Mark 10:32-45

Jesus Tells of His Death (Servant Leadership)

Mark 10:33–34 NASB95

saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. “They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.”

Jesus was telling his disciples that he was about to be crucified. He gave them a detailed picture of what was going to happen

The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests Matt.26:57

Matthew 26:57 NASB95

Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

2. They will condemn Him to death. Matt. 26:65-66

Matthew 26:65–66 (NASB95)

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

3. They will hand Him over to the Gentiles. Matt. 27:1-2

Matthew 27:1–2 (NASB95)

Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.

4. They will mock Him and spit on Him. Matt. 27:29-30

Matthew 27:29–30 (NASB95)

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.

5. They will scourge Him. John 19:1

John 19:1 NASB95

Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him.

6. They will kill Him. John 19:16-18

John 19:16–18 (NASB95)

So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

7. On the third day He will rise. Matt. 28:5-6

Matthew 28:5–6 (NASB95)

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.

Jesus being the leader of the 12 disciples just told them that He was about to die. He was going to give His life for them. He was demonstrating the ultimate servant leadership.

Positional Leadership

Mark 10:35–37 (NASB95)

James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”

James and John did not hear a word Jesus said about servant leadership. They were so brazen that even after Jesus said He was going to be killed they still wanted their positions of leadership.

They were more concerned about themselves than others. They wanted to ensure that they had a place of prominence in the kingdom. They demonstrated that they had no concern for anyone but themselves.

They showed no concern over the fact that Jesus just said that He was about to be killed. They wanted to ensure that they had their place in glory secured.

To sit on the Lord’s “right” and “left” (10:37) referred to the respective ranks of second and third in command of the coming kingdom. While Jesus prepared Himself for rejection, humiliation, suffering, torture, and death, His closest companions jockeyed for positions of power in His imminent administration as king of Israel. The “glory” they imagined had Jesus being feted with a ticker-tape parade and wearing purple and gold. The disciples hadn’t heard anything He said, so they didn’t have a clue about the future they faced.

Charles R. Swindoll, Mark, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Tyndale House Publishers, 2018), 281.

People who want power and authority for their own self benefit do not make great leaders. They will use people for their own purposes and pleasures.

Cost of Leadership

Mark 10:38 NASB95

But 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?”

The cost of the leadership they were asking for was to drink the cup Jesus would have to drink and be baptized with the baptism Jesus was baptised. What does this mean?

Drink the cup

The Gospel of Mark The Request Made out of Ambition (Mark 10:35–40)

It was the custom at a royal banquet for the king to hand the cup to his guests. The cup therefore became a metaphor for the life and experience that God handed out to men and women. ‘My cup overflows,’ said the psalmist (Psalm 23:5), when he spoke of a life and experience of happiness given to him by God. ‘In the hand of the Lord there is a cup,’ said the psalmist (Psalm 75:8), when he was thinking of the fate in store for the wicked and the disobedient. Isaiah, thinking of the disasters which had come upon the people of Israel, describes them as having drunk ‘at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath’ (Isaiah 51:17). The cup speaks of the experience allotted to men and women by God

The cup that Jesus was given to drink was one that He didn’t want to drink. You recall His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.

Matthew 26:39 NASB95

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus was asking the Father if there was any other way for people to be saved other than Him being crucified, let it be. The cross was the cup that the Father had for Jesus to bear. He would have to suffer and give His life so others could be saved.

Ultimately James would give his life for the cause of Christ. Christian history tells that He was beheaded for his faith.

John on the other hand is not to believed to have given his life for Christ but did suffer greatly being exiled to the island of Patmos.

We all have a cup in life that the Lord has for us. If you want a position of leadership, your cup is typically going to be a more difficult than others.

Be Baptized

The Gospel of Mark The Request Made out of Ambition (Mark 10:35–40)

The other phrase which Jesus uses is actually misleading in the literal English version. He speaks of the baptism with which he was baptized. The Greek verb baptizein means to dip. Its past participle (bebaptismenos) means submerged, and it is regularly used of being submerged in any experience. For instance, a spendthrift is said to be submerged in debt. A drunk person is said to be submerged in drink. A grief-stricken person is said to be submerged in sorrow. A pupil before a cross-examining teacher is said to be submerged in questions. The word is regularly used for a ship that has been wrecked and submerged beneath the waves. The metaphor is very closely related to a metaphor which the psalmist often uses. In Psalm 42:7 we read, ‘All your waves and your billows have gone over me.’ In Psalm 124:4 we read, ‘Then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us.’ The expression, as Jesus used it here, had nothing to do with technical baptism. What he is saying is, ‘Can you bear to go through the terrible experience which I have to go through? Can you face being submerged in hatred and pain and death, as I have to be?’ He was telling these two disciples that without a cross there can never be a crown. The standard of greatness in the kingdom is the standard of the cross

To be submerged into something means to be all in. You are totally commited. It is the priority in your life.

In order to be an effective leader, your cause has to be bigger than yourself. You must be committed to it wholeheartedly.

It is like a marriage. It is for better or worse, sickness and health, richer or poorer. No matter the condition you remain commited.

Be A Servant

Mark 10:42–45 NASB95

Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus explained that in order to be great you must be the least. He goes so far as to say that you must be a slave of all. This means you put everyone else above yourself. This is how you have influence on people’s lives. When they know that you are willing to give of yourself to help them, they will give you the privilege of exerting influence in their life.

Jesus gave his life for us. When we truly recognize and appreciate this we can’t help but make Him Lord of our life .