The Bible is a book with no illusions. It does not hide human weakness in an attempt to idealize spiritual truth. And so it is that Mark goes on to show us in 10:35-45 that though the disciples followed after Jesus, they understood very little of what was happening. James and John, certainly, were not thinking of Jesus’ impending sufferings and death but about what they might get for themselves. These men had pushed away the people with children in their arms, and they had been shocked at Jesus’ teaching about giving up goods for His sake. They were amazed and afraid as He took the road to Jerusalem, and now they were filled with greed for themselves and jealousy of the others.
When you are at the fork of the road that leads to the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no tree behind which you can hide. Luke 9:57-62 describes the people who met Jesus on the Jerusalem road and were challenged to follow Christ, but who turned aside for reasons we call “practical.” That is one way of getting out of it. You can get tied up with home duties. After all, we must be practical! Putting practicality before obedience to God’s will has destroyed many a Christian life. On this turnpike there is no exit until you come to Calvary. You start on this road and there are no U–turns and no rest stops. The traffic is going where and when He says.
Now from the little town of Ephraim, about twelve miles north of Jerusalem, Jesus left the crowds and started toward Jerusalem. As He marched ahead of them, the disciples no doubt were thinking in their hearts, “Not that road, Lord! That road leads to Jerusalem and death!” But His stride becomes longer and more rapid. There is tremendous purpose in His step; there is urgency and haste. In this moment, I think, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy made in Isaiah 50:7: “For the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.” Jesus has become the inflexible Christ. At least four times in the gospels He had said, “My hour has not yet come.” But now His hour has come, and as Luke 9:51 says, “When the days drew near for Him to be received up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.”
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.
When that young girl at camp asked me, “How do we decide what is worldly and what is spiritual?”, she was sitting with a young man. I believe they had just been married a year. I asked her, “How does a young bride decide how much flirtation and necking she should do with other men after she’s married?”
