Worldly Leaders Condemned
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Mark 10:32-45
Mark 10:32-45
32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
JESUS WAS WALKING AHEAD OF THEM
A third time (8:31, 9:31, 10:32) Jesus tells His disciples what is going to happen to Him at Jerusalem - clearly this is a message they need to have repeated over and over. The first time he speaks to them about this Peter rebukes him. They disciples are having a hard time conceiving of the Messiah having to suffer and die.
This is the most detailed passion prophecy of the three - ‘He will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles (the Romans), they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him, and after 3 days he will rise.’
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
It seems obvious but it’s worth saying again - Jesus’s death wasn’t a tragic accident, it was ordained of God before the foundation of the world.
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
And what’s more - Jesus knew what He was headed into, but He led the way, He walked ahead of them. Jesus chose the cross for you - His love for us was so great that He chose His own brutal death to save a sinner like you. He didn’t bargain for an easier path - He didn’t drag His heels, He led the way. He is an example to His followers, when we are easily given to temper tantrums when God’s road for us leads through the Valley of Humiliation or up Difficulty Hill. Just as the road to glory led through the cross - so too our journey to salvation leads through suffering, and just as so much good came from Christ’s suffering, our suffering also leads to so much good:
We mature in our faith
We are able to minister to others who are suffering
We learn humility
Each time Jesus prophesy’s about His death the disciples immediately jockey for prestige and position - it’s almost like they aren’t hearing what He is saying! And James and John - the sons of thunder, two of Jesus’s inner circle - now approach him on the road and try to manipulate him into promising them the most prestigious positions in His kingdom.
Some have claimed that there is a contradiction here between Mark’s gospel and Matthew’s gospel - since in Matthew 20:20-21
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
In Matthew it’s James and John’s mother who asks Jesus this question, not her two sons. We know that Mark’s gospel was built on the eye witness testimony of Peter, who was there when this happened, as was Matthew. Both accounts place James and John at the scene, even in Matthew Jesus responds to James and John not their mother, it’s just that Matthew includes more detail - their mother was there asking the question. It’s not logically impossible that both James and John and their mother were asking Jesus this question. The gospels are independent eye witness accounts of the life of Jesus, they’re not copy and paste documents from the same source. This is what makes them all the more believable - that there are slight variations in each of the accounts.
The brothers hope to honor Jesus while honoring themselves. How easily worship and discipleship are blended with self-interest; or worse, self interest is masked as worship and discipleship. - J. Edwards
Now it’s easy to scoff at James and John’s attitude here - they are so brazen ‘teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.. grant us to sit one at your right and your left in glory.’ They have an unmasked desire for importance, fame, power and recognition. They see Jesus as their route to those things - Oh Jesus - we want you to be glorified but us too, please!
It’s easy to tut and tsk at James and John but the truth is that this open desire of theirs to be honoured and glorified in ministry is a desire that is sadly held by many in ministry today.
Some have an unhealthy desire for recognition, for honour and prestige and instead of going into the world of business or politics to acheive this, they go into ministry. They’re ok with Jesus being glorified so long as they get a share as well.
Jesus says to them ‘you don’t know what you’re asking’. Isn’t this just the truth about our prayers sometimes - we don’t know what we’re asking! It’s just as well that some of our prayers don’t get the answer we were hoping for.
He asks - are you able to drink the cup that I drink - speaking of His suffering (and maybe even in a sense the cup of the wrath of God against our sins), and - or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised - speaking of His death.
Without hesitation they say that they are able - it’s never usually a good idea to make promises to God concerning your ability to do great things for Him!
Jesus says that they will drink His cup of suffering and that they will be baptised with His baptism.
The Gospel according to Mark Self-Serving Sons of Zebedee and Self-Sacrificing Son of Man (10:35–45)
Verse 39 seems best read as a reminder and renewed call to discipleship, which ineluctably entails sacrifice and suffering. Disciples of Jesus do not decide to accept or reject hardships on the basis of the future rewards accruing from them. They accept suffering on the sole basis that it is the way of Jesus. “The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His.”
Jesus says that those places aren’t His to give away - they are for those for whom it has been prepared. This is another one of those divine passives. Once again we see the hidden hand of the sovereign God in this passage. That The Father knows who will sit in those places of honour, He has has pre-pared that place for them. Once again, we see that the whole of salvation is in the hands of God.
WHEN THE TEN HEARD IT
The other ten disciples then overhear this conversation and are ‘indignant at James and John’ we’re told. It’s the same word that we heard about Jesus earlier this chapter
Jesus was indignant because some people were being hindered from coming to Him - the disciples were indignant because they were afraid that James and John might take their share of the glory! What a contrast.
It’s not Christlike to have a ‘me, me, me’ attitude. If we can’t abide it when a peer gets praise and we get overlooked then what does that reveal about us? On one hand - it reveals that we have a need for recognition. That isn’t inherantly bad actually - it’s bad when we try to meet that need by hogging attention and approval wherever we can get it. All our approval needs must be brought before God - we need to be ok with not having the approval or applause of people. We need to be ok with some of our greatest wins going unseen and uncelebrated by others. This only happens when we stick close to God in the place of prayer - it’s impossible to be free of the temptation to hoover up approval, but by God’s grace and in prayer we can overcome it.
JESUS REDEFINES GREATNESS
42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Great leadership in a worldly sense is seen as:
Dominating/ruling over your sphere of influence
Control
Being cutthroat
Winning/success
Acclaim
Having a large team that serves you
Talking a good game - talking yourself up, talking up your work
Jesus says ‘but it is not so among you’. None of these ways of leadership are the ways that Christians lead - none of them.
Worldly leadership is focussed on self, Kingdom leadership is focussed on others. Jesus says that a pastor is both a servant, and even a slave of all. A slave is not a prestigious position, a slaves job is to serve others, that is their focus.
If Pastors and ministry leaders really understood and followed what Jesus says here we wouldn’t see half as much pastoral abuse in churches.
It’s incumbent upon every Christian to know the marks of a true pastor according to scripture so that we’re not led away by imposters or damaged by unqualified men or women. Too many pastors get their model for church leadership from the world and not from Jesus.
ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE CHRISTIAN LEADERS:
1. Must not be arrogant or prideful
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,
4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2. They must not be a self promoter or a lover of self
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3. They should not be domineering or bullying or look to control and drive out those who disagree with them
9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
4. They shouldn’t have a critical spirit or abusive speech or brutality in dealing with others
3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
5. They should not be vindictive or unwilling to seek forgiveness for the wrongs THEY have done, or uncorrectable
3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
6. They should not manipulate people by making misleading statements in order to draw peoples attention away from any issues that they or their ministry might have.
2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
7. They should not use flattery or gifts to gain favour.
5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.
8. They should not be a respecter of persons esp favouring the talented, rich, powerful, famous.
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
9. They should not have a bad reputation with those outside the church.
7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
10. Must faithfully teach the Christian faith according to scripture, not their own private revelations/ideas.
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
A RANSOM FOR MANY
Jesus said that no servant is greater than his master (john 13:16), and if he came to humble himself and serve sinners like us, how is it that we think Christian leadership ought to look different?
Jesus says that the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve. The problem is, the disciples already had an idea of who the son of man was from Daniel 7:13-14
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
This was what they were thinking was about to happen! But they hadn’t factored in that there is another Old Testament scripture that speaks about the very same individual but in a very different way; Isaiah 53:3-5
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
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 pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
The disciples still hadn’t understood that there were two comings of the son of man, the first as a servant, the second as a King. And so our lives this side of eternity are to be marked by servanthood just like Christs. When He returns, all those who are his, who served with Him in this life, will reign with Him in the next.
So just as Christ gave His life for the people, so also pastors and Christian leaders are to give their lives for the people of God. Not build their own lives off the back of God’s people.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus pays the ransom to free you from sin, death and the devil if you will put your faith in Him.