Welcome to Day 23 of our 40 Day challenge! Mark 10:32-45

(Catch up with us, with our reading list March, reading list for April,  and Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Day 22)

Today we are reading Mark 10:32-45:

Mark 10:32-45

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time

³² They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ³³ “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, ³⁴ who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

The Request of James and John

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.”

³⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³⁷ They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

³⁸ “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?”

³⁹ “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, ⁴⁰ 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.”

⁴¹ When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. ⁴² 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. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 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.”

What stands out to me today is how clear Jesus is, and yet His disciples are so connected to their view of what is going on that they miss it altogether. Their worldview was still their reality even after following Jesus, living and eating with Him for three years. Their cultural understanding, like the air they breathe, was that a Messiah would come to save them from Rome. Jesus had a much greater calling than this!

Reading these situations with the disciples has me asking the question, which things do I not even notice about my worldview, in my cultural understanding, that make me miss what Jesus is doing?

When I was a kid, I didn’t realize the peculiarities of my family and home life until I spent time in the homes of friends. They had different rules and foods and ways of living. Then we came to Mexico, and I saw the broader peculiarities I grew up with. What was just regular life and community to me was very different here. You don’t know what is different until you experience it.

A friend was telling Aidan about their mission trip to Ethiopia. They were the only non-Americans in the group, and they were shocked at how personal the questions were from the Americans. Think about what you would consider too personal a question by a stranger to you. Maybe politics, or how much money you make? For them it was being asked if they are close to their parents and siblings. Family is the most important thing in the culture here, and being asked about their closest relationships and upbringing was comparable to being introduced to someone and immediately being asked for your bank balances and pay stubs. This is wild to see acted out, because I would have said the culture I grew up in prioritized family. But I would not find it too intimate for a stranger to ask me if I’m close to my parents and siblings. We don’t know the things we assume about life until we experience a different way of being.

Jesus keeps trying to show His disciples how different life in the Kingdom is. They assume He will sit on a worldly throne and are jockeying for their places to His physical right and left. But His calling was more than just liberating Israel, He came to liberate us all! And His throne and His Kingdom are not at all what they expected—they are so much better. We see how hard it was for them to step outside their automatic understandings into His higher meanings. May the Lord continually help us see this as well.

Options for further  journaling or discussion throughout the challenge:

• Choose a part of the passage to write out by hand. Writing by hand helps us slow down and focus on what the Lord might highlight for us in the passage. Our brains can focus and remember better by writing than just reading alone.
• Journal about what the passage brings to mind. Does the passage tell us anything about God? Does it tell us anything about our response to Him?
• Does your heart respond in gratitude to any part of the passage? Write or pray your gratitude to the Lord.

We’ll see you next time, for Day 24 and Mark 12:1-14

♥ Samantha