May 11th, 2024

This Sunday is ‘The Seventh Sunday of Easter’, and next week starts the Pentecost season. The Gospel reading for this week is John 17:11b-19 (the middle portion of what is usually called Jesus’ high priestly prayer. And with these writings we continue through the middle of the Gospel according to Mark), and with this particular writing, we are finishing up what could be called the middle portion of the Gospel according to Mark, and we are getting close to Jesus’ end—since we are getting EXTREMELY close to Jerusalem. In these writings we are at the point that is usually called chapter ten.

The following could be called a somewhat-literal translation of the text [Mark 10:32-52; it is given in this way to help the reader see what is being emphasized in the text. In general, the sooner the word, the more emphasis that it has; an emphasis is also given with the historical presents—when a verb is usually in a past tense, but it appears in this situation in the present—these verbs will appear in bold print; and to get an even better perspective, studying other translations or a study bible may be also helpful]:

Now they were in the way, going up into Jerusalem, and he was going before them, the Jesus, and they were amazed; now the ones following, they were afraid, and having taken aside, again, the twelve, he began, them, to tell, the things being about, to him, to happen, “Look, we are going up into Jerusalem, and the Son of the Man will be handed over to the archpriests and to the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and they will hand over him to the nations, and they will mock him, and they will spit at him, and they will whip him, and they will kill, and after three days, he will rise back up.”

And they approach him, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saying to him, “Teacher, we want that, whatever we may ask you, you would do for us.”

Now the one said to them, “What do you want me, I should do for you?”

Now the ones said to him, “Give to us that one of you, from right, and one from left, we may sit in the glory of you.”

Now the Jesus said to them, “Not you do know what you are asking. Can you, to drink the cup, which I, myself, am drinking, or the baptism which I, myself, am baptized, to be baptized?”

Now the ones said to him, “We can.”

Now the Jesus said to them, “The cup which I, myself, am drinking, you will drink, and the baptism which I, myself, am baptized, you will be baptized; now to sit from right of me or from left, not it is mine to give, but on the contrary, for whom it has been prepared.”

And, having heard, the ten, they began to be angry about James and John. And having called to himself them, the Jesus, he says to them, “You know that the ones, thinking to rule the nations, they lord over them, and the great ones of them exercise authority over them. Now not so, it is in you; but on the contrary, whoever wants, great, to become in you, he will be, of you, a servant; and whoever wants, in you, to be first, he will be, of all, slave; for even the Son of the Man, not he came to be served, but on the contrary, to serve and to give the life of him, a ransom instead of many.”

And they come into Jericho. And going out, he, from Jericho, and the disciples of him, and a crowd, sufficient; the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, he was sitting by the way. And having heard that Jesus, the Nazarene it is, he began to scream and to say, “Son of David, Jesus, pity me.” And they were rebuking him, many, that he should be quiet. Now the one, much more he was screaming, “Son of David, pity me.”

And having stood, the Jesus said, “Call him.”

And they call the blind man, saying to him, “Courage; rise; he is calling you.”

Now the one, having thrown away the garment of him, having leaped up, he came toward the Jesus. And having answered him, the Jesus said, “What for you, do you want I do?”

Now the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, that I may see again.”

And the Jesus said to him, “Go, the faith of you has saved you.” And immediately he saw again, and he was following him in the way.
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There are a couple of the verbs in bold print that have to do with movement, and that is not surprising since Jesus is very close to his infamous entry into Jerusalem. What is a bit surprising is that the majority of the verbs have more than one person doing the action, and the only one that has Jesus doing the action, in that verb he is talking to his disciples, and what he is doing is settling a problem amongst his followers. (And hopefully you noted at the beginning of the section that some were amazed and the followers were afraid; and although those reactions are different, they are both not very positive.) All of these issues, actions, and emotions certainly cannot be compared to Jesus’ action of going on to the cross for ALL—for all people, for all sin, for all time.