Mark 10:35-52 - What do you want me to do for you?

Mark chapter 10 and Mona is going to come and read for us.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Good morning church. Okay so we're reading Mark 10 and we're going from verse 35.

Then James and John the sons of Zebedee came to him. Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us

whatever we ask. What do you want me to do for you? He asked. They replied, let one of us sit at your

right and the other at your left in your glory. You don't know what you are asking, Jesus said.

Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? We can, they

answered. Jesus said to them, 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. When the 10 heard about this, they became

indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, you know that those who are

regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, Lord, is over them and their high officials exercise authority

over them. 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 for 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. Then they came to Jericho as Jesus and his

disciples together with a large crowd were leaving the city. A blind man, Barthelomus, which means son of

Timaeus was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to

shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. 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. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet

and came to Jesus. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind mind said, Rabbi,

I want to see. Go, said Jesus. Your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight

and followed Jesus along the road. Amen. Well, good morning. It's great to be back. Thanks for

having me back. It's a great joy to be able to come and open up God's words with you this morning. So

shall we pray? Let's pray and let's ask that God would speak this morning. Father, thank you for these

precious words, this extraordinary gospel of Mark and all it shows us about Jesus. And we ask this

morning that you'd help us to have hearts that are set on Jesus, that our minds would understand,

that our eyes would see him more clearly, and that we might be transformed by his beautiful power.

Father, and we ask it in his name. Amen. I think that was a longer reading than perhaps we normally

used to. I think often we just look at one little part of the Bible or one little part of the gospel.

But what I want to do this morning is take these two accounts, which Mark has put next to each other,

and try and think, why do they go together? Why do these two things happen next to each other?

And what I want to show you is what an extraordinary teacher Jesus is. I think even if you're not really

sure what you believe about Jesus, even if you're here and you're not a Christian, I still think it isn't

hard to see that he is an extraordinary teacher who has turned our world upside down. And the brilliant

thing about Jesus is that he's so simple in what he teaches, and yet so profound. He doesn't need

kind of high-faluting philosophy. He doesn't need clever and complex doctrine. He uses the simplest of

words to completely expose our hearts. In fact, Jesus uses one question, one question, which I think

completely shows up what's happening inside each of us. The question came up twice in the reading that

we've just had. I don't know if you noticed it. Here is the question. What do you want me to do for you?

Jesus asks that question twice. And as he asks it, he shows up what is really going on in the human

heart. So we're going to think about this one question, and we're going to think about the two

answers that Jesus gets, and we're going to try and understand what that shows us about our own hearts

and about the magnificence of Jesus. But let's think about the question, first of all, what do you want

me to do for you? That's the question Jesus asks. He asks it to James and John, his disciples. Then he

asks it to this blind man, Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you? I think that's a strange

question. And the reason I think it's a strange question and might puzzle us is because it's a

servant's question. That's what a servant asks. What do you want me to do for you?

The person who asks that question is not the person in power, but the person who is being,

who has to serve, whose job it is to do something. And so we might expect Jesus to come along and say,

this is what I want you to do for me. But instead he comes and says, what do you want me to do for you?

That's surprising. It's surprising because I think we often imagine that being a Christian is about me

serving Jesus. He's the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And my job is to serve him. Well,

what you need to understand is before you can ever serve Jesus, he first needs to serve you.

that's where it starts. And that's what he says in the middle of this passage. So just look with me,

verse 45. It's one of the key verses in the whole of Mark's gospel. Here it is. Jesus says,

even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

We have to understand that Jesus came to serve.

It's strange because he uses this phrase son of man.

When he talks about son of man, he's referring to himself, but it's a loaded term.

It's like a code name, son of man. When I was younger, I was in a gang,

well, they're not a, I mean, there's only two of us. Um,

it was me and my friend, Steven Gower. We weren't really a gang, but we thought we were,

we were, we thought we were pretty cool. And we had, we had code names because we thought that

it's quite embarrassing admitting it out. But anyway, we had code names. And the idea was that

the code name told you something about what we thought we were. My code name in our gang

was falcon fighter. I don't think it accurately described me, but I think it described what I

aspired to be. Well, this name son of man is like a code name. It tells you something about Jesus.

But in order to understand what son of man means, you need to go back, go back to where this term

has been used earlier in the Bible. In particular, back to a prophet called Daniel.

An extraordinary story of Daniel in the Old Testament. Daniel, a man who lived at a very

hard time when God's people were taken in exile, that he was living in Babylon, he was living far

from home. He'd been there for 70 years, spent all his life away as a exile.

And while Daniel was there in exile, he had a vision,

an extraordinary vision. He saw the ancient of days, God himself on a throne. And it was like a

courtroom and the books were opened up, a scene of magnificent power. Can you picture it?

The ancient of days. His hair was white like wool. He was blazing with glory.

And Daniel is there looking at this great vision. And then into this throne room comes someone else.

One who looks like a son of man. That is one who has a human appearance. One walking in as a human

being walks into this courtroom. A son of man.

And in Daniel's vision, what happens is that as the son of man comes into the courtroom,

the son of man is given all glory and sovereign power and all the nations of the world worship him.

Wow.

You don't need to know much about the Bible to know that there is only one that you worship. Only one.

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not worship any other god, God says.

Which means that this son of man who all the nations are going to worship,

this son of man approaching the ancient of days must be God.

Because you only worship God.

So here's this scene that's unfolding.

You've got to imagine Daniel, right?

Imagine Daniel. He's there in exile and he sees this thing unfolding.

Do you not imagine his heart beating faster?

It's like, who is that?

Who is this figure who can walk into the presence of the ancient of days and receive worship?

Who could that possibly be?

Daniel's like on tiptoe trying to see who is it?

Who is it?

And Daniel never fully gets the answer in his lifetime.

Because it would be another nearly 500 years.

But for a man walking by the sea of Galilee says,

the son of man is me.

Jesus, when he takes the phrase son of man,

is using that name,

which means he is the man who is God to be worshipped.

So do you not feel, right?

Come on, we've got to get into this, right?

Do you not feel the crunch when it says,

the son of man,

that son of man of all glory, wisdom, and sovereign power,

that son of man did not come to be served,

but to serve and to give his life.

Right?

There is the crunch.

You've got to feel, right?

That's the,

that is the great paradox at the very heart of what we believe as Christians,

that the great son of man gave his life on a cross.

That the Messiah was crucified.

And so when Jesus asks the question,

what do you want me to do for you?

It's an extraordinary question,

because it tells you that this son of man came to serve.

And look at the extent to which he came to serve.

Even to give his life as a ransom for men.

Humanity is in a desperate, desperate plight.

In a place of deep, deep darkness and slavery.

And Jesus came in order to pay the price,

to bring us out of darkness and slavery to sin,

in order that we might be rescued,

that we might be taken from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light,

from the kingdom of shame to the kingdom of freedom,

from the kingdom of slavery,

to the kingdom of being children of God.

He gave his life as a ransom.

And so Jesus is rightly called the servant king.

He comes to serve.

So this question, what do you want me to do for you?

It shows you something.

It takes you to the very heart of the identity of Jesus.

He is the servant who comes to serve.

Even lost sinners like us.

So there's the question.

But what is our response?

When Jesus says to us,

what do you want me to do for you?

How do you respond?

Because what you think you want Jesus to do for you

will show you what's going on in your heart.

So let's see what happened.

Let's look at these two occasions

when Jesus asked the servant's question.

And just as a spoiler,

one group get it very wrong.

The other one gets it very right.

So let's look at it.

Let's go back to the start of our reading.

And we read about James and John,

the sons of Zebedee.

They come to Jesus.

Teacher, they said,

we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

Wowzers.

I mean, what a question.

What a thing to say.

Wow.

Jesus, remember,

is the eternal son of man

who is going to be worshipped by all the nations.

And these two little disciples come and say,

we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

Do you not think Jesus would have every right

to turn around and say,

how dare you?

Who do you think you are?

But he doesn't.

He's gracious.

He's kind.

He wants to teach them.

He wants to show them what's in their hearts.

And so he asks them the servant's question.

What do you want me to do for you?

They're very clear.

They've got this worked out.

They've already thought this through.

They reply,

let one of us sit at your right

and the other at your left in your glory.

Here is essentially their answer.

We want to be first.

We want the highest place.

Now, let's give them their G.

They have understood that Jesus

is about to receive a lot of glory.

They have understood that there's something

of a kingdom going on.

They've seen his miracles.

Perhaps they've worked out that he is the Messiah.

He is the king of Israel,

whose God has promised forever and ever.

And they're like,

we want in on that, Jesus.

We want to be in the highest place.

We want to be in the highest place.

But their hearts are desperately,

desperately wrong.

And you can feel the kind of,

the pain in Jesus' answer.

He says,

in verse 38,

you don't know what you're asking.

You don't know what you're asking.

Can you drink the cup I drink

or be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with?

Now, I love this.

Right, so Jesus comes out with this.

Can you be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with?

And James and John,

perhaps they take a brief moment,

they look at each other and they go,

yeah, we can do that.

They haven't got the first idea

what Jesus is talking about.

They don't know what he's referring to.

Presumably, they think,

when Jesus talks about the cup he's going to drink,

they think, well, that must be a cup of glory.

Yeah, we could drink that, Jesus.

We'll drink a cup of glory.

Baptism, yeah, we'll be baptized.

We'll be submerged and immersed

in your glory and your power.

Yes, Jesus, we can do that.

No problem.

They have not understood the kingdom of Jesus.

They've not understood who he is

and what he's come to do.

Because the cup Jesus is talking about

is the cup of suffering

that he will drink at the cross.

It's the cup of God's wrath

that he will drink.

It's the cup of agonizing pain.

That he will drink

as he dies to save the world.

And the baptism he talks about

is the baptism of going under the judgment of God.

It's the suffering of this world,

being immersed in death,

going to death itself.

They think it's about glory.

It's all about suffering.

And so Jesus said to them,

you will drink the cup I drink

and be baptized with the baptism

I'm baptized with.

He says, actually,

you are going to suffer.

And obviously,

they're not going to drink

the cup of God's wrath.

That's what Jesus will do.

But they are going to follow him.

Just like he said,

take up my cross.

They are going to die.

They are going to suffer.

But verse 40,

to sit at my right or left

is not for me to grant.

These places belong to those

for whom they've prepared.

He says,

James and John,

your hearts are all wrong.

You think it's about

grabbing for glory.

Actually,

it is about embracing

suffering

and service.

The 10 hear about this.

They become indignant.

They're pretty annoyed

with James and John.

I don't think it's kind of,

oh, James and John,

how could you be so selfish?

I think it is,

James and John,

how dare you try

and get ahead of us?

And so Jesus calls them together.

Stop squabbling, children.

Come here.

Let me teach you.

You know that those

who are regarded

as rulers of the Gentiles

lord it over them

and their high officials

exercise authority over them.

You know, right,

how the world works.

People pushing forward,

grabbing for glory.

You know how it works.

And then Jesus says these words,

not so with you.

It must not be that way.

Instead,

whoever wants to become great

among you

must be your servant

and whoever wants to be first

must be slave of all.

This is remarkable.

This one question

cracks open

what is going on

in the proud human heart.

Because I think

James and John

are very like me

and perhaps

they're very like you.

I want to be first.

I want to be noticed.

I want to be seen.

I want to be appreciated.

I want applause.

There's something

that loves to be first.

It's a bit like,

you know when you go

to a supermarket

and it's busy

and you're queuing.

And you have to make

that awful decision

as you approach

the busy checkouts.

Which one

is going to be

my checkout of choice?

And you're trying to judge, right?

You're trying to assess.

It's not just about

the longest queue

because it might be

they've only got a few items.

You might have a very,

one person

but a very big

trolley load of stuff.

So you're trying to assess

which one's going to go first,

which is going to go first.

You're trying to look

at the checkout system.

How fast are they going to be?

They look efficient.

And you start

and you choose your queue

and you stand in your queue

and then what you do

is you line up

with someone next to you.

So as long as I beat them,

then I'm happy.

I've chosen a good queue.

Anyone else do this

or it's just me?

And you're moving forwards

and suddenly this queue

is going faster than you

and it's awful.

You find yourself

getting very stressed

and then someone spills

all their little coins

all over the thing.

It's like, come on!

And then someone

opens a till over here

and the people behind you

whip round

and get in before you

and it's like so frustrating

and you find your blood pressure rising

and you find your stress levels increasing.

There is a way

in that situation

to make all of your stress go away.

All you need to do

is turn to the person behind you

and say,

would you like to go in front of me?

And the moment you do that,

you don't care anymore

because you've chosen

to serve.

Rather than this obsession

with making sure

that I get what I want

and I'm noticed

and I get,

I don't miss out

and I don't lose out.

Instead, you choose to serve.

If queuing in a supermarket

doesn't work for you,

perhaps driving in a traffic jam,

apply it to wherever you

have your little stresses.

And if that doesn't apply to you,

then

think about all the ways

in our hearts

that we just try to make sure

that we get

what we think

we deserve.

As long as I'm seen

and we will use

whatever we can

in order to make sure

that I get what I want.

it might be in the workplace,

it might be in my family,

that I make sure

that I'm sorted out

and I'm looked after.

Happens in churches.

Where as long as

my preferences are met

and my choices

and my opinions

are accepted,

then I'm happy.

but I feel like

I'm being pushed to the back.

If I feel like

other people are going ahead of me,

then we can become

very stressed.

It happens in terms

of our gifting.

Sometimes, you know,

you have a particular gift.

Perhaps you're all brilliant

and I'm picking,

I don't know this church,

I'm picking things

at random, right?

Perhaps you're very gifted

as a flower arranger

or as a

I used to be in an orchestra.

I used to play clarinet

in an orchestra

and I was first clarinet.

Like, I was the most,

I was the best

in the orchestra.

It was very exciting

and I would sit

and I'd play my clarinet

and feel very smug

and proud

and then one day,

a girl walked

into the orchestra hall

and she was carrying

a box that looked

suspiciously like

a clarinet.

And she was third clarinet

but she was clearly

much better than me.

And it didn't take long

for the conductor

to eventually say,

John T, would you mind

switch it?

Would you mind switching?

Would you mind

if Carola was

first clarinet?

I can still remember

the seething rage

that she'd come in

and taken my place.

I kind of wanted

bad things to happen

like her fingers

to drop off

or something

so that she could

no longer play clarinet.

Isn't it sad

we can be like that

in church?

Rather than rejoice

in someone else,

we feel threatened.

We feel angry

because it threatens

our sense of identity

and we're like,

no, this is my role,

this is what I do.

Rather than saying,

no, we come to serve.

And Jesus,

as he asks this question,

what do you want

me to do for you?

Perhaps the deepest,

honest answer

of our hearts is,

Jesus, I want glory.

I want you to make me great.

I want you to fix

all my problems.

I want you to sort

my life out.

I want you to make sure

that I get what I want.

Do you know,

when Jesus,

if you are someone

who finds yourself

wanting to push

to the front of the queue,

what Jesus comes to you,

he says,

gently,

he says to you,

you need to learn

to go to the back.

Go to the back

of the queue.

Go to the back

of the queue

and learn to serve.

And here's the weird thing,

right?

The weird thing is

that the back of the queue

is where freedom is found.

Everybody thinks

that to be at the front

of the queue is freedom.

I just want to be at the front.

I want to be at the front.

I want to be at the front.

The front of the queue

is not freedom.

The front of the queue

is slavery

because you are stressed

all the time

that one day

Carola is going to

walk into your life

and is going to

take your place.

The front of the queue

is the place

where you feel alone

because you've had to

push everyone

out of your way

to get to the front.

The front of the queue

is a slavery

that you have to keep

working to maintain

your position

and to not lose

who you are.

I want glory.

I want glory.

I want glory.

And you'll never

get to the front.

The great irony

that Jesus knows

and what he shows us

through his gospel

is that freedom

is found at the back

when you go to the back

and you serve others

and you say,

what do you want me

to do for you?

Jesus is the most

free human being

who's ever lived

because he was not

interested in getting

to the front.

He constantly went

to the back to serve.

He was so free.

This is freedom.

But it may be

that some of you

sitting here

are thinking,

huh,

I just feel rubbish.

I gave up

trying to be the front

of the queue

a long time ago.

I feel like I've got nothing.

I feel like I'm useless.

I feel like I'm

I've got nothing to offer.

Well,

here's why Mark

puts this story next.

Because look what happens next.

Just after we've had

this discussion

around greatness

and pushing to the front

and trying to get

to the front,

look what happens next.

They come to Derrick Jericho.

As Jesus and his disciples

together with a large crowd

were leaving the city,

a blind man,

Bartimaeus,

which means son of Timaeus,

was sitting by the roadside

begging.

It would be hard

to imagine someone

more at the back

of the queue

than Bartimaeus.

James and John,

we want to be at the front.

Here is Bartimaeus

who's at the back.

He's begging.

He's sitting by the roadside.

He's got nothing.

He's utterly,

utterly dependent

on others.

He's got nothing to offer.

He's just begging

from others.

Now he heard

that Jesus of Nazareth

was coming by.

Maybe he'd heard

some rumors about Jesus

and something within him

welled up

and he began to think,

what if,

what if this Jesus

might help me?

And so he begins

to cry out.

Can you picture him

like just crying out?

He doesn't know.

He's blind.

He can't see where Jesus is.

He's crying out.

Jesus,

son of David,

have mercy on me.

What did the crowd say?

I'd say,

shut up,

Bartimaeus.

You're the back

of the queue.

There are a lot

of people ahead of you.

There are a lot

of people who have

more demand

on Jesus

than you do.

Bartimaeus,

you need to be quiet.

But he just keeps

shouting,

I love it.

Jesus,

son of David,

have mercy on me.

He's crying

for mercy.

He's not asking

for glory.

He is a blind beggar

who is desperately

in need

of mercy.

And then come

my two favorite words

in the whole

of Mark's gospel.

My two favorite words.

Look at the first two words

of verse 49.

Jesus,

stop.

Remember,

Jesus is on his way

to die on a cross

to save the universe.

The eternal son of God,

the son of man,

who's worthy

of all worship

and all honor

and all glory.

He's going to a cross

to die,

then he'll rise again,

he'll return to glory.

What could possibly

be important enough

to make Jesus

stop on his great

eternal divine mission?

What could possibly

make him stop?

I mean,

it must be something

incredibly important.

It must be something

incredibly significant.

What is it?

It's a blind beggar

called Bartimaeus.

Do you not see?

Jesus stops

for blind

beggars.

That's our Jesus.

That's his heart.

That's how he loves.

He's not interested

in the powerful

and the rich

and the influencers

and the celebrity.

He stops

for blind beggars

who've got nothing

to offer him.

And he says,

call him.

So they call

to the blind man,

cheer up.

On your feet,

he's calling you.

Throwing his cloak aside,

he jumped to his feet

and he came to Jesus.

And then we get

our question.

What do you want me

to do for you?

I mean, it's strange, right?

Because Bartimaeus

is blind.

It's obvious

what Jesus

needs to do for him.

But Jesus treats him

with such dignity

and respect.

He doesn't go,

oh, you're blind,

fine, I'll heal you

and off he goes.

Instead, he treats him

with such respect.

He says,

what do you want me

to do for you?

What is the cry

of your heart?

And this blind man

simply says,

Rabbi,

I want to see.

It's a cry

of desperate need.

It's a cry

for mercy.

And Jesus says,

go,

your faith

has healed you.

And immediately

the man follows

Jesus along the road.

You see,

if the people

who want to be

at the front of the queue,

Jesus says,

you need to learn

to go to the back.

What does people say,

what does Jesus say

to the people

at the back of the queue?

He says to them,

come to the front.

Come to the front

and let me show you mercy.

Come to the front

and let me heal you.

Come to the front

and let me restore you.

And so if you're sitting here

in church this morning

and you can identify

with blind Bartimaeus,

you feel like you're someone

who has nothing to offer.

You feel like you've made

a complete disaster

of your life.

You're not impressive.

No one notices you.

No one seems

to be bothered about you.

No one really cares.

You have things

in your life

that you feel ashamed of

in the past.

Things that you know

you've done.

Things that you think

disqualify you.

Things that keep you away.

Is that you?

Because if you find yourself

sitting at the back

of the queue,

I want you to know

this morning

that Jesus stops

for people like you.

And he comes to you

in your desperate need

and in your weakness

and in your frailty

and in your sin.

And he says,

what do you want me

to do for you?

And if you can cry to him,

Lord,

please show me mercy.

I want to see you.

With the biggest smile

and the widest arms,

Jesus will say,

yes.

Yes.

Come.

Come.

Come to the front

and receive mercy

from Jesus.

Come.

Come.

Come.

Come.

That

is the beautiful

gospel of Jesus.

Jesus.

And so here is Jesus.

And this morning,

he says,

what do you want me

to do for you?

If the honest cry

of your heart

is,

Jesus,

I want to be first,

he says,

go to the back

of the queue.

But if this morning,

the honest cry

of your heart

is,

Jesus,

I've got nothing,

he says,

come to me.

Come to the front.

Do you know what I've

experienced as I've

lived the Christian

life?

What I find

is there are times

when I'm proud

and he says,

go to the back

and he humbles me

and I'm humbled

and then I feel

rubbish and I feel

broken.

He said,

and I cry to him

for mercy.

He says,

yeah,

come to the front.

And then I begin

to get proud.

He says,

go to the back

again.

And the Christian

life is a sort

of experience

of learning to live

in this

reality.

Fighting pride

by going to the

back and serving

and then receiving

mercy as you come

to Jesus at the

front and then

it's that.

So here is Jesus.

I think he's

spectacular.

I think he's

magnificent.

I think he's

worthy of worship

this morning.

Because he says,

what do you want

me to do for you?

Let's just take a

moment as we

finish.

Just take a

moment of quiet.

Let's just think.

As Jesus asks that

question,

what do you want

me to do for you?

Do you feel him

saying,

you need to be

humbled,

you need to go to

the back and serve

others rather than

being about yourself?

Or perhaps you hear

him saying,

let me show you

mercy,

let me restore you,

let me forgive you,

let me heal you this

morning.

Take a moment just

to pray.

Lord Jesus,

we worship you.

We worship you as

the son of man in

magnificent glory who

came to serve.

We went not just to

the back of the queue,

but to the very

lowest of places at

the cross.

And we ask today that

we would hear your

voice.

We ask today that you

would help us to

learn to serve.

That we would not

seek our own honor

and glory or comfort,

but that we learn to

serve one another.

I really pray that

this church family

would be a church

full of people who

want to serve each

other.

Lord,

I pray that this

merger with Redeemer

Queens Park,

Lord,

that's going to take a

lot of serving one

another.

And we pray for that

heart.

We pray for that

attitude of Jesus.

And Lord,

for those of us who

just feel broken,

for those of us who

just feel worthless

and like we have

nothing to offer,

pray this morning we

would hear the great

beautiful invitation of

Jesus to come

and receive mercy.

Lord,

we pray to you.

Amen.