A Completely Different Picture of Our Lord

Theme: On the Road to Jerusalem
 
SCRIPTURE
Mark 10:32-34
 
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

LESSON

During Jesus’ ministry as we have seen it thus far in Mark’s Gospel, whenever Jesus appeared in public, there was always a tremendous crowd around Him. Mark 7:24 says that Jesus “could not be hid.” Once, when He went into a home for an hour’s rest from the noonday heat, a Syrophoenician woman came and begged Him to heal her daughter. On another occasion, the crowd was so great that a woman could get near enough only to touch the hem of His garment. In Jericho, little Zaccheus had to climb a tree in order to see the Lord Jesus. Once, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the crowds were so great that He got into a boat and pushed out from shore to create a moat between Him and the multitude. Many times Jesus could not even enter a town, but had to stay out in the desert places because of the crowds.
 
We see a completely different picture of our Lord in Mark 10:32-34. Jesus leaves the crowd behind, and starts to walk rapidly down the road to Jerusalem. There is inflexible purpose in His stride. As for the disciples, they are dismayed and afraid. They know where this road leads, and they are frightened by the change in Jesus’ manner. He is not walking with the calm deliberation that usually characterized Him. He is marching like a soldier advancing to battle. What has happened?
 
We find the background for this scene in John 11, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus first heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed two days longer where He was, about fifty miles northeast of Jerusalem (John 10:40). But when in John 11:7, Jesus said, “Let us go into Judea again,” His disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” Thomas sums up their tension in verse 16: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
 
By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus provoked all the fury of His enemies in Jerusalem, as we read in John 11:46-54. They determined to put Him to death.

STUDY QUESTIONS

  • What is the difference in Christ’s disposition in this text?
  • Why did his disposition change?
  • What is the background of this scene? How does this help us understand Mark 10?
FURTHER STUDY
  • Read John 11:46-54
 

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