of serving

James and John - also nicknamed the 'sons of thunder' (Mark 3:17) are as bold as ever, pretty much demanding that Jesus give them the most powerful positions in his kingdom.  They've completely missed the point...

Mark 10:35-45

Jesus' kingdom isn't about power - it's about serving.  James and John haven't figured it out yet.  Jesus has come to serve the world as only he can by dying in people's place and defeating death on their behalf so they (and we) might have forgiveness and friendship with God (John 3:16).  This is what Jesus' kingdom is built on.

Jesus knows the kind of death he's going to have to endure and this is what he's hinting at with the 'cup' and the 'baptism' he mentions.  Later on in Mark's account, we'll see Jesus faced with the cross and again using the image of the 'cup' to describe what lies ahead (Mark 14:36).  James and John don't really know what they're asking and yet Jesus knows that they too will end up facing death for trusting and following him (v39).

The anger of the rest of the disciples seems to demonstrate they too had missed the point.  Maybe they were all hoping for power too and were gutted that James and John had the audacity to ask for it first.  Jesus explains to them that his kingdom is about serving, not about power and if they want to follow him, they need to realise it.  He's not here to rule in power but to die in humility and humiliation to pay the price of humanity's rebellion against God (v45).

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Mark 10:32-34 - Monumental predictions!

It's Easter and nothing's a bigger deal than the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  If it's true, it changes everything about how we should relate to Jesus.

Mark 10:32-34

Jesus has predicted some of the specific details of his death and resurrection twice already (Mark 8:31, 9:30-31) and now he's talking about it for a third time.  Specific details.  Ahead of time.  On three occasions.  These are not the words of a normal man, or even a great man.  They are the words of God, who is quite capable of defeating death, planning it in advance and telling people about it so they will sit up and take notice.

We see two opposite reactions to Jesus in this passage: his followers are astonished whilst others are afraid.  When confronted with the reality of Jesus, these are the only two logical responses.  There was no-one hanging around Jesus at this point who was apathetic or mildly curious and anyone today who has these reactions to Jesus, simply hasn't explored the facts properly for themselves.

Have you explored and considered the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead?  And if you have, are you astonished or afraid?

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Mark 10:13-31 - Childlike or richlike?

The next two bits of Mark 10 are about children and then a rich man and they make an interesting contrast about how to approach Jesus...

Mark 10:13-31

The fact that the disciples told the kids off for coming to Jesus (v13) shows they had a little bit of a pride problem.  Maybe they thought Jesus was just for adults, or worse - just for adults as good as they were.  That would be ridiculous.  No wonder Jesus is mad about it (v14).  He welcomes the children and uses them as an example of how everyone should come to him (v14-16) and I think it's about humility, simplicity and dependency.  The kids don't come to Jesus thinking they're important or deserve anything, they don't come with complicated questions to test him and they don't come thinking they don't need anything.  They're a great example to everyone.

The attitude and approach of the children stands in stark contrast to that of the rich man who comes to Jesus next.  He comes with pride, a question to justify himself and is dependent only on his own good works to make him right with God.  He's asking the wrong question.  It's not about what he can do - it's about what only Jesus can do.

When Jesus says, 'Why do you call me good?  No-one is good except God alone' (v18), he's challenging the rich man's logic.  If he thinks he can do his way into heaven and is good enough for God, then why does he need help from Jesus at all?  What's the point of coming to Jesus unless he's the only one who is truly good? It's a great question Jesus asks and it should help the man think about his pride problem.

The rich man continues to try and justify himself.  He's hoping Jesus will say something like, 'Well done!  You're one of the good ones.  You'll be in heaven for sure!  See you there!' but the confirmation never comes and instead, Jesus says the one thing he lacks is to sell his wealth, give all the money to the poor and then come and follow him (v21).  Is Jesus saying that this guy really can earn his way to being right with God if he only gives away his wealth?  I don't think so.  The 'one thing' the man lacks is a deep conviction of his sin and helplessness before God.  Jesus gives him a challenge that he knows the rich man will find too hard.  I'm sure he's is hoping the rich man will try (because of his pride) and then fail (because of his pride) and then maybe he'll return with a very different question.  Maybe when he comes back, instead of trying to justify himself, he'll come like the kids did - in humility, simplicity and dependency and asking for mercy, forgiveness and help.

Jesus talks with his disciples about how hard it is for rich people to come to him and be part of his kingdom family (v23-25).  It's hard because most rich people have the same problem this guy had - pride.  The rich generally find it hard to recognise their need for God because they're so dependent on themselves, their money and their stuff. And why do I keep saying 'they' like I'm not rich?  If you don't think you're rich, try visiting www.globalrichlist.com and then think about whether your approach to Jesus is more like the children or the rich man!

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KONY2012

Please take 30 minutes of your life to watch this!

As for me, I won't be plastering Exeter with posters because I'm not sure it'll do much more than annoy people, especially those who will have to clean up the mess.

But I'm reposting the film, encouraging as many people as possible to watch it for their own awareness and so that praying types like me can pray that Kony will come to justice this year.

Mark 10:1-12 - Promises, promises

Marriage is a big deal to God, even when it's not to us...

Mark 10:1-12

Jesus teaches here that marriage is something where God is joining two people together.  In Genesis 2:24, we see God inventing the idea of marriage and it's described as two people leaving home to join together and become one.  This is God's design for marriage.

But like anything good that God has made, we do have a habit of messing it up or settling for less and it's an unfortunately common story when it comes to marriages.  Marriages fail for all sorts of reasons (what Jesus refers to as 'hard hearts') but wherever two people set out to become one, making promises to each other, God wants the marriage to succeed, he expects it to and he knows that it can.  He is 'joining two people together' (v9).

Sex is the most intimate act and the Bible repeatedly speaks of it making two people one, often referring back to the Genesis story quoted here by Jesus (Matthew 19:5, 1 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 5:31).  This is why God says sex is exclusively for marriage.  Commitment before intimacy.  The best sex is sex within a loving and committed marriage and God wants the best for us because he loves us.

The reasons people walk out on marriages aren't always good ones.  Sometimes they never took the commitment seriously enough, sometimes they leave for someone else and sometimes they give up because they're fed up of it being hard work.  There are good reasons too but they're all because something seriously wrong is destroying the marriage, such as an abusive partner who isn't changing and the home is unsafe, or sexual unfaithfulness where someone has 'become one' with someone else (Matthew 5:32, 19:9).  With genuine desire for change and with a lot of help, both of these situations can be overcome but more often than not, the abuse or the unfaithfulness continues and divorce becomes the only good way forward.

So God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) but sometimes it becomes necessary because of sin.  I think the main challenge here for us in our consumerist society (where people consume sex, relationships and marriages like anything else) is for us to take commitment and intimacy seriously and when we make promises, we should count the cost and keep them.

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Mark 9:43-50 - Cut it off!

Apparently some men have chopped their bits off after grossly misinterpreting the passage we're about to read!  Yikes!  Let's see if we can understand what Jesus is really saying...

Mark 9:43-50

So if I steal things with my hands am I really meant to chop them off?  If I can't stop swearing should I cut out my tongue?  If I stare at pornography should I gouge my eyes out or worse?

Actually, I think Jesus is advocating something even more radical than this!  See, the problem is that chopping my hands off doesn't stop me being jealous of other people's property.  Cutting my tongue out doesn't stop me hating people or losing my temper.  And gouging my eyes out doesn't stop me lusting in my mind.  In Matthew's account of this teaching he also recalls Jesus explaining that sinning in our thinking is as serious as sinning in our actions (Matthew 5:27-30).  So a literal interpretation stops short of what Jesus is getting at here and doesn't really achieve anything because hacking our bodies up won't stop us sinning!

Jesus is tough on sin.  He hates it because it destroys us and he wants us to be ruthlessly thorough in avoiding it.  This is the point.  He wants us to live life fully in relationship with him rather than be destroyed by sin.  Temptation itself isn't sin - Jesus was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11) but if sin starts with temptation (James 1:13-15) then it's a good idea to avoid it wherever possible (2 Timothy 2:22, 1 Thessalonians 5:22, 1 Corinthians 6:18, James 4:7).

So in practical terms, it's about cutting off temptation wherever we can.  If we're easily tempted by sports cars then maybe cycle a different way home that avoids the showrooms.  If we're tempted to lose control of our words when we're angry, perhaps make a habit of walking away from heated conversations.  If laziness is our issue, then why not ask a friend to commit to giving us a wake up call?  Or if porn's our problem, get some free accountability software to remove the opportunity of ogling at stuff we shouldn't.  If it's getting drunk then maybe don't hang out in pubs so much or keep alcohol in the house.  Whatever it takes to help us avoid that which destroys us.  So probably not self-mutilation!  Thank goodness for that!

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