FOR EVEN THE SON OF MAN

Mark 10:32-52
Key Verse: 10:45

     "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
     serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

     Thank God that he taught us little children's characteristics and
their trusting and obeying and purity. Jesus told his disciples these
children can easily go to the kingdom of God because of their genuine
character. Especially children's purity is remarkable. One boy stole
his partner's eraser in the classroom.  The teacher noticed that the
boy stole his partner student's eraser while sitting at a double-seated
desk. The teacher called the boy out in front of the class.  The teacher
looked at him. The teacher did not say anything to him. The teacher
only continued to look at him, saying nothing. But the student who
stole his partner's eraser became red in his cheeks, like a well-ripened
tomato. Then the teacher told him, "Go to your seat." And he began to cry,
"I stole the eraser." Seeing his purity, all the classroom students cried
together. Finally, the teacher also cried and wiped his tears under his
eye glasses. Genuine children cannot lie because their cheeks become
red. Genuine children cannot lie because they are endowed by God with
purity in their souls. If they think they did something wrong, they feel
like dying.  Anybody who did wrong soon confesses to his friend or to
his mother that he did wrong. Purity is given to mankind to lead him to
God so he may know that God is the holy God. If one knows many things
from Bible study, but does not know that man is endowed with purity
and God is holy, Bible study does not work in his personal life. May
God make us pure in heart, like little children. Today we are going
to listen to Jesus' main point in Mark's Gospel. Mark 10:45 says,
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many."  This teaching to Jesus'
disciples was so life-giving. Let's see how his disciples responded to
his teaching. In this text, there is another story about a blind man.
Let's see how Jesus' compassion reached to him.

I. Jesus again predicts his death (32-34)

     When we study the gospels, we learn that Jesus is the Son of
God. He came to save men from their sins. His messianic ministry on
earth was really heart-breaking because of his divine compassion. His
preaching the kingdom of God to bring us back to his kingdom is
life-giving because it gives us clear meaning of life and a clear
goal of life. But in the gospels the most important event is Jesus'
crucifixion. Jesus died on the cross, bearing all our sorrows, heavy
burdens and rebellious minds. In addition to these, Jesus bore all our
iniquities and transgressions. Because of our sins Jesus was crucified
on the cross and shed much blood. Thus, Jesus opened the way for sinners
to come to his Father's house. Jesus' death on the cross shakes our
souls and either we become crazy or we become children of God. Jesus'
ministry was mainly healing the sick and preaching the gospel to the
people who were coming to him. This ministry was so busy that Jesus and
his disciples were always sleepless and their stomachs were empty, not
to mention that their pockets were empty. The crowds of people only came
to Jesus for selfish purposes such as healing their bodies or soothing
their souls by his words. But his disciples were different. Jesus did
not have even one theology class for them.  His life and work itself
was his classroom. One time Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves
and two fish. The leftovers were overflowing in twelve baskets. After
this miracle his disciples acknowledged that he is the Son of God.
Especially his healing the blind man at Bethsaida moved his disciples'
hearts (8:22-26). Then Peter made a confession of faith, "You are the
Christ" (8:29).  "Christ" means Jesus is the Almighty God who made the
heavens and the earth. "Christ" means Jesus is the King of kings and
Lord of lords. When we see many events in human history, in most cases,
people's kingship and lordship are too short to remember. But according
to Peter's confession, Jesus is the Christ, King of kings and Lord of
lords, forever and ever.

     After Peter's confession, Jesus made a prediction in 8:31. It says,
"He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law,
and that he must be killed and after three days rise again." In short, he
taught them his death on the cross and rising again as the glorious Christ
the Lord. Henceforth, he will reign over the world with his saints. This
is the first time that Mark's Gospel narrates this prediction. After
teaching them his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus turned and looked at
his disciples. Peter was exposed by Jesus' eyes of the heart (Eph 1:18)
to be full of human thinking and politically-minded. So Jesus rebuked
him: "Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God,
but the things of men" (8:33).

     At that time there was a rumor that Elijah would come back. But in
reality Elijah came back in the name of John the Baptist. John came as
the forerunner of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. John preached
the gospel of repentance. Finally he was arrested by Herod the King and
he was martyred. But Jesus continued teaching his disciples the gospel
of the kingdom of God through his crucifixion. Mark 9:12b says that the
Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected.

     In the midst of Jesus' healing ministry, one father brought his child
who was demon possessed and often went into the fire or water to kill
himself.  His father asked Jesus, "If you can do anything, take pity on us
and help us."  Jesus said, "Everything is possible for him who believes"
(9:22-23). The nine disciples who were waiting for Jesus to come down
from the transfiguration mountain were greatly surprised. Jesus sensed
it was the time they could realize the spiritual realm. So he taught
them his crucifixion and resurrection.  Mark 9:31b says, "The Son of
Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him,
and after three days he will rise."

     Again, in today's passage, Jesus told his disciples this in 10:32-34.
He taught them his crucifixion and resurrection, which opens to them
the door of the kingdom of God. At this time, they were going up to
Jerusalem and Jerusalem was getting near and his disciples felt a kind
of premonition.  They were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus
leading the way and the disciples were astonished (32). They were
astonished, not because some event had occurred, but because they
felt Jesus was going to be rejected and suffer much and die on the
cross. Jesus taught this to them at every opportunity. This time the
disciples reacted differently. They were very serious. All the disciples
were astonished. "They were astonished" means that they were surprised
intensively without any obvious reason. The middle part of verse 32 says,
"...while those who followed were afraid" (32). The previous times the
disciples had heard Jesus teaching his crucifixion and resurrection. But
what they heard went in one ear and out the other ear.  This time they
were very serious. They felt like they were dying. Jesus knew they
were afraid. But there was no deviation in teaching his crucifixion
and resurrection. It was because he came for this according to God's
will. In verses 33-34 Jesus said, "...and the Son of Man will be
betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will
condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will
mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he
will rise." When we think about Jesus teaching his crucifixion and
resurrection, it is very painful because at the moment, the disciples
were astonished by their own ominous feeling. In spite of the situation,
Jesus told them in even more detail. He told them his crucifixion would
involve much suffering and much beating and even being killed. By any
means Jesus wanted to plant the living hope in the kingdom of God and
that while on earth they must live as pilgrims. They must live with the
clear meaning of being pilgrims pressing forward to the kingdom of God.
Jesus' teaching was all the solution for their lives. Jesus did not have
many opportunities to teach them his crucifixion and resurrection. In
other words, at this time Jesus taught them with all his earnestness and
enthusiasm.  Jesus taught them his crucifixion and resurrection again
and again. Thank Jesus for his intensive effort to teach his disciples
that they were not confined to this world. They have the kingdom of God
through Jesus' death and resurrection.

II.  James and John's political ambition (35-40)

     After listening to Jesus' life-giving teaching about his death and
resurrection, James and John, the sons of Zebedee came to him. "Teacher,"
they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask" (35). "What do you
want me to do for you?" he asked (36). They replied, "Let one of us sit
at your right and the other at your left in your glory" (37). I wonder if
they knew the true meaning of glory, power, honor or wisdom. They had a
strong political sense of glory. James and John had a problem. To them,
the number one position was always at stake. Actually, Peter was already
recognized as the top disciple of Jesus among their fellow disciples. Yet
even Jesus' recognition of him caused them inner conflict. So James
and John played politics in many ways. They first sent their mother
to request the right and left seats in his glory. Matthew 20:20 says,
"Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and,
kneeling down, asked a favor of him." After that, they talked to Jesus
about their positions in the messianic kingdom of God they thought Jesus
would establish.

     Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking. Can you
drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized
with?"  (38) By common sense, in the ancient times, "cup" meant poison
of death. The ancestor of philosophers drank the cup of poison and died
because he organized democratic idealism and a moral standard. So it
was well known that "cup" meant "poison cup." Baptism was also widely
known as martyrdom. John and James clearly understood what "cup" and
"baptism" meant. But they were ruled and overruled by their political
ambition. They said, "Sure, we can do it."

     Then Jesus answered, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized
with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is
not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been
prepared" (39-40). Here we understand James and John under the leadership
of Peter the top disciple. Until then, they were not spiritual. They were
political.  Politically minded people are very selfish and very smart
to look out for their own interests. It is irony that James and John
wanted to sit at the right and left of Jesus in his glory, getting rid
of Peter. But this has happened in the world so many times. I watched
the movie, "A Song to Remember." It was the story about the composer
and pianist Chopin. When he was eighteen, he was already a world famous
composer and pianist. He joined in the anti-Tsarist movement. After
attending an anti-Tsarist secret meeting, he went to play piano with
his piano tutor. He was almost late to perform where the cabinet members
under the Tsarist governor would be present. While he played, the Russian
governor was coming in. Chopin was told to keep on playing. But he said,
"I will not play the piano before the Tsarist butcher." Then he ran
away to France by boat with his tutor. Later he learned that the two
young men who helped him escape had been beaten to death. The former
Soviet Union has still not returned farmland to the owners. So 85% of
the farmers are not working. The other people are also not able to work
in a proper place. It is easy to give the land back to the owners. But
the government always keeps others' lands as a national possession. The
old Soviet Union leaders were afraid of losing their power if they gave
the land back to the owners.  This well explains politics. Politics is
basically selfish and politics is seeking self-glory.  If they can look
out for their own interests, they don't mind killing many thousands of
people. Therefore, politics makes people undergo a hellish world. But
Jesus' teaching gives us a living hope in the kingdom of God.

III. Even the Son of Man (41-45)

     When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James
and John (41). Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those
who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their
high officials exercise authority over them" (42). Jesus did not say,
"You want to exercise authority like the Gentile people." But he went on
to say, "Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among
you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave
of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many" (43-45).

     Here Jesus is telling us two things. First, true power and glory
comes from serving others. We remember Albert Schweitzer, who served in
Lambarene, Congo in Africa as a good shepherd and a father of Africans
all his lifetime. So we thought he would be the Man of the Century. It
is because his good influence inspired many people to live sacrificially
and serve others.  Even in the Soviet Union before the Iron Curtain was
broken, they praised Albert Schweitzer as the Man of the Century. But Time
magazine chose Albert Einstein, who invented the theory of relativity in
physics. This relativity in physics finally became a cause of the atomic
bomb. This world is ruled by political people. This world is not ruled by
saintly people. But even if we cannot be the Man of the Century or the
Woman of the Century, we have to be serving people. We must be servants
of all. We must be slaves to all, to lead them to a living hope in the
kingdom of God.

     Second, all men are equal under God. Look at verse 45 again. "For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many." Throughout history, feudal lords treated
their slaves and servants like living animals. While the feudal lords
ate, the servants even had to serve them with handkerchiefs to clean
their mouths.  They worked long hours every day with no holidays. The
only holidays allowed were when their parents died. This kind of tragedy
continued from ancient times to the nineteenth century A.D. This feudal
lordship continued in the South even 20 years ago. But by the influence
of Jesus Christ the world was changed. All men are equal under God.

     As a conclusion, Jesus said, "For even the Son of Man...." He
is the Son of Man prophesied and waited for. Finally the prophecy was
fulfilled and the Messiah came to this world. But his own people did
not welcome him; they rejected him (Jn 1:11). Jesus was with God in the
beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made
that has been made (Jn 1:1-3). So he ought to be served and honored as
the Son of God. He had power to exercise his authority. But he did not
do so, though he is the Son of Man.  It is the general tendency that
men want to be served instead of serving.  So throughout history those
who belonged to the master class were all very proud. But those who were
born in servant families were endlessly sorrowful.  The world was fixed
for some to be treated as masters and the world was fixed for servants
to serve and teach their children servantship so that they might not be
killed for mistakes while serving. This mastership and servantship has
long stories of tragedies and rebellion and murdering. And subservient
servantship had been continued for many centuries.

     At the beginning of Mark 10:45, the words, "...even the Son
of Man..."  have deep root. Jesus himself did not want to be served,
but to serve.  Mark's Gospel depicts who Jesus is and what he did as
a servant. Not only so, but it calls Jesus not "Christ," but "the Son
of Man." This one word shows us how much Jesus was willing to serve
people even though he is the Almighty Creator God. Jesus served all
kinds of people. Jesus became eyes to the blind. Jesus wiped the tears
of sorrowful people. Jesus healed demon-possessed people. In order to
heal one demon-possessed man he ruined the Gerasene pig industry and he
was sent away (5:1-20). Jesus taught his disciples humbleness by washing
their dirty feet one by one, from Peter to Bartholomew. They did not know
how to serve each other. They always argued. Their ranking was decided by
punching power. They were nothing but very ordinary people with political
ambition. But Jesus, even the Son of Man, did not come to be served, but
to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus' servantship
changed the whole world. Now in America, Reverend Jesse Jackson has been
a counselor to many presidents and he hopes to ride on this to campaign
for the presidency at the opportune time.  Always those who are smart
to look out for their own interests do not prosper. They may become a
sort of master or manager or director or some company president. But
they are all slaves of Satan. They groan day and night because of their
heavy burden of work and the constant irritation of Satan's yoke. In
many books, even including those of Confucius and Buddha, subservient
servantship was condoned. But Jesus did not allow it. In this part, Jesus
clearly declared that all men are equal under God. And Jesus showed many
examples of serving. Finally Jesus served as a ransom sacrifice and was
crucified on the cross and became bloody all over his body and hands and
feet on the cross. Jesus made his human mother Mary and other Marys very
sorrowful when they stood beneath the cross. Jesus bore all our sorrow
and fatalism and anxiety attacks and finally all our transgressions and
iniquities in his body. In this way Jesus served us with his own body. In
this way Jesus became a ransom sacrifice to the holy God. In this way
Jesus opened the way for sinners to repent and enter the kingdom of God.

     Nobody wants to be an ordinary man. Everybody wants to be an
extraordinary man. But they only serve others with their lips. In
reality, they do not serve anybody, even themselves. In this way they
become useless people. On the other hand, we have Mother Barry with
us. She served as a missionary to Korea for 20 years. She has served as
a Bible teacher in America for the last 25 years. As you saw in the skit
at her birthday party, many men could have liked her and wanted to marry
her. But she had no time to marry in order to establish God's work. While
pioneering UBF ministry, she lost the time to get married. If she were 40,
there would be hope. One Chinese missionary really wanted to marry Mother
Barry. But he simply didn't know how old Mother Barry was. He thought
Mother Barry was around 45. So he has not married and is waiting for the
chance to get married to our UBF Mother Barry. I recommended another
Barry. But he insists on Mother Barry.  So I praised his noble desire
to get married with a saintly woman. Thank God for Mother Barry. May
God raise many servants of Christ Jesus.

IV.  Jesus gave sight to Bartimaeus (46-52)

     Jesus and his company were on the way to Jerusalem. They came
to Jericho. Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd,
were leaving the city. It was because they thought Jesus would be
entering into glory and be a king of Israel. So people followed him
as his entourage. To the large crowd of people, a blind man was not
important at all. Bartimaeus was a blind man. So he must have been very
sorrowful because he could not see his beautiful mother's face. He was
very sorrowful because he could not go to a regular grade school; he went
to a blind man's school to learn how to read braille. He was sorry that
his occupation was a beggar, like other blind men, who cried, "alms for
the blind, alms for the blind," sitting on the corner of a street. The
most sad fact is that he had no name. Bartimaeus means "the son of
Timaeus." His father was Timaeus. But he was a son of Timaeus. Even all
kinds of insects have names. But he had no name. This tells us how much he
was ignored and treated as if he were an unnecessary person in the world.
Have you ever seen anybody who has no name? If you call out "Paul"
in Dominicks, several people will come to you saying, "I am Paul." But
the blind man had no name of his own. It meant that his existence was
not recognized even by poor and sickly people. Nameless people are the
most sorrowful people.  He was begging on the roadside. But he heard
that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He began to shout, "Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me!"  (47) Thus far he made a crying voice, "alms
for the blind, alms for the blind," with a mosquito voice. But as soon
as he heard the name of Jesus, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!" Many people rebuked him and told him to be quiet. In
all likelihood he might have been beaten up to be quiet. Verse 48 says,
"Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more,
Son of David, have mercy on me!'"

     Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man,
"Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you."(49) The beggar threw his cloak
aside. He jumped to his feet and came to Jesus, "Here I am Jesus! A blind
man with no name." Jesus wanted to know what he really wanted to have.
Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said,
"Rabbi, I want to see" (51). At that time, a rabbi was different. The
Pharisees were in the synagogue. But rabbis were always mingling with
people and took care of them. A rabbi was like a shepherd in UBF. He
called Jesus "Rabbi." He sensed that Jesus was a good shepherd and Jesus
was the descendant of David, the promised Messiah. After hearing the
blind man say, "Rabbi, I want to see," Jesus said, "Go, your faith has
healed you" (52).  Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus
along the road. He might have been a cheerleader in Jesus' procession.

     In this passage we learn that we must establish servantship. Without
servantship many want to be great servants. There is a danger that such
people can be gangsters or egocentric persons. Let's hear Jesus' voice,
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give his life as a ransom for many."


STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Read verse 32. Describe Jesus and his disciples on their way up to
   Jerusalem. Why were the disciples astonished and those who followed
   afraid? Read verses 33-34. What did he tell the Twelve? When had
   he told them this before? (8:31-32; 9:12; 9:31-32)

2. Read verses 35-36. What did James and John ask Jesus? What was
   Jesus' response?

3. Read verses 37-40. What was their request? Why did Jesus say,
   "You don't know what you are asking?" What does their "We can"
   tell us about them? What did Jesus promise? To what does "cup" and
   "baptism" refer? What could he not promise? Why?

4. Read verses 41-45. Why were the ten indignant? What did Jesus teach
   them about the difference between disciples and worldly rulers,
   between greatness in God's kingdom and greatness in the world?
   What was Jesus' example? How did Jesus serve?

5. Read verses 46-52. What did the blind man by the side of the road
   shout? What did he know about Jesus? Why did people rebuke him?
   What was Jesus' invitation (49)? What did Jesus ask him? (Compare
   with disciples.)

6. What was the man's request from Jesus? What did Jesus do for him?
   What can we learn about Jesus from this event?   From the crowd?
   What can we learn from the blind man?