Mark 11:1-14.  A couple of days ago I mentioned that Mark can be divided into five sections an introduction, three main sections, and an epilogue.   The first main section highlighted the “power” of Jesus. Power that he used to support his message and prove his authority.  The second main section, which we just finished, was about the path to Jerusalem and the cross.  But it was also about the path of learning that the disciples (learners, pupils, students) of Jesus were on.  This path was very important because of they didn’t “get it” the message might have died with Jesus (see Romans 10:13-18).  Of course because God’s dedication to us and desire to save, there probably would have been an extension of the plan to save the world just like there was when Israel failed to reach out to the world.  But that is not how it worked out and of course God knew that in advance.  Today we begin the final section “The Passion” or “The Purpose” of Jesus.  The book of Mark covers events from the baptism of Jesus to just past his resurrection, a period of about three years.  This section details events in the final week or two of Jesus’ life yet forms between a third and a half of the book.   I think that shows that this is a major part of Mark’s point to the believers in Rome.

Interestingly when I was doing yesterday’s reading I noticed the word “immediately” in verse 52 and thought that I hadn’t seen the word much in the second section.  I also saw that it is used in verse 2 of today’s reading.  I went back and checked and the Greek word for “immediately” is used 3 times in the introduction,  31 times in the first main section, four times in the second main section, and only five times in this third main section.  Clearly Mark is slowing down and wants us to slow down too, and think about Jesus’ purpose.  The fact that it was used so few times in the second main section encourages me that Jesus’ is willing to take the time to make sure that we understand what he wants us to learn.

This third main section does have some movement to it though and we begin with Jesus outside Jerusalem.  He stops near two villages on the outskirts of Jerusalem and instructs his followers to go into one of the villages and bring back a young donkey that they will find tied there.  When they found the little donkey they were questions by some people outside the house and were given permission to take the donkey to “the master”.  They mest have been followed because as Jesus got onto the donkey to head for Jerusalem people began throwing their coats down in the road for the donkey to walk over, some of them also got branches from the field and spread them out in the same way.  Then they started singing one of their songs from the Book of Psalms, Psalm 118, specifically Mark quotes them as singing Psalm 118:26.  It is interesting that in the verse right before verse 26 that the Psalm says, “O Yahweh, save us we beg.  Oh Yahweh, make us prosperous”.  In fact the word “hosanna” is the Hebrew word used in Psalm 118:25 for “save us we beg”.  In 2 Kings 9:13 we see people spreading their coats n the ground in front of Jehu as he is proclaimed king.  Scholars believe that is the meaning of the actions of the people toward Jesus.  Mark 11:10 sure seems to show that the people are focusing on the kingdom that the Messiah was supposed to rule over.  The problem is that they are missing the teaching of Jesus about suffering and dying.  We just saw in Mark 10:45 that Jesus was going to save people, by giving his life a ransom for many.

The first thing Mark has Jesus do after he enters Jerusalem is go and visit the temple, then he took his twelve closest followers and returned to one of the two near by villages, Bethany.  The next day on his way back to Jerusalem he saw a fig tree in the distance, they had traveled quite a bit and were hungry.  What happens next is kind of interesting, Jesus found no figs on the tree so he cursed it.  What is odd is that Mark tells us that it wasn’t even the season for figs, Jesus shouldn’t have expected figs on the tree, and probably didn’t, he was using the tree as an example.  Tomorrow we will find out what the lesson of the fig tree is.  For today I think we can learn that we need to be careful to see the whole picture, we need to look at all that God tells us and not just at a few facts that we can fit into our own mold.  We need to actually pay attention to the things we say when we are at church.  Are you taking the time to understand the meaning of the songs?  Do you really know what the words about Jesus mean?  Sometimes I am told that these blogs are too long.  The reason I started doing them is because some Jr. High students told me they didn’t read their Bibles because they didn’t understand what they were reading.  I could just read each day and say what the reading meant to me but that wouldn’t necessarily accomplish my goal of helping you all understand.  We have a relationship with God that is a little different for each of us.  God is communicating to each of us personally through the Bible and we need to understand what we are reading so we can see what God is saying to us individually.  I do share what is means to me as an example but I spend the time to explain so you can get what God is saying to you.  Today as I said I think we need to be careful to look for what God is saying and not what we want (like a King to kick the Romans out).  I also like the message that I didn’t include yesterday that God is taking the time to make sure that each one of us “gets it”.  But we need to take the time to we need to study and listen with an open mind and heart.  Then we will hear just what we needed to hear at just the right time.  I’m sure it was comforting to those early Roman believers to know that Jesus had time to teach them.  To know that the original disciples didn’t really understand very well either and that they fumbled around in their faith.  Finally we need to know that no how pretty we are as a human being if we are not fruitful we are in danger of ultimate and total failure.  Tomorrow we will see more about this but today we need to be faithful and listen.

Go help me listen.  Help me be faithful.  Thank you for taking the time with me, hekp me honor you in all I do.  Let me be fruitful and please you.

Mark 10:32-52.  This is a great section well if you are not James and John I guess.  Yesterday we ended with Jesus commenting on a remark made by Peter.  God knows the sacrifices we have made in following him, he knows how hard it can be, and he will take care of us but God’s care may not look the way we think should.  In today’s reading the other two of the three guys who got to go up the mountain come to Jesus with a request.  They are on their way to Jerusalem, continuing their physical journey and Jesus is interested in the disciples completing their spiritual journey of understanding who he is and what his purpose is.

In verses 33-34 Jesus tells his disciples exactly what is going to happen to him in Jerusalem.  He will be beaten, made fun of and then executed, then he will come back to life.  I used to play sports, water polo.  At the level I played and the sport I played the athletes didn’t get much attention, water polo wasn’t an important sport like football, basketball, or baseball.  I have seen the attention various athletes in different sports at different levels get though and often they are pampered, the world revolves around them, especially when they are preparing for a big game or match.  Around the times of the Olympics every four years Gatorade has commercials showing their involvement in the training of the Olympic athletes, a lot of pampering gong into the Olympics.  Jesus is on the way up to Jerusalem for the most important match of his existence and he is worried about making sure his followers are understanding what is going on.  In verse 32 it says that Jesus was right out in front on the way to Jerusalem and that those following him were amazed and afraid.  Maybe they were starting to understand the amount of opposition Jesus faced in Jerusalem, I’m not quite sure they really understood that he was purposefully going there to die, but they probably anticipated some trouble was coming.  So they were amazed that he was moving ahead with such conviction and they were afraid of what was going to happen.  Luke 9:51 tells us that he was firm and stead as he moved toward the cross and what lay beyond it (In fact Hebrews 12:2 tells us that it is because of what would happen after his death that he endured suffering and dying on the cross).

In Luke 24:13-27 Jesus appeared to two of his followers who were on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus about seven miles away.  This was after the resurrection of Jesus.  The two did not recognize him at first and he joined their conversation about the things that had happened.  Two things are interesting about this conversation (aside from them not recognizing him).  First one of them makes a point of it being the “third day” since the crucifixion.  They could have been thinking back to things Jesus had said, like in today’s reading, but the women who had gone to the tomb came back and told them Jesus was alive and they did not believe them, so it seems like they had something else in mind, something from the Old Testament.  The certainly had been hoping that Jesus was the promised political leader or king, so they had those parts of the Old Testament in their mind.  The other interesting thing is that Jesus then told them that the Christ or Messiah had to suffer before he could rule the world in honor, he told them that that is what the “Scriptures” said (“Scriptures” is a reference to the Old Testament).  Paul also told the church in Corinth that the things that happened to Jesus were according to the Scriptures, including the coming back to life in three days part (1 Corinthians 15:4).  Bible experts don’t seem to be able to put their finger on the exact verse in the Old Testament that predicts the three day part of the deal.  Jesus did say that he had to be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth (talking about the grave) just like Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale.  The events of Jonah’s underwater trip are not specifically called a prediction of things that would happen to the messiah but that is how Jesus saw them.  It is clear that we don’t know all there is to know about how the Jewish people of Jesus’ day looked at things, but these two guys, and Paul, and Jesus all seemed to think there was something predicted about the third day.  I don’t know whether James and John were really listening to what Jesus was teaching in verses 33-34 and really understood that he was the messiah and had to die first or if they were like these two followers who had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah but then thought it was all over after the crucifixion, but I know that for some reason they though that Jesus was going to be in power sometime soon.  In verse 36 they ask Jesus to give them the two leading places in his coming kingdom.  Pretty bold request.  Those kinds of places in a kingdom are usually reserved for those who have stood side by side with you in the battles, the people you can trust to have your back.  Jesus basically asks them if they are ready to stand with him in battle, to which they reply, “Yes.”  That is what Jesus means when he talks about drinking the cup he is about to drink and being baptized with the baptizem he is going to be baptized with.  These are says sort of like, “Take the medicine I am going to take and go through what I am going to go through.”  They, of course, answer that they are (which they didn’t do they all ran away when he was arrested).  Jesus admits that they will share in his suffering (though it happened at a different time that his) but that it is not his place to give out positions in his kingdom those things have already been planned out, probably when the whole plan was made in God’s mind before he even created the universe (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20).

The other ten disciples evidently overheard the conversation and were totally insulted.  Jesus saw their jealousy and took the opportunity to expand the comment he had made about the last being first and the first last.  Jesus used the example of world rulers.  World rulers push their authority but in god’s kingdom the leaders need to be servants of others not of themselves.  That is the example Jesus is setting for them.  Jesus submitted to the plan of God the Father and served mankind.

The last part of today’s reading is an example of Jesus’ attitude of serving.  Even while close to Jerusalem on his way to die his life was not about him it was about serving others.  This whole big section began with Jesus healing a blind man, a man who regained is sight in stages possibly because he, and those around him, were holding onto old ideas about how life worked.  Here at the end of the section Jesus again heals a man. There are still people trying to hold onto their old ideas, “Don’t bother the teacher with you little problem.”  Maybe the crowd was starting to think Jesus might be the promised king, you didn’t bother kings with little problems like one blind guy.  But this guy recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah and probably as more, the title “Son of David” was one you would expect for the promised king who was to be a descendant of David.  Asking for healing (actually he is not specific just looking for mercy) shows he though of Jesus as more than just a man.  While the disciples were still struggling to see this blind man seems to have had a very clear vision of who Jesus was.  Can you just imagine a blind man sitting by the side of the road throwing off his cloak and running across a rough dirt road through a crowd to get to Jesus.  He certainly was determined.  Then he addresses Jesus as “rabboni” a title of great respect.  Jesus tells him that he can leave his faith has healed him.  Instead of leaving though the man immediately begins to follow Jesus.  The more immediate healing shows a contrast with the healing at the beginning of the section.  That first blind man was brought to Jesus, this second blind man sought Jesus out.  The people who brought the first blind man wanted Jesus to touch him; that is to go through the steps of healing him, they were specific about what they had in mind.  This second blind man called out to Jesus on his own and only asked for Jesus to have mercy on him; he put the ball in Jesus lap.  In the beginning we see the disciples still hampered by old ideas of what the Messiah would do for them.  Here at the end we see Jesus challenging them to consider how they could be like the Messiah and serve others.  Their training, or at least their understanding, was not complete as we saw in the events after the resurrection in Luke 24, but they were on the way.

I think this part of Mark is encouraging because it shows several things.  It shows Jesus commitment to do want needed to be done for our benefit.  It also shows his commitment to helping us move along spiritually.  It shows us that God is merciful and trustworthy.  God wants to heal us both physically and spiritually and we can just appeal to his mercy and he will take care of us.  Finally it is encouraging because God allows us to take baby steps in our walk with him, it seems that God looks for us to move in the right direction and understands our imperfection.  While the Pharisees wanted perfection and to get to heaven on their own God seems to realize we will always fall short and will always need help.  Jesus death on the cross opened the door for us to be helped by giving us a “position” of “rightness” before God.  That made us suitable as a home for the Holy Spirit who continues to help us please God with our lives.  This story is awesome news for anyone who fails to be perfect and that is all of us.  We all need to cry out, “Master have mercy on us.”  And he will.

God thank you for your mercy.  Thank you for understanding who we are, who I am.  Thank you for helping me love you.  Help me respond by immediately following you.