Mark 10:32-34, The Message - Back on the road, they set out for Jerusalem. Jesus had a head start on them, and they were following, puzzled and not just a little afraid. He took the Twelve and began again to go over what to expect next. “Listen to me carefully. We’re on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Romans, who will mock and spit on him, give him the third degree, and kill him. After three days he will rise alive.”
This is third time Jesus has
given the disciples this prediction about His death. The way in which Mark renders this prediction
suggests that the disciples are finally beginning to believe that the
prediction is true. They were both
amazed and afraid in response. Jesus’s
compassion and concern for them is seen as He seeks to prepare them as much as
possible for what is going to happen.
This is what great leaders do and there is none greater than Jesus.
I am
reminded in this passage that fear and excitement can be present in the same
moment. I remember the months leading up
to the time when I became a father. I
was excited about the possibility because I wanted to be a father. At the same time, it scared me to death
because I knew that it was the hardest job I would ever have and it would
include stuff that I would never choose otherwise. Some of the most difficult times I have ever
faced have been because I was a father and there might still be such times
ahead of me. At the same time, I don’t
even waste time thinking about what might have happened if I never became a
father, because I know without a doubt that it was part of the path laid out
for me by God. To be a father is to
embrace fear and amazement simultaneously.
Mark is
trying to teach us that being a disciple is to embrace the same paradox. God chose to enter human history as a human
knowing that it would result in rejection and death. Jesus’s purpose is fulfilled precisely in
that willingness to embrace humanity and be rejected by humanity at the same
time. We are saved by such an
embrace. The bridge between us and God
is built by this divine choice.
We, like
the disciples in this passage, are called to embrace this same purpose. The disciples are literally following Jesus
to Jerusalem so that He can be killed.
They now know this if for no other reason than they have been told three
times now. They are beginning to feel it
coming themselves and yet, they keep following Him. Take a minute to really think about that. They know they are following their leader to
His death and they keep following anyway.
This is
still the invitation of Jesus’s disciples.
Since the time of Jesus, His followers have embraced “the cross” they
will have to bear, many of them even following Jesus though it meant their own
death. We follow Jesus even though we
know that it will inevitably lead to unpleasantness. It is at once the greatest and the most
terrible invitation we will ever receive.
Jesus lived and died to show God’s love for others. We are called to do the same.
Question: What joys
and sufferings have you experienced as a result of you deciding to become one
that follows Christ?
Prayer: (This is John
Wesley’s Covenant Prayer) : I am no
longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou
wilt. Put me to doing, put me to
suffering. Let me be employed by thee or
laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy
pleasure and disposal. And now, O
glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am
thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be
ratified in heaven. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people you know facing the loss of their independence right now
(interpreting that however you wish).
Song: Covenant Prayer
– New Life Church
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