Are we there yet, are we there yet? Can we stop? I need to go to the toilet. How much longer to go? Pass the biscuits! Dad, she’s kicking me. He’s on my side of the car. Mum, she is leaning on my side. Give me back my Ipod. Dad, he’s pinching me. I’m hot, the suns on me!
We all know the joy of family holidays. Family holidays do provide great memories, particularly the journeys. Movies like ‘Chevy Chase’s National Lampoon’s Vacation’ all trade on and work off the conflict and adventures of the family holiday. But it is truly a miracle that families end up driving to their holiday destinations, because anyone who has done it knows the trials of family holidays: the arguments, the complaints, the fights, the back seat drivers, the constant questioning, are we there yet, are we there yet?
In fact, it takes particular steely determination to venture to go on family holidays. At least one family member, the mum or the dad, has to be convinced that the pain of the journey is worth it. It will be worth it, once we get to Kiama, or Hat Head, or Wagga Wagga, or Bachus Marsh, or Melua Bay, or Tweed Heads, or wherever we are going. Our family needs a holiday, this will be good for us. Someone is driving the family expedition, even if it is not the one behind the wheel.
Mark Chapter 10 is the account of Jesus on a journey. It’s a bit like a family driving to their holidays. Jesus is walking through Judea. He is heading towards Jerusalem. But he will be stopped in Jericho. However, he is convinced this journey is good for his family, even though the children in the back seat are stubborn, difficult, and terribly testing. They don’t want to go, they don’t understand why they are going, and they are quarrelling all the way.
And just like when you are on holidays, some of the best memories come from the people you meet, the things that happen on the journey, the snap shots and pictures and remarks on the way that you remember.
I want us to look at three groups in this journey. First, I want to look at Jesus: he is unmistakably driving this journey to Jerusalem. And second, I want to look at the people Jesus’ and his disciples meet: these are the snapshots along the way. And then, third, I want to look at the children fighting in the back seat: these are the disciples who follow Jesus.
We saw last time, in Mark chapter 10 verses 1 to 12, that the Pharisees came to Jesus with a test. This was one of the snapshots along the way that the disciples would remember. For the LORD Yahweh in the Old Testament said, “I hate divorce”, and “the two have become one”, and “a man shall be joined to his wife”. And Jesus likewise says the same shocking thing, that “what God has joined together, let not man separate”. This made an impact on the disciples, and Matthew and Mark both record this for us.
Now, in this passage, the Jesus we see along the way in this part of his journey can be characterized four ways: Jesus is angry, scary, loving, and merciful.
Now, anger always reveals a great deal about a person. You really know someone when you know what makes them angry. And the disciples in the back seat do something that makes Jesus angry. Verses 13 and 14:
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (NIV)
Children are brought to Jesus so that he might touch them to bless them. The disciples are angry about this, and think it is inappropriate, or in some way beneath Jesus. They come from the ‘children are seen and not heard’ should of thought. But if the disciples are angry, Jesus is indignant. The children must not be prevented from coming to him. The disciples must not do this.
And it is still Jesus’ desire, that the children come to him. That’s why the work of kids’ church and school scripture teach and outreach ministry to children is so important. All of these ministries are opportunities for children to come to Christ. Please pray for children in our community. Most are not taught the things of God or the Lord Jesus Christ at home. And we still have great opportunities. So pray also for us as a church that we do all that is necessary, humanly speaking, to let the children come to Christ.
Notice Jesus’ fervour. The children are brought to Jesus for his touch, but Jesus takes them in his arms, he puts his hands on them, he blesses them again and again.
So we see Jesus angry and eager. But we also see him scary. The things that Jesus says and does scare those who know and love him. In verse 24 and 26, the NIV tells us that the disciples were ‘amazed’. But the word indicates they were more than ‘amazed’. Literally, verse 24 says that “the disciples were terrified at his word”, and verse 26 says that “they were exceedingly overwhelmed”. And we see Jesus even more scary in verse 32:
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. (NIV)
Here is determination that is scary. For Jesus is determined to go to Jerusalem to die and rise again.
Now, this raises the question, why? Why does Jesus show such fearsome determination to go to his death, and then to rise again? Well Jesus himself gives the answer in verse 45:
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (NIV)
Jesus is the Son of Man, worshiped by the nations. And he lays down his life as a “ransom for many”. In those days, a ‘ransom’ was paid to free a slave or a prisoner of war. And in a similar way, Jesus’ death is the costly price paid to release prisoners. Jesus serves as a suffering servant. He is the righteous servant who pays the price for the many who are slaves and prisoners.
Jesus is so determined because he thinks of those who follow him, his disciples, those difficult children in the back seat, who don’t yet understand. It’s as if Jesus says, “No, this journey is good for my family, my children. I need to build their collective memories. We must take this road to Jerusalem together.”
Jesus describes his coming death with two other metaphors. It is a cup for him to drink—a bit like a cup of castor oil—a bitter cup, which he must drink down to the dregs. It is bitter because it is the cup of God’s judgement, wrath, and anger at sin that he bears. But it is not for his own sin that he must bear God’s anger, but for the sin of the many.
And his death is a baptism that he must baptize himself with. Jesus willingly submits himself to death. Jesus will baptize himself in death. In other words, Jesus’ self-baptism is a metaphor for Jesus’ willingly giving his own life. And baptism is an appropriate image, because Jesus will allow himself to be drowned by death, and to be swallowed up under the waters of death.
Jesus drank the cup and Jesus baptized himself in his death. And that death was for us, the many. So James, John, and indeed, everyone who follows Christ, have drunk the cup Jesus drank and were baptized in Jesus’ baptism. For God considers us to have died with Jesus when he died. As Paul says, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:1ff). We were “buried with him through his baptism into death” (Rom 6:4).
And so when we drink the cup at communion, we remember that Jesus drank the cup for us, and are thankful. And when we see a baptism, we remember that we were drowned with Christ in his death, and are thankful.
We see Jesus’ love in his response to the rich man. Verse 21, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” He has the unique privilege of being said to be loved by Jesus. Of no-one else in Mark’s Gospel is it said that “Jesus loved” them. But it is said of the rich man. The rich man has a lot going for him. Jesus sees a sincere man, diligently keeping God’s law. Jesus loves no hypocrite, but this man he loves.
He comes to the right person—Jesus. He asks the right question—“what must I do to be saved?”
But despite all these privileges and opportunities, the rich man makes the wrong decision. We leave the story with this man leaving Jesus. He goes away sad. We can only say that, at least at this point, Jesus’ love is not reciprocated. It is too costly for this rich man to love Jesus back. In fact, though Jesus loved him, we do not see the rich man saved. We do not see him as a little child, coming to Jesus to receive blessing as a free gift. We do not see him like the disciples, following Jesus along the road.
This is one of the saddest pictures of the bible, up there with Saul in the Old Testament, and Judas Iscariot in the New Testament: a man loved by Jesus who walks away from him.
Dear friend, let this not be you, for God looks at you and I with that same love, and does not wish us to turn away from him.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. […] and not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 4:10, 2:2).
Friend, passages like these allow me—no, require me—to say that, “God loves you”. No-one, you see, who now walks on God’s earth can ever say that they are unloved. Jesus made each of us, took the nature of each one of us, died for each of us, rose again for each of us, and wants to be lord of each of us. Please do not walk away from Jesus sad, like the rich man. He was loved, but we only see him as lost (as far as we know). Maybe he came back to Jesus later. Maybe the riches he so loved had less of a hold on him later, and he was able to transfer those riches to a much safer place, in heaven, where rust would not corrupt and thieves would not break in and steel. Perhaps, he finally followed Jesus, perhaps as one of the 3000 on the day of Pentecost, or on some other occasion. Perhaps like Barnabas, he was able to later sell his possessions and bring them to the apostles’ faith.
Or maybe he died hoping in wealth that he could not take with him. We just don’t know. But Jesus sees a sincere man, diligently keeping so much of God’s law, but stumbling at this his point of weakness and vulnerability—and as James says, he who keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. Either way, Jesus loved this man. Maybe we will see him in heaven, maybe not. But may we be saved from being loved but lost.
The last picture that we see is of Jesus’ mercy. It is the two-fold request of blind Bartimaeus that draws out the mercy of Christ. Bartimaeus asks for mercy. Verse 47, “He began to shout, Son of David, have mercy on me”, and again in verse 48, “Son of David have mercy on me”. The man asks for mercy, and receives it. For God is rich in mercy. And Jesus is the perfect image of his father. He is full of tender compassion and mercy, and he bestows his kindness and gracious forgiveness to all who call on him while he might be found.
Friends, now is the time to call on Christ. Now is the time to call on the Son of David for mercy. Today is the day of salvation, the opportunity for mercy, because there will be another day when many will cry for mercy, but none will answer, and on that day the opportunity for mercy and forgiveness would have past.
That’s the driver of this bus, Jesus the Christ. He is angry, scary, and determined, yet loving and full of mercy.
But what about those he meets along the way? Mark introduces three of these fellow travellers: the children; the rich man; and the blind man, Bartimaeus. And in his interaction with them, Jesus teaches something about entering the kingdom of God, something about salvation.
First, the Children Teach Us that Heaven is For the Helpless
Jesus lets the children come to him, and in verses 14 and 15, Jesus give them as models of discipleship. Jesus said:
Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. (NIV)
Jesus bids the disciples to become like children. Sure enough, the disciples have been childish, with their petty squabbles in the back seat. But Jesus says, don’t be childish, but be like children.
Of course, people have suggested various different things about children that Jesus is pointing out. Some point to the innocence or purity of children, but children aren’t innocent or pure—Jesus says that “no-one is good, except God only”, so that is unlikely. Some suggest it is the trusting nature of children that Jesus is referring to, and this is possible. But I prefer the related suggestion, that it is their helplessness, their receiving everything as a gift, that is the characteristic of children to which Jesus refers. We come to Jesus Christ like helpless children, not offering our good works, for no-one is good, but we come empty handed, receiving heaven freely as a gift, with God pardoning our offence.
Second, the Rich Man Teaches that Heaven is Impossible for Humans But Not For God
Right after the children are brought to Jesus, then also comes the rich man. And Jesus takes the opportunity to teach about entering the kingdom of God, about being saved and receiving eternal life. As we saw, the rich man starts well, but ends poorly. He goes away from Jesus sad, because he had many things. So Jesus observes in verse 25, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Riches, according to Jesus, make following Jesus impossible. The rich man couldn’t part with his many things to follow Jesus. We are in danger, aren’t we? For we are rich, relatively speaking. Are you able to part with the things you love to follow Christ? Is there something preventing from you following Christ, something that you have filled your life with to ease the pain or relieve the boredom, but that you cannot take along the way, because you know Jesus won’t let you. Then why don’t you drop them now?
In the end, this man chose poorly, because he is now dead, and unless he repented before he died, he not only lost all his beloved possessions, but his very soul as well. Remember that we will have to leave everything behind in the end, so why don’t we just get in early, and jump before we are pushed? Why not drop them now? It will stop us having to carry them along on our journey.
Indeed, Jesus says, it is impossible for anyone to be saved, humanly speaking. Verses 26 to 27, “The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
No-one is good, only God. Therefore, no-one, rich or poor, can save themselves. We need to be saved by God, for whom all things are possible. Salvation belongs to God. We bring nothing to it, except our sin from which we need to be saved.
Third, the Blind Man Teaches Us that Faith Saves
The rich man was not able to follow Jesus, but the blind man was. For in this passage, it is the blind man who is the model disciple. He is the one who is like a child, helpless. He is a poor beggar. Though he is blind, he is the one who sees Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah promised in the Old Testament (Pss 2, 110). And so his impassioned pleas stopped Jesus in his tracks, and brought his journey to a brief halt.
And Bartimaeus asks not for what he deserves, but for mercy, and receives what he asks for. Verse 52: “Go”, said Jesus, “Your faith has healed [lit saved] you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”
The blind man trusted Christ, and this faith healed him. Literally, his faith saved him. Faith in Christ saves. It saved Bartimaeus. It saves all who call on the Lord Jesus as he passes by. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
And faith leads to following Jesus. Unlike the rich man, Bartimaeus had nothing to lose and everything to gain. So he followed Jesus along the road. That is, he became a disciple. He joined Jesus’ caravan heading to Jerusalem.
Finally, lets take a look at the back seat. Let’s have a look at the disciples, the ones who are called to be children, but really are childish.
And what do we find? The children are worried that they are going to miss out. Their attitude is, “Jesus, you promised us, and now we’re not going to make it.” And the children are fighting among themselves as to who is the most important. Its like the fights over who gets the window seat, somewhat inevitable, really, on a long trip.
Their First Complaint: We’re Going To Miss Out
We see this in the disciples’ response to the rich man. They see him walk away from the kingdom and salvation. They hear how hard it is to be saved, so they worry about their own salvation. Verses 26-30:
26The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters of mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them persecutions), and in the age to come, eternal life.” (NIV)
Here, Jesus calms their fears by making the problem worse before it gets better. Salvation is not just difficult, but it is impossible for humans. No one is good, so humans cannot save themselves by their goodness. Salvation is impossible for humans, but salvation is not impossible for God. And Jesus gives them and us a broad and wide promise based on the goodness of God.
All Jesus’ followers will have enough in this life, and they will have the abundant life of the next. Get the rich man back here! Perhaps he will see that the big garage sale of his riches and backpacking it with Jesus is worth it. None of Jesus’ children will miss out. We will have everything we left, plus much more.
We have everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness (2 Pet 1:3 NIV)
He is a good God who knows what we need. We will even receive persecutions—exactly what we need for life and godliness, to make us strong. Lord, do not test us more than we can bear!
Friend, perhaps you are not wholeheartedly following Jesus. Perhaps you are not yet a fanatic who gives up everything to follow Christ. Can I invite you to do the sums and make your decision whether to fully follow Christ or not?
We can keep the crumbs and trinkets we have for a little while longer and not follow Jesus on earth nor be persecuted for his sake. Or we can let go of the many things that we have and follow Jesus on earth, and our journey will be easier as we travel lighter now, and God will take care of our real needs abundantly. Now we will find a warm welcome in more homes than we can ever imagine as part of a large extended family, Christ’s family, which will last into eternity.
Don’t worry, you and I will have more than enough for our needs during our short sojourn here, and we will have eternal life after a brief time of suffering and persecution. So to his disciples Jesus says, don’t worry, you won’t miss out.
Their Second Complaint: We Want the Best Seats.
But of course, on any trip, there always has to be fight in the back seat, and this one is started by James and John. The sons of thunder are very cunning, and so they get in early and ask Jesus for the window seats, the best seats in his Kingdom. And naturally, the ten are indignant. The same word used of Jesus at the disciples preventing the children, is now used of the indignation of the ten, upset that the sons of Zebedee got in first.
In response, Jesus gives them a different modus operandi. Verse 43, “Not so with you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” (NIV)
Jesus calls God's children to slavery and service. The leaders are the slaves, and the first are last—they don’t get the window seats, but the boot or the roof racks.
Dear friends, we are freed by Jesus’ death to be slaves-- slaves of Go, and slaves to all people. And our leaders are leaders because they are further down the pecking order than us. And scraping the bottom of the barrel is Jesus, the suffering servant, who took on the form of servant, though being equal with God. Friends, in a world that offers us freedom, lets aspire to greater and greater depths of slavery.
Let’s pray.
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