2024 Sun Oct 20

The SALT commentary this week take us back to mid-September to understand the Gospel this week in dramatic form and where he have been.

The central question is “What do Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection really mean? This is Mark’s story about Jesus’ answer to this crucial question.”

SALT takes a long view  – “Mark 8:22 – 10:52  is an important section within Mark’s Gospel”. “ It’s bookended by Jesus healing two blind men (the man at Bethsaida and Bartimaeus), and accordingly, between these healings the “story’s central theme is Jesus. attempting to “open the eyes” of his disciples with respect to his imminent death and resurrection. Three times he announces this coming trial; three times the disciples drastically misunderstand; three times Jesus responds with a corrective teaching — and this week’s reading is the third of those correctives”

Here are the three times Jesus is talking about his death and resurrection.He talks about what  to reject  to implement his kingdom

• Mark 8:27-38 -the first time through the cycle (Mark 8), Jesus rejects the power of military conquest and domination, and instead takes up the posture of the suffering servant (drawing on the ancient tradition in Isaiah 53)
• Mark 9:30-37– The second time through the cycle (Mark 9), Jesus redefines “greatness” as becoming a “servant of all.” Jesus rejects the social pecking order
• Mark 10:32-34 – “a ransom for many” Jesus adds another layer to their consternation: not only will he suffer and die, and not only will he be betrayed; he will also be shamed, mocked, and flogged. He rejects “spiritual order prestige”

He rejects military conquest, social classes, spiritual class. “ What’s in the place of these three?  Jesus calls his disciples to the humble, down-to-earth way of servanthood, a life of genuine greatness seeking to serve, not dominate; to descend, not ascend; and to humbly, justly, beautifully love, not arrogantly jockey for position.

In the Gospel this week, James and John asks Jesus to spend eternity sitting in seats of honor beside Jesus. Jesus won’t have that and the other disciples are angry with James and John for asking.  This causes Jesus to gather the disciples together once again to talk Jesus’ suffering path and its meaning.

The last sentence is the key- “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”.

“This  ransom is something of value given for the sake of liberating a captive — and in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus does indeed come as a healer and liberator. It’s not captivity to demonic forces; nor is it captivity to an unpayable debt owed to God. It’s the disciples’ captivity to self-centeredness, and to conventional notions of power, prestige, and supposed greatness.”

From the Episcopal Cafe

Mark 10:35-45

"We are two-thirds of the way through Mark’s gospel, and James and John have gotten the message…well, they’ve gotten part of the message, anyway. They have seen the miracles. They have travelled with Jesus and heard him preach the new covenant. And that’s where they get lost. They have seen Jesus in the glory of the Transfiguration. They have come to believe he truly is the Messiah. And they think they deserve a share of his glory. They want the best seats in the house of the Lord… and they’re not shy about asking for them. 

"Jesus listens. He sees how far they have come and how far they have yet to go. He knows it’s time to take them to the next level. And it’s not the level they were planning on. They are angling for positions of prestige and power. Jesus is committed to a life of selfless love and sacrificial service. 

"Patiently, he explains to them: You don’t understand what you are asking for. Jesus knows the suffering that awaits him. He asks if James and John are ready to share his fate… if they are prepared to drink of the cup that I drink of. In posing the question this way, Jesus is being very forthright with them. This was a common metaphor of the day, used to warn of great peril. But in their enthusiasm and ambition, James and John are blind to the danger. Jesus, knowing the martyrdom waiting for them all, cautions that they will share his fate. And ever in obedience to the will of the Father, he tells them that the honors they seek are not his to give.

"Overhearing this talk of honors and rewards, the other apostles want to get in on the action. They start to grumble that James and John are getting too big for their britches. Then Jesus shuts down the whole brouhaha, telling them that they’ve got it all wrong. The disciples accept Jesus as the Messiah, but they still don’t have a clue about what that really means. Jesus wants to take them up to the next level, to have them fully understand what it means to follow him. He tells them that to be a Christian means to serve, not to lord it over people. It did then and it does now.