What is Your Request?
Notes
Transcript
Pray
Requests For Position
Requests For Position
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.”
I’ve misread this passage before. Is Jesus swatting away their request? Is Jesus using this as a teaching opportunity to show them why they are wrong?
Or, Is Jesus validating the heart of their request, and revealing the correct path to achieve it? I don’t think this is always how I read this passage, but as we look today, that is what Jesus is doing.
Desire God’s Presence.
Desire God’s Presence.
James, John, and their mother (Matthew 20) ask Jesus for positions of privilege and power.
Were they thinking about Daniel?
47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.
Or maybe of Joseph?
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. 40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
The disciples were still struggling to understand the nature of the Kingdom of God. They were still thinking in terms of a physical and earthly kingdom. Why shouldn’t those who stuck with Jesus when the troubles were thick also not be at His side when the troubles were thin?
What they desired was good - to be at Jesus’ side.
How they understood that was off. It’s their understanding Jesus resets, not their desire.
God desires our nearness to Him. It is good we desire to be near Him. But that looks like humility and service, not accolades and chariot rides.
At least on this side of eternity!
1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Ps 136:23
23 Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever;
and
28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
When we are humble as Jesus was humble, serving as He was serving, ministering as He was ministering, self-sacrificing as He was self-sacrificing we encounter the nearness James and John sought.
But it doesn’t start out with pomp and circumstance.
Prepare the Price.
Prepare the Price.
Jesus does invite His disciples near. He asks them if they are able to drink the cup He drinks and to be baptized with the baptism which He will be baptized with.
These here are symbolic statements. They represent the suffering and death for the gospel that Jesus would endure.
Does Jesus call us to die for the gospel? Yes and probably not.
We are unlikely, as believers in the US to be persecuted to death for our faith In Jesus. But there are many around the world who do face the decision to reject Jesus or die. It is a noble thing to let go of this life in certainty of the value of the next!
Jim Eliott quote
But that doesn’t mean we are not called to die.
When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We are, all us who have accepted Jesus as Lord, been called to die. Die to self, die to sin, die to rebelion from God. But that death is only the shedding of burdens.
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
The baptism of Jesus was the shedding of the world of sin. We are called to the same.
The cup of Jesus was the price He payed to cover over, to pay for our sin.
We are to place ourselves in that death, reminding ourselves of His sacrifice. Always strengthening our commitment and conformity to Jesus while asking for strength through the Spirit of God.
The Lord’s Supper was commanded by Jesus not to fulfill this obligation, but to remind us of it.
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
So this morning, let’s take this cup of the Lord’s together. As memorial for what He has done, and what He is doing in us, and what He will accomplish at His coming.
Invite servers up.
Explain and have people come up and take elements.
Have one pray then read Matt. 26:26
Take bread
Have on pray then read Matt. 26:27-28
Pray and transition back to sermon.
Request For Mercy
Request For Mercy
46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
There is a parallel passage to this in Luke. They are very similar - including different details. There is one difference. In Mark it mentions they are LEAVING Jericho. In Luke they are LEAVING Jericho. Were they confused? Does it not matter? Why the inconstancy? The Bible is flawed. Doubt your faith! That’s the approach of some who we call deconstructionists.
The journey to Jerusalem.
[Jericho City Slide]
Desperate Desire.
Desperate Desire.
Cry out - Have mercy on me! Do we have an ongoing sense of the mercy God shows us? That we need Him, as the old hymn says, every hour?
Some seem to think there are negotiations with God. As though He and I, we each have something to offer. But no!
Paul cried out well...
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
In answer
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Do we continue in our desperate desire for God’s righteousness and healing?
There is only one way forward...
Let go of the old.
Let go of the old.
The old city of Jericho was walled in, rebelling from God, and doomed for destruction. But it was still in use in Jesus’ day. The new city was a garden city, full of life and purpose. The old fading into history. The new a place of promise.
Bartimaeus was healed as Jesus traveled from the old city to the new city. Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. Jesus, son of David. The son of the Old City, healed by the Son of the New City on His way to establish the spring of life.
Are we desperate enough for cry out to Jesus “I desire your mercy!”?
Are we focused on the New City - the Kingdom of God?
Are we eager for His presence? And are we willing to drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism?
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Pray