Seeing True Glory

Well, it's really good to be with you this morning, and thank you for your welcome.

I do feel that there's a lot of affinity between this church and the church that I come from, Greenview Church.

Lots of similarities, so thank you for making me feel very at home.

Now, if you can keep your finger in Mark 10, the passage we're going to focus on, that would be good.

I also want to read a brief passage which will supplement what we're going to say.

And if you've got a Bible, you might want to turn to Philippians 2, so keep your finger in Mark 10.

But if you can, let's briefly read a well-known section in Philippians 2.

It's page 1179 in the church Bible.

We're reading from verse 3.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.

You might want to flip back now to Mark 10.

Many of us in the summer are taking road trips to various places.

We're taking long car journeys.

We just went down to London last week and some of you are probably doing similar things.

And this morning, we follow Jesus and his disciples on a road trip.

They're traveling to the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus is leading the way and his followers are coming behind.

And as they travel along, the tension is rising.

It wouldn't be a road trip, would it, if there wasn't a bit of tension and stress on the journey.

At least that's the case in our family in the car.

And there's this stress, there's this tension as they travel.

Now, the interesting thing is that this tension has come from Jesus himself.

Because Jesus has made a number of startling predictions.

Jesus has been predicting upcoming sufferings which have jangled the nerves of the disciples.

This march to Jerusalem feels more like a death march than a march to glory.

And yet, even so, these disciples can't quite get visions of glory out of their heads.

In fact, the first part of our passage could be titled,

The Glory Hunters.

The Glory Hunters, from verses 32 to 39.

Jesus is heading for death, but his disciples are hunting for glory.

And there's a jarring contrast between those two things.

The Savior who's going to death and the disciples who are pursuing glory.

Now, Jesus had recently taken his disciples aside for a private little meeting.

And he had outlined to them, for the third time in fact,

The suffering and death awaited him in Jerusalem.

Jesus could not be any clearer.

Note with me in Mark 10 here, the level of detail in his prediction.

This detail which emphasizes the sufferings to come.

Jesus, in this little part here, he mentions seven negative predictions and just one positive prediction.

Negatively, the Son of Man will be delivered to the Jewish leadership.

He will be condemned to death.

He will be handed over to the Gentiles.

Those guys will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him.

Seven negative predictions followed by one mysterious reference.

That he will rise again.

Whatever that means.

And so that is the gloomy backdrop against which comes this grab for glory.

It seems totally out of place to talk about glory when someone's just been talking about suffering and death, doesn't it?

I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where someone says something that seems totally inappropriate and untimely.

Maybe you're at a funeral or something.

Maybe you're at a funeral or something.

And in a very sober context, someone makes a comment and you think, not now.

This is not the time or the place.

Right at the moment when Jesus makes the sober prediction, James and John reach out their greedy hands.

They grab for position.

Teacher, they say.

We want you to do for us whatever we ask.

To which Jesus replies, verse 36,

what do you want me to do for you?

Now that question there, just take a note of it in your mind

and lodge it away in your mind.

What do you want me to do for you?

Because later on in our passage,

that question is going to come around again.

And it's going to be very important

in understanding what this passage is telling us.

What do you want me to do for you?

Well, glad you asked Jesus.

When you come in all of your glory,

we would quite like the best seats in the house,

if you don't mind.

We're thinking right and left, weren't we, John?

Right and left.

The left and the right seats were the places of highest honor,

the places of prestige, power.

Think of a wedding which has a top table.

The really important people at the wedding are at the top table, aren't they?

Flanking the groom and the bride.

That's where we want to be.

When you come in your glory,

we want the top places, Jesus.

Now, the problem is not that the disciples have got it wrong

and that Jesus is not going to come in glory

because Jesus certainly will come in glory.

The trouble is rather their blindness

to what precedes the glory

and also their selfishness and lack of humility.

Now, Jesus is going to address both of these things,

their blindness and their selfishness and pride.

He begins by addressing their blindness.

These disciples don't see.

That's the issue.

They don't see that before glory,

they're suffering.

You don't know what you're asking, Jesus says.

You don't know what you're asking.

There's an ignorance and a cluelessness

which marks these disciples.

And what is it that they don't know?

Here's what they don't know.

They don't seem to grasp

that before the crown and the feast

comes a cup and a baptism.

Now, these images that Jesus uses

are a bit unfamiliar to us.

The image of the cup and the baptism,

they come from the Old Testament.

The cup was an Old Testament picture of God's wrath.

The cup of wrath.

The cup of wrath that the justice-deserving sinner

would be made to drink to the dregs.

A bitter and horrible cup.

A cup that you would dread to drink.

Yet now Jesus is saying that he will drink this cup.

He will drink it on our behalf.

And he will be overwhelmed by the waters of God's judgment.

That's what baptism's about.

Baptism in this imagery is not like the water baptism

you saw last week.

But baptism here speaks of an overwhelming flood

of wrath and judgment.

That deluges you and drowns you.

Jesus says, not only will I drink the cup of wrath,

but I will be completely consumed by a tsunami of judgment.

Isn't it?

Aren't you thankful this morning

that Jesus drank that cup

and endured that baptism

so that you and I would never have to experience

those two things?

I love Jesus' question in verse 38.

Can you drink the cup I drink?

Can you go through my baptism?

Their answer should have been no.

Of course we can't.

But in their pride they reply yes.

Cup?

Baptism?

We're good to go.

I wonder if there are times when in our own hubris

and maybe momentary passion

we sometimes promise God things beyond what we can deliver

or what we do end up delivering.

I've certainly done that in my life.

We're good for the cup and the baptism.

But here's the surprise.

Jesus says to them,

okay, okay.

I'll tell you what.

You will share in the cup

and you will share my baptism.

Now what does Jesus mean here when he says

you will share my cup

and you will share my baptism?

There are two options as to what he means.

On the one hand he might be saying something simply like

you will share with me in the general sufferings

of being my follower.

Not the sufferings of redemption and salvation

but just the suffering of persecution,

of following Jesus in a world that's hostile to him.

That may be what he means.

You need to drink that cup of suffering.

You need to endure that kind of baptism

of people giving you the cold shoulder and worse.

But there's another way of understanding this.

A deeper way.

It might be that what Jesus is saying

when he says that you'll share my cup

and you'll share my baptism,

he might be saying,

you're going to share in the sufferings of my redemption.

You see, when Jesus died on the cross,

when he drank the cup and he endured the baptism,

the Bible tells us that in a mysterious way,

somehow we who believe in him

were with him in that death,

in that drinking and in that enduring

so that his death on the cross becomes our death.

Whichever of these is right,

it's the sacrifice on the cross

that Jesus wants his disciples to be fixed on.

Not on the glory of their own prestige

but on the glory of his and of his cross.

Jesus wants them and us to see this morning

the ransom pair in all of his glory.

That's verses 40 to 45.

The ransom pair.

Jesus knocks back his disciples' request.

He disappoints their grab for glory

and he focuses them on the suffering that precedes glory.

He tells them, verse 40,

that he can give them no guarantees of future glory

such as they're expecting.

At the marriage supper of the lamb,

it's the father who decides the seating plan.

And so the grab for glory fails

and then even worse,

the word then gets out among the other disciples

that James and John have been lobbying Jesus

for the top spots.

And the 10, the other 10 guys,

they are raging mad at this.

Presumably because they wanted the best seats for themselves.

You see, pride and selfish ambition

are not subcategories of sin

that only some believers struggle with.

All 12 of them had this issue.

And it's true of us, isn't it?

From the newbie Christian

to the most mature believer,

pride and selfishness

our sins we battle all the way to glory.

We live in an entitlement culture.

It's interesting, isn't it, though,

that people often talk about that

as if it's a new thing.

There's an entitlement culture now.

Sinful human beings have always been entitled

in their sinfulness.

Always been selfish, put themselves first.

Always have been proud

in relation to God and other people.

There's an entitlement culture

because there's an entitlement nature

in our hearts.

And we see it in ourselves, don't we?

We see it in our unwillingness

to do, at times, the small jobs.

We hold back,

hoping that someone else

will volunteer before us

to do that really unpleasant

and unseen job.

We see that pride within us

that wants to be well thought of,

that wants to people please

in order to get the praise,

that gets annoyed

when we don't get the plaudits.

Even in church,

even as we worship a selfless saviour,

we can be far too concerned

with what we receive

than with what we're giving.

The rulers of that day,

the Gentiles,

were known for their selfish ambition

and how they lorded it

over everyone else.

But Jesus wants his disciples

to be different.

Not to strive to be first,

but to strive to be

the servant of all.

Jesus wants men and women

and young people

and children

whose ambition will be

whose ambition will be

to serve other people.

In Jesus' kingdom,

the race is to the bottom,

not the top.

Imagine,

those of you that like football,

imagine a Premier League

where the last place team,

the bottom team,

won the league title.

Right?

I mean, last year,

that would have been Norwich.

Norwich would have been awarded

the Premier League

because they finished last.

It would have been good for them.

In Jesus' kingdom,

the last place

is the first place.

The slave

is great

because we follow

a great servant.

Mark 10,

Mark 10:45

verse 45,

is the best known verse

in Mark's Gospel.

For even the Son of Man

didn't come to be served,

but to serve.

The Son of Man.

In the Old Testament,

the Son of Man

is this magnificent figure

of great magnitude.

An unparalleled human being

with unrivaled authority

who rules all people

and all nations forever.

Daniel 7,

you can read all about him there.

But even the Son of Man,

that's the emphasis here.

Even someone this great

who rules over all things,

even he came to serve.

and he served us

by paying the price

for the many.

In books like Exodus

and Leviticus,

we are introduced

to this idea

of ransom

in the Bible.

We see in those books

lambs being slain

and their blood

being shed

as a kind of ransom

payment

that buys

Israel's forgiveness

and purchases

their freedom.

The Son of Man

will give his life

as a ransom for many.

His life,

when it's laid down,

will be the payment

for sin.

It will leave sinners

debt-free

before God,

owing him nothing

in terms of judgment.

Yes,

Jesus is our role model,

but he's more

than a model servant.

He's the purchaser

of our salvation.

Imagine

going out for a meal

at a really high-class restaurant

and the food is delicious,

but the prices

are extortionate

and the bill

comes at the end

of the meal

and when you take

a look at the bill,

there's more numbers

on that bill

than you have

in your bank account

and maybe you're

even the sort of person

who's really proud

and you always want to pay,

but man,

you can't pay

and you're so thankful

because

the person

who invited you

for the meal

is an extremely

wealthy person.

They suggested

the restaurant

and at the end

when they

offer to pay,

not just you

but all

of the guests

let out

a collective sigh

of relief.

Stick it

on my account,

they say.

I'll pay it all.

You see,

this,

this is what

matters in life.

This is what

really

is glorious.

Not the stuff

that the world

is pursuing

with all of its

raging ambition,

but that a price

has been paid

and that by mercy

we've been freed.

The question is,

do we see

the world

in that way

this morning?

Or are we

blind to the

glory that

really matters?

The glory

of Christ

and his

cross?

See,

it's no accident

that after all

of the blindness

of the disciples

in this passage

and all that Jesus

is trying to teach

them,

it's no accident

that what

then happens,

what then follows

is a story

of a man

who was

blind

and who

now comes

to see.

It's almost

a kind of

parable

of what we've

been learning.

So let's finish

with this,

from the glory

hunters

to the ransom

pair

and finally

we turn

to the blind

visionary,

the blind

visionary,

the blind man

who was able

to see

in verses

46 to 52.

Jerusalem

is creeping

even closer.

Jesus comes

to the last

stop before

it,

Jericho

and Jesus

is leaving

the city,

he's coming

out of Jericho

when in the

clamour of the

crowd,

this voice,

this crying

voice is heard

over everyone

else.

It's the voice

of Bartimaeus,

a blind

beggar

on the

streets

who had

lived his

life in

poverty and

darkness.

Now,

Bartimaeus

couldn't

see Jesus

physically.

But what

we see in

this passage

is that

Bartimaeus

sees in

other ways.

He sees

in his

soul.

He sees

that Jesus,

verse 47,

is the

son of

David.

That's

exactly who

Jesus is.

That's

actually what

Mark tells

us through

the whole

of this

gospel,

from the

very opening

verse,

that Jesus

isn't just

a teacher

or a

prophet,

but he

is the

son of

David.

He's the

Messiah.

He's the

long-promised

king.

And the

remarkable

thing is

that this

man gets

this,

and the

remarkable

thing is

presumably

that he

had very

little evidence

even to

go on.

He had

seen no

miracles.

As far

as we

know,

he had

heard no

sermons.

He must

have heard

about Jesus

through the

reports and

the words

of others.

It's a

little reminder,

isn't it,

of the

importance for

us of

speaking to

those who

are blind,

and I'm

meaning here

spiritually blind,

which is

every

unbeliever in

our relational

circle,

isn't it?

They are as

blind to

Jesus as

Bartimaeus was

blind to him

physically.

They cannot

see him

unless we

speak to

them and

they hear

about him.

I wonder

if we're

doing a good

job of that.

I wonder if

post-pandemic

that's a

priority

on our

to-do

list.

I wonder

if we're

helping people

to hear about

Jesus or I

wonder if we're

hindering people

from coming to

Jesus because

although some

people must have

told this man

about Jesus,

there's people

here in this

text who are

actually holding

him back.

Holding him

back.

Jesus isn't

going to want

to speak to

you.

Jesus isn't

going to want

to be talking

to a man

like you.

And yet this

man shouted

all the more

he was

determined to

meet Jesus.

Maybe you're

here this

morning and

maybe you're

not a

Christian.

Maybe you've

been exploring

the Christian

faith or

maybe you're

watching online

and you're

investigating

Christianity.

It's a

wonderful thing

isn't it that

God pursues

us by his

spirit but

it's also

important isn't

it that we

pursue him.

there comes

that moment

where you

need to

make that

step where

you need to

move towards

Jesus and

that's what

this man

does.

He doesn't

give up.

He doesn't

even listen to

the naysayers but

he's determined

and of course as we

would expect

Jesus graciously

responds.

And so

Bartimaeus is

brought to

Jesus but look

at verse 51

when he's

brought Jesus

asked him a

question and

what's the

question he

asked him?

What do you

want me to do

for you?

It's the same

question that he

asked James and

John just a few

moments earlier.

What do you

want me to do

for you?

How did James

and John answer

that question?

We want the

best seats in

the kingdom.

We want

personal glory.

We're meant

to see a

direct contrast

here.

Because here's

this man and

his answer is

Rabbi, I

want to see.

All I want

is to see you.

All I want

is to be healed

of my blindness

and to see

you.

Nothing else.

This man

wanted mercy

not glory.

He didn't

want half the

kingdom.

He didn't

want the top

position.

He just

wanted to

be saved.

In fact,

this word

that Mark

uses here for

healing in

the language

the New Testament

was written in,

the language of

Greek, that the

word here for

healed could be

translated saved.

It's the same

word.

He saves

this man from

his blindness

as Bartimaeus

puts his faith

in Jesus.

Have you been

saved from your

blindness?

Have you been

healed from

your sin?

What happens

next?

Jesus tells the

man to go,

but he's so

thrilled with

Jesus and the

mercy he's been

shown that he

doesn't go home

and he simply

follows Jesus

along the road.

Isn't that

beautiful?

The man who

wanted mercy

and nothing

else now

follows Jesus

simply,

gratefully,

obediently,

wherever he

leads.

Whether that

following

leads to

immediate

suffering

or to

glory,

whether it

leads to

height or

depth,

he follows

along the

road.

He's not

devoted,

he's not

entitled,

but he is

devoted.

What about

us this

morning?

Who are we

like this

morning?

What are

our eyes

fixed on

today?

Are we

like James

and John?

Just

consumed with

our own

personal

ambitions in

life,

even maybe

as Christians?

Functionally,

that's where

our focus is

at the

moment.

Or is

our focus

on Christ

and his

glory and

on the

mercy that

he offers

us and

on the

mercy that

he wants

to offer

others

through

us?

Let's

be sure

that the

entitlement

culture of

our society

is not

just

baptized

and made

to look

a bit

more

Christian.

God

God

for

us.

The cup

and the

flood that

we were

entitled

to

were

taken

by

Jesus

so that

we might

live and

serve him

in joy

and in

freedom.

Let's pray.

our

father in

heaven,

we see

before us

the

stark

contrast

between a

heart of

pride and

selfishness

and a

heart of

repentance

and humility.

Father,

so often we

have the

first kind

of heart,

but we

thank you

that by

your grace

and by

your spirit

and the

power of

your words

that you

do enable

us to

have the

second

type.

And we

pray today

that we

would be

filled with

that fresh

sense that

what we

really want

and what we

really need

is mercy,

the glory

of the

cross,

not the

glory of

our own

ambitions.

May we

be truly

grateful and

thankful as

we see

all that

Jesus is

and all

that he's

done for

us.

in setting

aside the

glory of

his kingship

in order

to serve

us.

May we

be those

that declare

that to

others and

that show

his humility

and his

service in

the way we

live.

We ask it

in his

name.

Amen.