Jesus the Suffering Servant.

Mark 10: 32-45

 

32 Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:

33 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;

34 and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again."

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."

36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

37 They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."

38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

39 They said to Him, "We are able." So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.

42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 

All that Jesus is doing and saying is all part of the teaching of the disciples. Jesus is preparing them for what is to come later.
The old adage comes to mind. “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”.
No matter what it is in life, preparation is a must. Whether examinations, in the work place or ground work for DIY. Failure is usually down to the lack of preparation.
Preachers dry up in the pulpit when they are not prepared. Many people spout a lot of rubbish when they do not know what they are talking about.
Most of what we are taught is good when the one teaching is well read on the subject and has prepared their delivery well.
One cannot build a solid house, without preparing the foundations first.
In His teaching, Jesus was laying the foundations for the future ministry of the Apostles and the growth and well being of the future church.

One can only bring to remembrance, the things that one has read or learned.
In our last chapter, we saw Jesus speaking to a rich ruler about his eternal destination. Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor, and follow Him.

We saw how the disciples turned it around to themselves. In this chapter, we see the same thing happening again.

32 Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed.

Three years they had been with Jesus and He had taught them about the things that were going to happen to Him.
Yet here He was, striding out in front of them as if to hurry towards it.

If we were heading towards a really bad experience, most of us would drag our feet and put it off as much as possible.

Luke 9:51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,

Most of us would even put off a dentist appointment, yet here was Jesus, with the knowledge of His suffering and death to come, set His face as a flint towards Jerusalem.

No wonder, they were amazed. They must have muttered amongst themselves, why is He hurrying?
When one is heading to who knows what, it does make one very nervous. If the disciples had grasped half of what Jesus had told them, they would be afraid.
 

32b, And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:

33 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;

34 and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.

 

No wonder, they were afraid. But here’s the thing!

 

32c And the third day He will rise again."

 

All of this was prophesied in the scriptures, which the disciples would have familiar with.
Scriptures such as:

Isaiah 50:6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.

Isaiah 53: 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53, 9 And they made His grave with the wicked-- But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
 

It is all there in scripture.
Even today, in spite of these prophecies, the Jews reject Jesus as Messiah.
Isaiah 53 is not read in Jewish synagogues today.
The 17th century Jewish historian, Raphael Levi, admitted that long ago the rabbis used to read Isaiah 53 in synagogues, but after the chapter caused “arguments and great confusion” the rabbis decided that the simplest thing would be to just take that prophecy out of the Haftarah readings in synagogues. That’s why today when we read Isaiah 52, we stop in the middle of the chapter and the week after we jump straight to Isaiah 54.

What is it the old adage says? “There is none so blind, as they that will not see”. This is wilful blindness.

The suffering servant is pictured as a lamb, wounded and cut off but not for Himself. The triumphant Messiah comes to establish His kingdom and His rule of peace and righteousness on the earth.
These on the surface, appear to be two different Messiah’s.
One they call Meshiach Ben David and He would be the son of King David, who would rule and reign.
The other they call Meshiach Ben Joseph, the son of Joseph. This Messiah, the son of Joseph would suffer and be rejected by His own, just as Joseph was rejected by his brothers.
At the time of Yeshua’s coming, Israel was looking for the conquering king, because of Roman oppression and their expectation that God would send a deliverer. They were looking for Meshiach ben David.
This is why, on Jesus entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), the people waved palms and shouted, Hosanna to the son of David, when in fact, He had come as the son of Joseph, (the suffering servant).

I am sure, this was not what the disciples wanted to hear. We saw earlier, Peter rebuking Jesus for saying such things.
People tend to hear the bits that they want to hear.
We like the idea of the resurrection, but all that precedes it, we do not.
However, No death, No resurrection.

Here we see an analogy of our salvation. Death to self and rising to newness of life, typified in baptism.
The disciples just could not get their heads around this idea of a suffering Messiah. A coming king, yes but a suffering Christ, how could that be?
 

Mark 10:35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."

36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

37 They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."

Matthew tells us that it was the mother of James and John who asked this of Jesus, suggesting that they had talked her into making this request.

Matthew 20: 20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.
21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom."
 

Mark tells us here, where the original idea came from, with James and John themselves.
However, they really did not understand what they were asking.
 

38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

 

Of course, Jesus was referring to His passion, His death and all that went with it.

39 They said to Him, "We are able."
 

Sadly, today, when the gospel is preached, some give the idea that it is a case of, Come to Jesus and all in the garden will be rosy.
They is far from the truth. The truth is, come to Jesus and you will have trials and tribulation, you will be persecuted for My names sake.
Of course there are blessings and Jesus will help out all your priorities in the right order, which will benefit your life and those around you. He will give you assurance of eternal life and peace with God.
However, to think that coming to Christ will not come with problems, is naive.

Jesus said Himself, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you”.
Following Christ will cost us something but we have to remember, it cost Him everything. It is not a cheap salvation.
 

39b, So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

This was prophetic. For all the Apostles suffered persecution and death.
However, to sit on My right or left is not mine to give.
 

40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."

Favourites are not always received well. Remember Joseph, who was the favourite of Jacob and only he had a coat of many colours.

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.

The other disciples were not well pleased with James and John.

Here comes the comforting Jesus.
Jesus knows our every weakness and He does not condemn. Of course He chastises with love.

42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

Jesus came to serve and this is what He wants of us. He is our example.
 

43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 

In this, we encounter, Jesus the Suffering Servant.

​

​

​

​