Let's turn to Mark chapter 10 and verse 35 if we can. And we wanna look at, here come the brothers, perhaps with their mom, apparently. Come on, boys. And yeah, and you know it's gonna end well, right? For these guys, because you know how the disciples respond later in verse 41, right? Maybe because they hadn't thought of it first, that might be part of it. or they're just jealous, who knows what the exact, we just know that they respond angrily to these two young men. But James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and they say to him, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. That's pretty wide open, right? It's like, mom. It's like, yeah, okay, what does that all mean, right? Remember that Family Circle cartoon from many years ago? There was mom and like, what, eight or 10 different ways of saying mom, right? Teacher, okay. Notice they don't call him rabbi, which is my master. They call him teacher, and it's a loaded question, and it's an inconsiderate question. It's a selfish question, and we know that Jesus is not gonna be taken advantage of, and you'll notice Jesus's response is to ask a question. Wise. It's like people call and say, hey, you doing anything? Maybe. Right? That depends on your loaded question. Right? Because you are doing something. Right? Whether you're just sitting or existing or whatever. So Jesus responds with this question. He's not so foolish as to make a promise without knowing the question first. Right? Hey, can you do something for me? That depends, right? That depends on what that is. And Jesus wisely does this, and I think Mark records this for us because it stands in such contrast to what Herod did foolishly back in chapter 6. Ask me anything and I'll give it to you, up to half of my kingdom. Okay, silliness, foolishness, reminding us of back in Esther's day, but Jesus wisely makes no promises without knowing what the question is. And so their response in verse 37 is, give to us, grant to us that we may sit One on your right and one on your left in your glory. See how that's... It's your glory, but we want some for ourselves. That's the right and the left. The right hand being the very special place of privilege, the left would be kind of a secondary. but they want something, and they're assuming, apparently, that when they get to Jerusalem, there is going to be something done that is related to Jesus setting up the kingdom. Now, that can be, we can look at that at least one of two ways. One, they're misunderstanding Jesus' teaching so far. When we get to Jerusalem, Jesus is going to suffer all of those things. None of them stated about setting up the kingdom, right? So they've missed what Jesus was teaching there. At the same time, at least they're thinking that, hey, there is a coming kingdom. So that's positive, right? So it's kind of a mixed bag here that they're offering to Jesus. But Jesus says to them, And some people would say that maybe this wasn't kind, but it is extremely kind. You don't know what you're asking. Now again, Mark does not record about mom being involved with this. And perhaps if Salome is indeed Jesus's aunt or aunt, depending on what part of the country you're from, if Salome is Mary's sister, maybe there's a little bit of that involved. They were cousins. Right? So maybe that's involved, but Jesus says, no, you don't know what you're asking. They're asking on the top of page 35 from a self-centered, ambitious, but they're also ignorant. You don't know. Now, that's not unkind. It should be humbling for them. But then Jesus asks this question, and the way it's worded in the Greek language is assumes a no answer. Okay? Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They should have said no. because that would have been consistent with the way Jesus phrased that question. Sadly, they respond, we are able. Remember that song? Maybe this dates me, doesn't it? Because we don't sing this one, but, Lord, we are able, our spirits are thine, remold us, make us like the divine. Are ye able, said the master. That's the title. And it responds with yes. in light of what these two respond with. That's not the right response, okay? Which is one reason why we don't sing that song. It's not in our books either, but it's that self-confidence. But they are willing, and again, it's good that there's a willingness to display their allegiance, but Jesus is saying to them in verse 39, the cup that I drink, you will drink. and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. In other words, what? You're gonna suffer for Christ. That's what's gonna happen. Now, are you able? No. Will the Spirit of God enable James and John to suffer to the glory of God? Yes, he will. And they do, right? We see that at least part in the New Testament. But there is this self-centered ambition and this ignorance of so many things. So verse 40, Jesus denies their request. In other words, what? You don't always have to give people what they want. But to sit on my right or on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. By whom? by God the Father, right? It's the understood, and that's just consistent throughout the scriptures, that theological, if you will, theological passive, it is been prepared by God. So Jesus, what Jesus is saying in verse 40 is he's going to submit to the Father, and he's asking them to submit, right? They need to submit as well. Verse 41, how do the others respond? The remaining 10 respond in verse 41. First of all, they're furious. They're indignant with James and John. And as I said earlier, perhaps because they thought of it before the other 10 did. Who knows? But they've been arguing about this almost since day one. Who's the greatest, right? These guys have struggled with this. It's been a besetting temptation. And now the 10 are upset with them. And calling them to himself, Jesus said to them. Now, who are the them here? Is this the 10 or is this now the 12? Well, they're upset with James and John, but I think the them is all 12. So now Jesus gives to them what Godward service looks like. The importance of humility and the importance of a servant mindset. And he contrasts for them the way of the world and the way of Christ. And I think what Jesus is doing here is telling us we don't need to go to the world to look for leadership models. Now I realize that's contrary to the trend in contemporary Christianity. Follow whatever the world is doing and learn from the world how to be a pastor CEO. I know that's the trend. Jesus is saying don't follow the model of the world. Look what he says. He says, first of all, he tells, and Mark records it this way, in that Mark's readers would have said, well, duh, of course, that's the way it is, that we're in Rome. This is Roman leadership. You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. And again, the Roman readers would have said, yeah, That's just, we can't argue with that. We're not allowed to argue with that. That is the model. Might is right. Machiavelli didn't fall far from the tree when he wrote The Prince and the importance of a dominating authoritarian ruler. But Jesus says, but it is not this way among you. Right? Don't be striving to be the first. Don't be striving to be number one. Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant. Our English word deacon comes from that word servant. So you want to be mega, which is the Greek word here, you want to be great, then you need to be willing to be a servant. The Roman political system would have laughed at this. Roman rulers don't serve anybody but themselves. Now, whoever wishes to be first, protos, whoever wants to be first, which is synonym to great in this context, needs to be the bond slave, the slave, the lowest of the slaves. What are there? Eight, at least eight different Greek words for slaves in the New Testament. This is the lowest on the food chain. You want to be first, you need to be the lowest. Again, why would you want to become like a bond slave? Why would you want to be the lowest? Now, having explained this authoritarian domination that pleases the world, Jesus says we need to humbly serve others in a way that pleases God. Now, he gives the explanation for it. He tells us the what. Whoever wishes to be great needs to become your servant. Whoever wishes to be first needs to become the slave or needs to become last. Why? Because even the Son of Man Even the Son of Man, that title, Jesus is that title of Messiah. Even Messiah did not come to be served, but to serve. Big difference. There's that word for, again, our English word deacon comes from that. This is that servant who is doing what is beneficial for others and ministering to others. So he says, the Son of Man did not come to be served, passive, but to actively serve. But not only that, secondly, and to give his life a ransom for the many. Now, I don't think it's a reference to the extent of the ransom. Well, he gave his life only for the many. I know there are people who argue from this verse that this is the extent of the atonement, but that's not the context, I don't think. It's a reference on his substitutionary self-sacrificing service for others. Big difference. Now, I think Jesus is arguing on the basis of Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53. Jesus is saying, I have not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life. Which is why we sang this morning, take my life and let it be. Are we willing to give that and to yield ourselves to him that we can be used in a way that is serving others to the glory of God. James and John, I think if there were to be memes here in the scriptures at this point, can you see James and John? I don't know how you would picture that, but I don't think it's, yeah, I think it's, yeah. I think they've been humbled publicly, graciously, firmly, and the others who have been so upset with James and John, I think they've been rebuked as well. So that leads us to Bartimaeus, but before we go any further, any questions or comments on James and John's lesson? All right, well let's move on then. I would like to, if we can, get through this, not even a full page here. The page is 35 and 36 and there is one typo that we'll point out in just a bit. So we have come now to verse 46 and They have left, as we said last time, last Sunday, they have crossed the Jordan River, they've made that four-ish, four to five mile walk up to the two Jericho's. And now, verse 46, they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho. Now, I mentioned this last week as well, There are the two Jerichos. There's the old Jericho and the new Jericho about a mile apart, which helps you understand Matthew 20 and Luke 18. There are two Jerichos. And they all knew that. Everybody knew that. There's the old Canaanite Jericho and there's the new Roman Jericho. We said last week again, Mankato and North Mankato. There's suburbs and all sorts of, we have a, what is the new thing? Exburbs, right? All the new things that we're trying to come up with as cities expand out into the countryside. That's what happened here in Jericho. Now, Bartimaeus, As Jesus meets him, they came to Jericho, and he's leaving Jericho, probably on the southwest edge of Jericho, getting onto that main road, and they're gonna make that 17, roughly 17-mile climb all uphill to Jerusalem. And Mark, in his kindness for his readers, As Jesus is leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, and then what does he do? He translates it for his Roman readers, because they don't know Aramaic. They shouldn't be expected to know Aramaic. And that's what he does. He translates it for them. The sun, bar, is the Aramaic word for sun. Just in Hebrew, it's Ben. In Aramaic, it's Bar. Bar Timaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. And perhaps Mark is just a little bit of a slight smirk, so to speak, on his face because Bartimaeus is sitting by the road and that's what James and John wanted to do, was sit next to Jesus. Perhaps he's just playing with some words here. But you can see Bartimaeus. Why is he sitting by the road? Because he is two things. He's blind and he's a beggar. Now I think I mentioned this several weeks ago, but blindness is a pretty common thing in that part of the world. And there were those who, as they visited, Palestine in the 1800s, early 1900s, the percentage of people who were blind was so much higher than it is in other parts of the world. And what's all the explanation for that, I don't know. But if you're blind, Aren't too many jobs you're going to get, right, in this culture. And so he's begging. Now notice what Bartimaeus does. When he heard, and notice how Jesus is described, Jesus the Nazarene. We haven't seen that before. He begins to cry out. Now, the word for cry out is, I can't do it this morning because of my throat, but, and you don't want me to, but it's screaming, okay? It's allowed, it's what people would do, for instance, at a sporting event, right? And your team scores a touchdown, and you scream and yell and, And they even measure that, right, at sporting events, what stadium has the most decibels. But he screams out, and he uses the name for Jesus, a title for Jesus that is used for the first time in the book of Mark. Jesus, son of David. You see that? You understand what Bartimaeus sees much more clearly than the guys in Jerusalem and the Pharisees, right? And some of Jesus' own disciples. Jesus, son of David. Now, James and John want to sit on Jesus's throne, next to him on his throne in the kingdom. They call him teacher. Bartimaeus calls him Jesus, son of David. What a statement of faith that is. He's grasping this. But what does he ask for? James and John ask for, sit at these places of authority and privilege and honor. He simply asks, in a very general way, he asks for mercy. But he sees Jesus, if you will, with his ears. He hears Jesus going by. People are talking. He's listened as people get all these, get all these pilgrims heading up to Jerusalem for Passover, right? Thousands upon thousands upon thousands have to go up there. And where is he sitting? He's sitting right there where he can collect, right? It's walled, no offense, but it's walled rug in the summer. Bartimaeus knows exactly where to park and put up his, spread his cloak, which is what he does, and get money off of all the seasonal travelers, okay? And same thing happens today, by the way, if you go there. But he is persistently screaming out for mercy from Jesus, the son of David. And Jesus, well, verse 48, before we get to what Jesus said, and many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. You're causing a disruption, right, in our flow of traffic. You're interrupting. You're doing 35 and a 55 kind of a thing. And you can see this. You can see these people. You're causing a bottleneck here on this road to Jerusalem. So Jesus answered him and said, Isn't this pretty much the same question? Am I right? As what... Yeah, as verse 36. I didn't realize this earlier. I didn't note it and put it in my notes as early, but it's the same question, right? Of what do you want me to do for you? Now, is he going to say the same thing as James and John? Right? Repetition in stories is important, and I think that's helpful for us. So this is basically an invitation. What do you want me to do for you? And he says, Rabboni, or Rabbi, I want to regain my sight. I'm jumping ahead here. Let me back up. Let me back up to verse 48. I'm sorry. And there were many who sternly telling him to be quiet. Now keep that in mind because of the next verse that Jesus stopped and said, call him here. And so they called the blind man saying to him, take courage, get up. He's calling you. Perhaps the same people. Isn't that people? the fickleness of people. But notice that earlier they were telling him to be quiet. And I think there's part of what Mark is getting at here is, I know I don't want this either. We don't want to be a hindrance for others to come to Christ. Right? And these people are telling Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus is in desperate need. and now they're telling him to be quiet. Then Jesus says, call him here, and now these very same, perhaps same people, oh, take courage, get up, he's calling for you. Nevermind, right? Just regard what we said earlier. Verse 50. Notice what Bartimaeus does, and this is important, the sequence of what happens here. Bartimaeus' primary action is coming to Jesus. Everything else is preparation. Throwing aside his cloak, which he would have used to catch all those coins that would be thrown at him. so graciously and mercifully for these travelers going to Jerusalem. I'm being facetious. But he needed something to catch their money. And that's what his cloak would do. So throwing off his outer garment, he jumped up. Again, preparation. And jumping up, being, should say, instead of preparation, should say prepared for doing so. He did what was necessary. He got rid of whatever might have hindered himself, and he came to Christ. Now, if he's getting rid of his cloak, it's similar. Similar to Matthew leaving the tax collector's office up in Capernaum. Similar, right? Because if he's not gonna have his cloak out anymore, how's he gonna catch money from people? Right, so there's a step of faith. He's asked for mercy, but now he's asked for more specifically that I might regain my sight. He's getting more focused Because if he gains his sight, he's not asking for money. If he gains his sight, he can go get a job, right? Mercy by itself, if Jesus just has compassion, well, that's fine, but compassion by itself isn't going to give him a job. It's not going to give him his sight. Jesus needs to do something more than just feel sorry for Bartimaeus. And so Jesus's question, what do you want from me? Bartimaeus gives the specific answer, I want to regain my sight. Now, the way this word is shaped in the original language gives us the impression that he had been able to see at one time in his life, to regain my sight, literally to see again. which, if to see again, implies you have seen before, right? So this Greek word that's used here, ana blepo, ana is the word for again, blepo is the word to see. So there's a restoration of his sight, is what he's asking for. In verse 52, and Jesus said to him, Move along. Right? Go. And then he gives him reassurance. Your faith has saved you. As Grasmick says, faith is the necessary means, not the efficient cause of his healing. It is the means by which. So your faith has saved you. And immediately he regained his sight. No more need to sit by the road, right? No more need to collect coins on his robe. And then what? An immediate desire to follow Jesus. He began following him on the road. Where's Jesus going? Jesus is going to Jerusalem. They're outside of Jericho. He doesn't go back to Jericho. Everybody knows him in Jericho as the blind guy, right? The blind beggar. He goes with Jesus, apparently, goes with him to Jerusalem. Now, isn't it curious that where we had been in chapter 10, the wealthy young man earlier who had come to Jesus, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus told him, and he walks away, right? Bartimaeus doesn't do that. Bartimaeus follows Christ, which now sets the stage for us for chapter 11. And they approached Jerusalem and they get to these two little Tiny little villages. Boy, what are you talking? Extremely small. Out in Wyoming, north of Douglas, there's that little town of Bill. Had to sign a population one. It had one building. They built a small hotel there now for the railroad people. But we're talking super small. Bethany, and we pronounce it Beth-fage or Beth-fah-gay. But these two little villages on the on the east part of the top of the Mount of Olives. It's just before you get to the peak and start back down. So they stop up there. So we go from Jericho, the two cities of Jericho, to the two cities, two villages, two, not even villages, they're smaller than that. They're just two really small collection of houses on top of the hill. So they've reached the peak of their climb to Jerusalem, and that opens up their chapter 11 on the Mount of Olives and That's where we'll start next week.