Mark 10
Jesus came into the coasts (borders) of Judah on the further side of Jordan, and He taught the people. He is not only seen in this gospel as the holy Servant Son of God, but also as the Prophet of God.
The Pharisees questioned Him, asking if it were lawful for a man to divorce his wife. Jesus answered, "What did Moses command you?" They said that Moses allowed divorce. Jesus told them that it was because of the hardness of their hearts that he wrote this. "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.... What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
In the house Jesus was asked of the same matter. He told them that one who puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. It is the same with a woman.
Children
When young children were brought to Jesus so He could touch them, the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus was very displeased, saying, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God." One who would not receive the kingdom of God as a little child would not enter.
Pursuit of Riches
A man came running and kneeled before Jesus, saying, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Jesus asked, "Why callest thou Me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." When Jesus put the commandments which applied to man before the inquirer, he answered that he had kept them from his youth.
Jesus, looking at him, loved him, but said to him, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions."
To His disciples Jesus said that it would be hard for those who had riches to enter the kingdom of God. It would be simpler for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for one who was rich to enter the kingdom of God.
The Jewish disciples connected earthly blessings and riches with Israel. So they were astounded at what had just taken place with the young, rich man. They did not yet realize that the old order of things in Israel had to give way to the new order of the kingdom of God. All must be given up down here for the coming riches up there in heaven. Then they asked if anyone could be saved. Jesus said that what was impossible with men was possible with God.
Peter, thinking of the path that he had chosen, said, 'We have left all, and have followed Thee." Should we leave anything for Christ's sake, we shall receive in return a hundredfold, not only in heaven, but in this life also. Jesus said, "Many that are first shall be last; and the last first."
Jesus and His disciples passed on toward Jerusalem. The disciples were afraid because He was telling them of His sufferings and death. He told them of the mocking and scourging and being crucified and that He would rise the third day.
The two brothers, James and John, told Jesus that they wanted to sit at His right hand and His left hand in His kingdom. He asked them if they could drink of the cup that He was to drink of (rejection and death) and go through the baptism that He would go through. They said, "We can." He said, "Ye shall... but to sit on My right hand and on My left hand is not Mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared." The other disciples were unhappy with James and John.
A person cannot be used much of the Lord as long as self and self interests have first place. At present the kingdom is a path of self-denial, rejection, suffering and perhaps even death, but in a coming day those who choose this path shall experience the exceeding riches of His grace.
The subject of position-one being above another-has always been in the back of the minds of many, religious or otherwise. Jesus never sought a place of prominence in this world. Now the Father has given Him the first place. The Lord told His disciples that their positions in the kingdom of God were not like that of the nations about them. If one would be great in the kingdom of God, he should be a servant.
Was not Christ the Servant of God? Did He not serve tirelessly, day in and day out? What an example the Lord has left for us. How opposite the kingdom of God is from the natural path of fallen man!
Being first down here doesn't produce joy, but service for Christ does. "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Jericho and Blind Bartimeus
Jericho was the city of the curse, an apt picture of this present world (1 Kings 16:3434In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun. (1 Kings 16:34)). At Jericho, Elisha (a picture of Christ who came later) cast healing salt into the spring with bad water (2 Kings 2:2121And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. (2 Kings 2:21)). At Jericho blind Bartimeus sat begging and Jesus, the healer, came.
Hearing of Jesus, Bartimeus cried out, "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." Some charged him to be quiet. But Bartimeus had nothing to lose and much to gain, so he cried loudly, 'Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." Like Bartimeus, a man's opportunity to find the Savior might happen only once. This blind man, with violence, took the kingdom of God by force (Matt. 11:1212And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12)).
Jesus stood still. The sun stood still in Joshua's day, but Jesus is the One who created the sun. Picture the Creator of all things, the high God, the One in whom we live and have our being, down on this wicked earth, stopping at the cry of a beggar. The blind man was more important to Him than the sun. The sun had no heart, no voice to praise the Lord Jesus for all His mercies, but Bartimeus did.
Do we realize how important each of us, saved sinners, is to Himself? Heaven will be filled with His praise throughout eternity, for Jesus stopped at the cries of beggars like ourselves.
Jesus commanded them to call the blind man. 'They said unto him, "Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee." He, casting down his garment (character), came to Jesus. What little self-esteem (character) he had left he now casts at Jesus' feet. Jesus asked, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" The blind man responded, "Lord, that I might receive my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.