March 3, 2006
“NOT TO BE SERVED, BUT TO SERVE”
Mark 10
Do you like riddles? I have a couple riddles for you ponder at the start of my message today. Here they are. What is easy for a child, but difficult for a rich man? That’s the first one I want you to think about. The second one is this: When is the way up down? I trust by the end of the message, you will be able to answer those riddles.
We are in Mark 10. I have set myself a difficult task today, and that is to cover the entire chapter in this one message. That is especially difficult because this is a Communion Service, and I usually try to keep my message a bit shorter on a Communion Friday. In order to achieve my goal, I am going to cheat just a bit. First, I am going to skip the first 12 verses on marriage and divorce. I am skipping them, not because they are not important, but because I preached an entire message on this topic about two years ago, using the parallel passages in the Book of Matthew. If you are particularly interested in this important topic, the CD’s of that sermon are available. I’ve had Stephen prepare about a dozen that you can get after the service, and if that doesn’t meet the demand, he can take orders and make more. Just to whet your appetite, the theme statement of that message is simply this: If we know what God thinks about marriage, then we know what he thinks about divorce.
The other way I am going to get through the chapter in one message is by painting with a fairly broad brush, emphasizing the broad themes of the chapter, rather than the details. First of all, we need to understand the setting of the chapter. What was going on in the unfolding of Jesus’ ministry plan? Let’s read Mark 10:32-34. In chapter 9, we said that we were moving into the last 6 months of Jesus’ span of public ministry. Now in chapter 10 we are down to the very last weeks of Jesus’ time on earth. The scene painted here is compelling. Jesus is leading the way up to Jerusalem. What is more, he is under no illusion of what lay ahead of him there. Here he spells it out to his disciples in even greater detail than he has done before.
As Jesus pushes on to Jerusalem, it triggers two seemingly contradictory emotional responses among his followers. One is fear. We see that in verse 32. Those who followed him were afraid. They knew that the Jewish leadership had threatened Jesus, and opposed his teaching and his ministry. They were afraid of what would happen in Jerusalem. But there was another emotional response, and that was one of excitement. Jesus, the one they believed to be the Jewish Messiah was going up to Jerusalem, the Jewish capital and center of worship. And he was going to attend the greatest of the Jewish feasts, the Passover. Their kingdom expectations were at a heightened, even fevered level, not only among his twelve disciples, but among the rest of his followers and even the crowd, among whom he traveled up to Jerusalem.
In this highly charged atmosphere, two questions are buzzing around. The first one is who will enter the kingdom of God, and how will they enter? The second is, who will be greatest in the kingdom of God, and how will they achieve this greatness? It is in finding the answers to those two questions that we will find the answers to our two riddles.
Let’s take the issue of entrance into the kingdom of God first. This issue is brought into focus by two contrasting encounters Jesus had on his way up to Jerusalem. The first is his encounter with some children. Actually, other people, presumably parents, were bringing their children to Jesus to lay his hands on them and bestow a blessing on them. The disciples, seeking to protect Jesus from unnecessary distraction while he was engaged on important kingdom business, rebuke them. They scold these people. “Don’t bother Jesus!” they said. When Jesus saw this, he became angry. Let the little children come to me. Don’t hinder them, for the kingdom of God 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.
What is it about a child that makes it easy for him/her to enter the kingdom of God? And in what sense are we to become like a child in order to enter the kingdom? I think the answer lies not in their innocence, or in child-like perceptiveness. I think it lies in the quality of trust and acceptance. Children accept things easily, without question, trusting the giver to give good things. A child does not question whether he deserves the gift. He does not wonder how much it cost nor does he offer to pay for the gift. He simply accepts the gift in confident trust. I believe this is at the heart of what Jesus is teaching here with his words: anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Set in immediate, and I believe deliberate proximity to this encounter is a contrasting encounter Jesus had with a young man. Mark doesn’t give us much of a description, simply saying that a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. The other Gospel writers tell us that he was rich, he was young and he was a ruler of the Jews. His eagerness is commendable, but his question reveals what is in his heart. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Do you already see the contrast between this young man and the children in the previous paragraph? We said that children accept, without asking how much the gift costs, or what they must do to earn it. This man came and asked a typically adult question. He wants to know what the price tag is to enter the kingdom of God. “What must I do? How can I earn my way into the kingdom of God?”
Jesus answers him in a way that is consistent with his own reasoning. “If you want to earn your way into the kingdom of God and eternal life, you have to keep the commandments of God.” And he recites several of the commandments that deal with relationships with other human beings. The man responds: All these I have kept since I was a boy.
This is a strong claim. Jesus does not challenge him. But he adds one thing that penetrates to the man’s true heart condition. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor…then come follow me. In that one telling statement, Jesus took the man back to the very first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. You see, this man was in love with his wealth. He loved that more than he loved God. We know that because when he heard Jesus’ answer, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. This man thought he could earn his way to heaven. But if anyone is going to earn his way to heaven, he must keep God’s law perfectly. This man didn’t realize that he had fallen at the very first hurdle. He had tripped over the very first commandment.
As the man walked sadly away, Jesus took the opportunity to press the point home with his disciples. (Read v.23-25). Why is it so hard for the rich man, when it is so easy for the child? It lies in the quality of faith and accepting God’s gift. The rich man believed he had to do something to inherit eternal life. When he was faced with the real requirements of God’s law, and realized how far short he fell, he walked away hopelessly. It is precisely at that point that he needed to become like a little child, and simply accept God’s gift by faith. But he couldn’t do it.
The disciples were stunned by Jesus’ words. If this rich young ruler with all his external righteousness could not earn his way to heaven, then what hope is there for anyone? (Read v. 26-27)
To properly understand this story, I’d like to suggest that we link verse 17 immediately with verse 27. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?... Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Do you understand the first riddle now? What is easy for a child but difficult for a rich man? The answer, of course, is to enter the kingdom of God by faith. Because it is only by faith in God’s ability to do what is impossible for man to do, that anyone shall ever enter the kingdom of God and inherit eternal life. It is the acceptance of that simple but profound truth that is so easy for the child, but so difficult for the adult, especially the rich, self-sufficient adult with abundant resources who is used to paying his own way. But here is the reality in Jesus’ own words: Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
That brings us to our second riddle: When is the way up down? There was a second question that was crashing about as the Messiah approached Jerusalem, especially among Jesus’ twelve disciples. That was the question of position and how to achieve greatness in the kingdom of God. This issue came up in the message last week from Mark 9, where Jesus’ disciples bickered on the journey over who would be greatest in the kingdom. Jesus confronted it there. But apparently Jesus’ message didn’t get through. The matter comes up again in Mark 10:35-37. (Read)
This time, two of the disciples, James and John, approach Jesus privately. According to Matthew’s account, their mother was also involved in the request. They want to sit on Jesus’ right and on his left in his glory. These are the two positions of highest honor next to the king. Now, let’s not sugarcoat this. This is blatant human ambition. This is political maneuvering in full flower. Remember, James and John were two of the three that Jesus took with him up on the mountain. They had seen Jesus in his glory. But there was a third disciple that Jesus took up on the mountain. Now James and John plot this little coup where they come without Peter, and try to tie up the two highest positions of honor in the kingdom, not only cutting out the other 9 disciples, but also cutting out Peter as the other member of the inner circle..
As I said, I am painting with a broad brush in the interest of time. There is an interesting interchange between Jesus and the two men, in which he asks them if they are willing to share his suffering. This sobers them up a bit. But what I want to focus on is the effect of their request on the other disciples. In verse 41 we read, when the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Why were they indignant? Because they thought the request was inappropriate? Or because they each thought that they were more deserving of the positions of honor? Competition for honor and position and titles of respect always lead to conflict. Picture a pyramid. There is lots of room at the bottom of a pyramid. But there is only a little room at the top. As the many at the bottom of the pyramid try to move toward the top, what happens? There is competition and conflict, just like what happened among the disciples.
Jesus instantly moves to confront the issue again. He calls them together and this is what he says: (Read verses 42-44). Not so with you. The kingdom of God operates on a different value system. In the kingdom of God, the way up is down. The way to greatness is through service. The way to be first is to offer yourself as a slave to all. And then to hammer the point home, he offers himself as the supreme example of this truth. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is without question the greatest in the kingdom. After all, he is the king! But he came not to be served but to serve. And the greatest service of all was to give his life as the ransom for our salvation. This is the value system of the kingdom of God. This is the path to greatness in the kingdom that is laid out before us. The way up is down. The way to greatness is not through self promotion or political maneuvering, but through humbly serving others. Imagine a church and a community in which we outdo each other in service to the least, the smallest and the most vulnerable! This is the path to greatness in God’s eyes. And on this path, there is no competition, no strife, no conflict. The pyramid has been turned upside down. There is plenty of room at the top – when we recognize that the way up is down.
Finally, before we close this chapter, there is one more incident near the city of Jericho, Jesus’ last stop on his way up to Jerusalem. It is the record of the healing of a blind man by the name of Baritimaeus. It is the last healing miracle recorded in the Gospel of Mark. It is also the only healing miracle in Mark in which the one healed is identified by name. As I studied this brief account, it struck me that this story wonderfully illustrates both of the earlier points in my sermon.
The first thing that strikes me about Bartimaeus is how child-like he is. Notice, I didn’t say childish. I said child-like in the sense that Jesus talked about in verse 15. He has a need. He is blind. He believes that Jesus, as the Son of David, the Messiah, can meet his need. So when he hears that Jesus is passing by, he starts to cry out. There is no false pride here. There is no standing on ceremony. He begins to cry out and the more people tell him to be quiet, the more he cries out. His cry is a simple one. Have mercy on me!” He doesn’t claim any special privilege, he doesn’t offer to pay Jesus, he doesn’t cite his own worthiness. Have mercy on me!
Then when Jesus calls him, he doesn’t hesitate. He flings away his cloak, which was possibly all he had in the world. That may seem like a small thing, but his cloak was important to him. He probably spread it out during the day to catch the coins people threw his way. His cloak was his only protection against the chill night air. It was his security blanket, a tangible possession in a very dark, unfriendly world. But he threw it aside. As a blind person, how would he find it again? How did he know it would not be stolen? He left it all to go to Jesus. Granted, he didn’t have as much to leave behind as the rich man. But what he had, he flung aside, and went to Jesus.
When Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” he answered boldly and directly. “I want to see.” It is a simple, direct, child-like request. And Jesus responded in a similar direct manner: “Go, your faith has saved you. Immediately he received his sight, and he followed Jesus. The whole story is a great example of an adult acting in a child-like way – and receiving the kingdom of God in simple, dependent faith in Jesus, the Messiah. What is easy for a child, but difficult for a rich man? Have you accepted Jesus as Messiah and Savior in simple, child-like faith? It is the only way to enter the kingdom of God.
The second way this story illustrates the earlier part of the chapter is that it is another clear example of Jesus as the Son of Man who didn’t come to be served but to serve. Here he is, surrounded by a crowd that is pressing all around him. But he is brought to a halt by the cry of this blind man by the side of the road. Everyone else is intent on passing him by. They see him as nuisance. They’re telling him to shut up. Jesus stops in the middle of the road and says, “Bring him to me. He is one of those I came to serve.” This is Jesus, living the values of the kingdom he came to proclaim, serving those who are least, those whom everyone else ignores. Whoever wants to be first must be servant of all. Those are the values he commands us to live by as well. Have you realized, and are you living by the truth that the way up is down?