The Danger of Hubris

turn with me to Mark chapter 10 and our goal this evening will be to complete the chapter.

We're going to begin at verse 32. Sometimes our goals are not fulfilled, but I believe there is a structural importance in this text in that there is a line of thought that runs through this entire chapter actually, but specifically this last portion that I want us to see and I try to do that show you how things sort of fit together and as we have noted we are seeing

Jesus. He is making his way from Caesarea Philippi back to Jerusalem.

If we do finish chapter 10 tonight, next week we will see him enter into Jerusalem and that will enter into the last portion of this book which is as I've said before I think

Mark is really mainly focused on getting us to the passion narrative and then giving us this extended passion narrative which begins in chapter 11 and takes us through to the end of the book and the word that he uses throughout his letter is immediately immediately immediately as if to say let's let's get on let's get to the to the part that is going to change everything and that's the death burial and resurrection of Christ, but I want to start

I actually want to read verse 31 even though I said we're going to start at verse 32 I want to read verse 31 as this as that verse finishes the story of the rich young man you'll remember the rich young man ran to Jesus and said good teacher what must

I do to inherit eternal life and there was that interaction between he and Christ and then Christ looked at his disciples and said how difficult is it for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God and there was that section that came after that and then there is this very important phrase from the

Lord Jesus Christ and it's going to carry us into what we see tonight and it's this phrase in verse 31 but many who are first will be last and the last first and I hope through tonight to show you how that fits into the rest so let's continue reading now at verse 32 and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was 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 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 and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him and after three days he will rise verse 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 and he said to them what do you want me to do for you and they said to him grant to us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory

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 when they said to him we are able and Jesus said to them the cup that I drink you will drink the baptism with which

I am baptized you will be baptized but to sit at my right hand or my left is not mine to grant but it is for those whom it has been prepared and when the ten heard it they began to be indignant at James and John 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 they're great ones exercise great ones exercise authority over them but it shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all for even the

Son of Man came not to serve or excuse me to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many verse 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 and when he had heard that it was

Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out and say Jesus son of David have mercy on me

Jesus stopped and said call him and they called the blind man saying to him take heart get up he is calling you and throwing off his cloak he sprang up and came to Jesus 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 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 father

I thank you for your word again as Andy's already prayed Lord give us eyes to see ears to hear help us to understand what it is you have for us to learn tonight and I pray as we consider the concept and the idea of willful blindness and hubris tonight

I pray Lord that we would be willing to recognize the areas wherein we need to be humbled and where we need to recognize

Lord that you are the one who is to be exalted we pray this in Christ's name amen humility is a is a quality that is often hard to find sometimes people think that humility is self abasement but self abasement is not necessarily humility and if you don't know what self abasement is that's when someone will downplay themselves one of the things that bothers me often is when

I go to a when I do a funeral or I go to some other place where people have to speak and the first thing they do when they get up to speak is they spend the first five minutes apologizing for being a bad speaker they were hurt somebody do that they'll get up and say well

I'm sorry I'm not a good public speaker and they spend time talking about I'm like we know you didn't have to tell us but the fact that you're calling attention to it is making it worse and that's called self abasement when we tend to downplay ourselves and people do that thinking it's humble but actually often what it is is it's a sign of pride

I'm prideful in my abasement I'm you know somebody well

I don't know nothing about that yeah that's not good but you're proud of it you're proud that you don't know you know and some people are very proud of their ignorance the point is to find a truly humble person to find somebody who really recognizes the gifts that God has given them but does not over exaggerate those gifts or over state themselves or in some way show themselves to be all about themselves is actually it's a difficult thing we have a tendency to want to be praised and we find in the narrative here with Jesus two men who have one of the most interesting interactions with Christ that I think in my opinion of all the interactions with Jesus and his disciples you know we often give old

Thomas a hard time doubting Thomas I don't think that's fair I don't think we should call him doubting

Thomas yes he had doubts yes he he did have a time in his life where he said unless I see the nail scars in his hand

I get it he was struggling but what about these guys you know do we ever call him prideful

James and John well I guess we call him sons of thunder right Jesus called him Boanerges which means sons of thunder but I just this story just is amazing to me and the reason why

I'm pointing to that I know that's not the first thing we read tonight is I want to show you where this story lands in the midst of everything else

Jesus has just interacted with the Pharisees about the divorce and that was a serious interaction then immediately it's about children

Jesus unless you become like children right you're not under the kingdom so humility right there's a big point of humility in that unless you unless you humble yourselves and become like a child right then comes this rich young man good teacher what must

I do to inherit life Jesus says do these things I all those I've kept from my youth no you haven't but you have a pretty high opinion of yourself because you're willing to say how great you are and then at the end of that as I said

Jesus says many who are first will be last and the last first Jesus is again pointing to this issue of humility and on the heels of that he tells them that he's about to be crucified in fact verses 32 to 34 in Mark 10 have to be some of the most expressive and clear words of Christ about the coming of his death which is coming in just a few days from this point and what's amazing about it is how absolutely clear it is some people believe that this is a later insertion now for you to believe that you have to believe

Jesus couldn't properly prophesy his own death which obviously we do believe Jesus could properly prophesy his own death but you understand why people would come to the conclusion that this is a later assertion we're in Mark 10 it's okay

Mark 10 right now I'm looking at verses 32 to 34 and some people who question the biblical authority they say all this couldn't have come from the words of Jesus because it's so absolutely beat -for -beat prophetic and it is notice what he says he says they were on the road going up to Jerusalem by the way anytime you read they're going to Jerusalem they're always going up I always just like to point that out that anytime whether they're going north south east west doesn't matter they're always going up because Jerusalem was considered the pinnacle that was the high point that was the capital that was you're always going up to Jerusalem or down from Jerusalem or down to Egypt that's right yeah so they were going up to Jerusalem even though they're technically going south because they're coming from Caesarea Philippi down through Jericho they're coming south but they're going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them and they were amazed why are they amazed what doesn't tell us why they were amazed but we can come to some conclusions maybe they're amazed about the fact that he

Jesus is struck out towards Jerusalem knowing what's what's potentially coming if you remember the the parallel story of when

Lazarus was dying and Jesus said let us go and what did

Thomas say bringing Thomas back up he says they're gonna kill us let us go and die with him right so they know there's danger there but Jesus is going and Jesus is like as the

Bible says set his face like flint to Jerusalem right he's headed to Jerusalem and they were amazed those who followed were afraid why they know what's the potential danger oh well

Jesus tells them exactly what's going to happen he says the

Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes exactly what happened remember

Jesus was taken to the houses of Annas Caiaphas then he was taken before the Sanhedrin I always mentioned six kangaroo courts as it was

Annas Caiaphas and then the Sanhedrin that's three then it was

Pilate Herod and back to Pilate that's three more so technically six rounds of going before you might not call

Annas and Caiaphas a court but it was before a group he was taken before six different kangaroo legislations if you will and he says he said and be taken before the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and then do what hand him over to the

Gentiles this is absolute prophetic nail on the head this is what's going to happen and then we'll mock him spit on him flog him and kill him and after three days he'll rise absolute perfect prophecy absolute this is what will happen now you would assume well maybe you wouldn't

I would like to assume that that would be a sobering prophecy for the

Apostles to hear and that their response would have been meditative contemplation but it wasn't meditative contemplation instead of meditative contemplation we get hubris which as I said to me is almost unparalleled in the

Gospels now there is something about verses 35 to 45 that we need to consider and that is it reads slightly different than Matthew's account of the same event because in Matthew's account of the same event it is the mother of James and John who makes the request of Jesus that they sit at his right and left hand and in fact let's look at that just quickly turn over to Matthew 20

I just want you to see and by the way if you read the parallel accounts and Mark Matthew and Mark it's obvious this is the same it's not that this is happening at a different time this is the same event but Matthew adds a historical portion that we don't have in Mark's gospel it's

Matthew chapter 20 verse 20 you guys remember this that was the mom

I did real quick why are you turning your Bibles when I was a kid Pat took us to see the the life giver the life giver was a play that used to be put on downtown

Jacksonville in the Civic Auditorium or one of those buildings downtown and it was a local church put on this very well done

Jesus life story play but it was a musical so John the Baptist would sing about baptizing people and you know it was like watching you know a version of a musical version of Jesus's life well

I remember the mother of James and John singing they're good boys they're nice boys and I don't know why that's stuck in my head but I remember to this day you remember that yeah that she's trying to convince

Jesus that they're worthy to sit at his right and left side so when I when I was reading in Mark's gospel

I said wait a minute the parallel to this is the mom I remembered it from the play that the mom they're good boys but this is what it says it says then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons so they're not absent there they're there and kneeling before him she asked him for something 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 now the rest of it reads fairly similarly so we'll just stop there the point is the difference between Mark's account and Matthew's account is the account of mom's interaction and it leads to this question and I I I don't want to take a poll but I would be interested in your thought whether you think it's

James and John who put mom up to it or her mom who thinks so highly of her boys that she pulls them up there

I will give you my opinion and it's you know it's just an opinion because the text doesn't absolutely say it but I think that this is the desire of James and John because in Mark's gospel he leaves the mother out completely

I don't think that she's manipulating her sons I think it could actually be the other way around that the boys wanted to ask

Jesus for this and they said we'll get mom to be our mouthpiece like you know petulant children sometimes we'll say well maybe we can get the older sibling to ask for us or something you know we'll get mom and but but it does tell us something interesting about Jesus's entourage sometimes

I think we think it's just Jesus in 12 no it's Jesus and his entourage and his entourage included obviously the family members of these men you know there's the and so their mom is there he knows who she is and she's part of Jesus she's following after Christ in this time and so she's there she comes up she says say that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom and again going back to Mark's gospel and they said grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory now some people say that's a contradiction because one says the mom asked the other says they asked however you remember as I've taught you about harmonization especially in historical narrative harmonization we look for the things that are the same and then we recognize areas where stories are telescoped meaning that puts the story together so as to make it simple or to you know eliminate certain unnecessary facts and Mark is simply eliminating an unnecessary fact the unnecessary fact to him is the mom which is why

I think she's less relevant I think it is the issue of the boys who are relevant and they have said we want to sit at your right hand and at your left hand in your glory now what is the what is the significance of this

I think you all know this but just in case you don't sitting at one's right hand on a biblical perspective was to sit at the position of prominence we know that the

Bible says that Christ sits where at the right hand of the father and so there is a recognition of the right hand being a position of authority but there is also the left position which is a position of prominence and so they are giving

Jesus the opportunity to say you can have us both one at the highest position and the other at the next highest position but we think we deserve to be in the position of the highest now here's the that should just grab us by the the the throat in this passage is that this is right on the heels of Jesus's most most clear prophetic statement regarding his own death the most clear prophetic statement

Jesus made regarding his death and Mark's gospel is 10 32 to 34 he outlined everything that's about to happen

I'm going to be taken I'm going to be brought before the the courts I'm going to be handed over the

Gentiles I'm going to be spit on mocked flogged and killed and here come these two guys but we want to be at your right and left side not for the flogging and the killing but for the glory notice it says that it says in your glory don't we all want to be in the position of glory but not in the position of pain so Jesus in verse 38 said to them you don't know what you're asking by the way just to I know you know this but just as a way of painting a picture who is it

Jesus is right and left hand in his time of punishment to thieves so Jesus looks at him says do you really know what you're asking you're asking to be at my right and left side when you don't realize that in just a few weeks

I'm going to be hung between heaven and earth there's gonna be man at my right side there's gonna be a man at my left side one of them's gonna believe in what

I was not they're gonna picture the whole world I have a sermon I did years ago called what side of the cross are you on because those two men wreck our picture of every every human every human being either will look into the eyes of Jesus Christ and receive him as Savior or they'll turn from him and reject him forever and Christ is the great marking post of history you'll either be on the right side and led to his kingdom on the left and sent to an eternal punishment they said right and left side you said you know what you're asking and then he uses two metaphors that are important from a biblical perspective we are familiar with one of them very much and that is the metaphor of baptism now understand this baptism had

Baptist like to say baptism always means immersion well Babto or baptized does mean to go under or to be in water but it also meant simply to be immersed into something the

Bible says in 1st Corinthians that the Israelites were baptized in the Moses and that certainly does not refer to them having literally received a physical water baptism but it refers to their being immersed into him and his leadership and following him and when

Jesus says here are you able to drink the cup and be baptized with the baptism he's referring to two metaphors the metaphor of baptism are you willing to undergo the baptism

I'm about to go to be immersed into what I'm about to be immersed I just told you what it was I'm gonna be drug through these courts spit on flogged beaten and killed are you ready for that are you ready to drink the cup now the cup should be easy for us to think about the

Old Testament talks several times about the cup of God's wrath but Jesus even refers to it in the garden when he says father if there be any other way take this cup from me the cup is wrath and so we have the cup of wrath and we have the baptism of the the pain and suffering that Christ is about to endure he says are you able to drink that and be baptized with that and what do they say we're able sure no problem again amazing hubris totally missed what was said about all this has he just explained it this is what's gonna happen are you ready for this guys sure are they really ready for it now what happens when the soldiers come they run right they say they are they're not but Jesus does say something he says the cup that I will drink and the baptism with which

I will be baptized you will drink and you will be baptized now in what way is that well there's two different ways that this might be intended by Christ to be met one is that as believers in Christ we are all united in his suffering with him and therefore the

Bible says when we receive Christ we are buried with him in baptism raised to new life we we suffer with Christ Romans 8 says so that we are raised with him in glory these are these are metaphors for the

Christian life dying to self being risen in Christ so it could be that that Christ is saying you will endure these things as all believers will but it could also be that Jesus is being prophetic again and making the statement that these men will suffer a fate for trusting in him and you remember who was who was the first disciple killed

James this one of these men would be one killed for Christ and then

John though he was not martyred was certainly one who suffered undergoing a suffering on behalf of Christ so again whether we take it as Christ referring to the fact that united with him they would experience these things or whether he's referring to the fact that they will endure these things he's pointing out the fact that they that they certainly will be baptized with the baptism and they will drink the cup but I but I would

I do want to clarify something in case somebody misunderstand what I just said they they are not fully drinking the cup that Christ drank because no one could drink the cup

Christ drank except Christ himself and and no one could truly be baptized with the baptism

Christ was baptized with in the sense of receiving the punishment of God right then

Christ himself in fact that just for a moment jump down to verse 45 for even the Son of Man came not to serve but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many only one could give the ransom for our sin and it was

Christ wasn't James wasn't John whatever they suffered and whatever they endured was not to the full extent what

Christ endured no one has ever endured what Christ has endured on the cross except him and so just to just in case anyone might misunderstand what

I was saying so moving back up to verse 39 they said we're able

Jesus said to them the cup that I drink the baptism I baptize with you'll be baptized but to sit in my right hand and my left is not mine to grant but it is for those for whom it is prepared and when the ten heard it they were indignant and notice who they're indignant with James and John this again

I'm not I'm not trying to say the mother had nothing to do with it but they're not upset with mom they're upset with these guys why because these men have sought for themselves a place of prominence and in doing so they have sought for the others a place of subservience we want to be at your right and left hand makes me think about the story of Joseph now when

Joseph had his dreams remember the the sheaves would bow down to his sheaf and those things what did the what did the brothers say you think we're gonna bow down to you that was the attitude the brothers had toward Joseph well

I imagine a similar attitude now is held with the other disciples what did what is this you think that you deserve this place of prominence prominence rather than us and Jesus came to them because here's the thing and this is going to sound funny

I'm gonna say it anyway the only reason they're upset is because they think they deserve it the reason they're indignant is because they don't think they deserve they think why would you think you're better than me they all have a problem and the problem with all of them is the problem we all have and it's the problem of pride do you know why we sin pride pride is the pride is the heart of all sin because in that moment we think we know better than God in that moment we think that our way is better than God's way we think whatever pleasure happiness joy or peace we have through that sin is better than the joy happiness peace and all the things that God would give to us outside of that's it that's why and they're experiencing this they're they're all experiencing a form of pride one way or another as I said hubris that's just another fancy word for pride you know how much

I like fancy words Jesus came and called them and said to them you know this may be this this part

I just love this I love what Jesus says here says you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and they're great ones exercise authority over them what's he saying boys come here listen we do things differently here if you go out there the way that things are done is there's men in charge and the men in charge

Lord over the people who are their subjects that's the way they do it but we do it different here he says in verse 43 but it shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you doesn't sit at the right and left side but whoever will be great among you will be your servant and whoever will be first among you must be slave of all for even the

Son of Man who's that that's Jesus for even I came not to be served but to serve and how am

I going to serve I'm going to give my life as the payment for man's sin the ransom for many

I mean think about the heart of that think about the heart of what Christ is doing he is he is ultimately pushing them to a point of understanding your your your thought is up here because you think this is where real power is no real power is here real power is in service not in this in this supposed strength you think you want by sitting at my right and left hand no it's down here because when you serve you're most like me remember when

Jesus on the night before the crucifixion sat with his disciples and he took off his outer cloak and he wrapped himself with a towel and he got down and he began to wash their feet why did he do that he said

I am one I am you as one who serves there is a very real sense in which if a man is not prepared to serve he's not qualified to lead in God's church if he has not a heart to serve but only be served if he has not a heart to to love others while he serves them he is not fit to lead them that is

Jesus's point now all that was introduction to verses 46 to 52 and I again

I want to show you how this fits I promise it all God is so good in that he he he's gonna make it make sense to us because now they they came to Jericho all right if I remember right it's about 20 miles outside of Jerusalem I may be off on that one but I think it's you know so they're close to Jerusalem like I said next in chapter 11 in chapter 11 when they go into Jerusalem right okay so they're close all right so it came to Jericho and as he was leaving with his disciples and a great crowd

Bartimaeus by the way one of the only times we ever get a name of someone

Jesus heals sometimes we get family members names sometimes we talk about the centurion servant things like that but there's a name here and it's interesting because his name is given twice it says

Bartimaeus a blind beggar the son of Timaeus which

Bartimaeus literally means son of Timaeus so it says it twice and I think

Sproul might be on to something with that in his comments on this passage he said that it could be that because Mark is writing to a

Gentile audience and the Gentiles did not do that with their names they that wasn't the way they identified sons was through the term

Bart you know like Bartholomew means Bart Tomei son of Tomei they didn't do that and so Mark is clear clarifying who

Bartimaeus is he's the son of Timaeus but any Jew would have known that simply by the virtue of his name

I don't know that that's absolutely accurate but it makes sense and we do know that Mark is writing to essentially a

Gentile audience and it says he was sitting by a roadside 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

I can't help but stop right there and I know I stop every two seconds but Jan Hus was one of the proto -reformers he was the rector of the

Church of Bethlehem in Prague and he was martyred for his preaching as he died being burned he died singing and his singing was

Jesus son of David have mercy on me I just love that little piece of history but it is interesting that looking back now at Bartimaeus he says

Jesus son of David have mercy on me this this tells us something at least about what

Bartimaeus knew Bartimaeus knew that Jesus had the position of being the

Messiah by virtue of his relationship to the King David they knew that the

King the Messiah would be the son of David and so Bartimaeus called out his name

Jesus he then called out his title son of David and then he called out his request have mercy on me many rebuked him telling him to be silent but he he cried out all the more son of David have mercy on me it doesn't say the disciples rebuked him so I don't want to read into the story and if you if you read the parallel passage in Mark it says the crowd rebuked him so again

I don't want to assume the disciples but we we can't help but remember just a few verses earlier when they wanted to bring the children to Jesus the disciples said no right so even if the disciples are not among those who are telling

Bartimaeus to be quiet we know that a group was and Jesus stopped and said call him and they called the blind man saying to him take heart get up he is calling you by the way have you ever thought about what it's like to be blind we know what it's like to close our eyes but even in that we don't know what it's like to be blind because we close our eyes we know we can open them again and even when we close our eyes we often if it's a bright day we have the sensation of light coming through even the cracks and the slits of our eyes our eyelids are not perfectly shut when we shut our eyes and so we can still experience light imagine utter darkness

Bartimaeus has lived his life in utter darkness he experiences life only through his other senses smell hearing touch and taste but not through sight he hears

Jesus is coming most of his life is spent begging for what little he can survive on he hears

Jesus coming and he calls him and Jesus stops and Jesus says get up or rather I'm sorry the crowd said get up he's calling you and he threw off his cloak and he sprang up and he came to Jesus and Jesus said to him what do you want me to do for you stop right there verse 51 go all the way back to verse 36 and he said to them what do you want me to do for you that's the connection point for me these men came to Jesus what do you want me to do for you do whatever we ask you notice that's how they answered him we didn't talk about that before but that's what they said what do you want me to do for you

I want you to do whatever I ask of you they were the first health and wealth preachers

Jesus do whatever you say I want you to do whatever

I asked no not not this time Jesus said what do you want me to do for you and the blind man said to him rabbi let me recover my sight a sensible request a reasonable request for a man who has no sight but also in a very simple way an absolute distinguishable request from what was requested just a little while earlier by these two men he's not asking for glory he's not asking for power he's not asking for prestige or money and he's not even asking in this moment for eternal life he just wants to see how much the

Apostles needed to see they were in many ways blinded by their own pride and hubris and here is a blind man who sees better than they because he is able to see even without seeing that there is only one thing that he needs and that's the mercy of God so he cries out

Jesus son of David have mercy on me and Jesus said to him go your way your faith has made you well and immediately he recovered his sight and and went his way but what is his way end up being

Jesus's he says that and immediately he followed him all of this comes together to remind us of the little line in verse 31 many who are first will be last and the last will be first many who want positions of prominence and power and prestige and to sit at the right and left hand want the wrong thing when rather we should ask that God grant us the gift of humility that we would serve as Christ served and love as Christ loved and follow him as blind

Bartimaeus did and that brings me to the end does anyone have any questions yeah

I saw that video recently it's a beautiful moment I know that one day we will be in the presence of the

Lord to imagine it is hard enough to even consider and to know that he walked with men and women and the moments that he was with them like that when he rose

Jairus his daughter and when he you know said to the centurion your servant as well and all of those things just it's easy for us to read it but like you were saying just the existential reality of it this happened it's a powerful thought for sure yes that's right and Bartimaeus is an example that absolutely believed that he was who he said he was the son of David and could do was the only one could have mercy on him yes and how much

Bartimaeus knew and how much they needed to learn yeah well guys this leads us to the end of chapter 10 unless you have any more questions we'll close with a prayer and we will come back next week wait a minute when is

Thanksgiving so how many weeks do we have till Thanksgiving is it three yeah

I guess it's the beginning of November okay but we will be off the week of Thanksgiving the Wednesday night will be off the weekend but every other

Wednesday will be the same all right let's pray father we thank you for this opportunity to study your word tonight

I pray that we have sought you that we have heard from you and Lord that we would learn from what we have heard and that we would seek

Lord to abandon our pride abandon our hubris that we would humble ourselves before you and that we would trust