Mark 10:32-34 The Suffering Servant
Good morning! We are going to look at Mark 10:32-34 this morning, page 846 in the pew Bibles. A big chunk, I know, but a significant chunk.
Often times, I admit, I come to sermon preparation with a desire to find a hook, some common theme that ties ideas together or comes at old ideas from new directions. I came to our text for this morning with the same idea in mind, but I didn’t find any. In this case we may just have to settle for the wonderful and miraculous truth that we can simply take the Scripture at face value.
Let’s pray.
Mark 10:32-34,
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.”
Jesus and His disciples, along with a crowd of people, had begun the journey up to Jerusalem. Everywhere in Scripture that you read of anyone going to Jerusalem, it is always up. Up to Jerusalem. Old Testament, New Testament, same thing, always up to Jerusalem.
While it’s true that Jerusalem is on a hill, it is not uphill from everywhere, in fact, it’s only 1,000 feet in elevation higher than the mountain my house is on, hardly the highest peak around.
Going up to Jerusalem is not a matter of elevation but a matter of estimation. The city of Jerusalem is God’s holy city, the center of religious activity in the world, and should be esteemed as such. It’s where the Temple stood, where the Ark of the Covenant was, and where Jesus was crucified and rose again. I have been there and it was a moving and powerful experience.
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.
Jesus, our leader and champion, was leading this group to Jerusalem. Some were amazed and some were afraid, why was that?
First we must consider who this crowd was. First, obviously we have the disciples, Christ’s chosen twelve, who were amazed at Jesus. And second, we have everybody else, who were afraid. This part of the crowd included those who had been following Jesus and listening to His teaching from Galilee and Perea. They were also joined by people who were on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover.
First, I want to address why this crowd was afraid. I’m certain that there was a feeling of foreboding, a feeling of impending doom hanging over this crowd, mostly because they had witnessed the opposition from the Scribes and the Pharisees and now they were heading to the Scribe and Pharisee capitol of the world! Why not just stay put? Why not just stay in the wilderness where it was safe? Why not start a new capitol of all things religious? These are all questions that the disciples have asked over the last few chapters, aren’t they?
The crowd was afraid because Jesus was headed into the belly of the beast and they were afraid of what might happen to Him there.
But Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to Him there, and that is what He shared with the disciples privately to strengthen them.
Why didn’t He share this with the whole crowd? Perhaps it was to keep the crowd from spreading the word of His death before it happened, perhaps it was to keep the crowd from trying to prevent it, perhaps it was to ensure that things continued to develop at the pace set by the Father.
In any case, the disciples were not yet prepared for what was coming. Jesus had predicted His death twice before in Mark’s Gospel, in 8:31, and, 9:30-31, but He had never been this specific. So He gathered them in solitude to strengthen them.
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.”
How did Jesus know what would happen in Jerusalem? First, because He is God and knows the beginning and the end, but also because He knew His Bible.
Isaiah 50:6-7
6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. 7 But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Psalm 22:1-18
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” 9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. 10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Isaiah 53
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 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. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 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. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Some of the people that were in this crowd were on their way up to Jerusalem for the Passover, but Jesus was going up to Jerusalem to serve as the Passover Lamb.
In the first Passover a lamb was slaughtered and the blood was painted on the doorposts of the houses of the Hebrews and the Angel of Death literally passed over their houses. Now the blood of Christ, the Lamb who was slain, by God’s grace, is applied to the doorposts of the hearts of all who put their faith in Him so God’s judgment will pass over us.
Some of you may be like those in the crowd, on their way up to Jerusalem out of religious duty. Coming to church is part of your religious obligation and is in line with your feelings of moral obligation but you don’t truly understand what it is that Jesus is doing.
Some of you may be like the disciples, trying to follow Jesus even though He isn’t really fitting your expectations, and you may be confused even confounded by what he is doing or not doing.
Maybe you don’t fit with either, maybe you have no idea who Jesus really is or why you are even here.
But all of us, by the grace of God, have the opportunity to be who Jesus wants us to be, those who trust in Him completely.
“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.”
Will be, not may be, not might be, will be. Jesus knew what was coming, and knew that it was for the good of the kingdom of God and for all of mankind, including you and me.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
And they WILL mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he WILL rise.
And He did, praise God, so that all who would come to Jesus in faith would be forgiven of their sins and adopted into His family. And now He sits at the right hand of God interceding for all those who put their trust in Him.
Amen.
