When Peter spoke about all that he and the disciples had given up in order to follow Jesus, Jesus replied by assuring them that no one who had left house, brothers or sisters, mothers or fathers, children, or fields because of Him or the gospel would fail to be compensated one hundredfold now, and in the age to come eternal life. This conversation took place on the road to Jerusalem.
Jesus was leading the way, and those who were following Him were not only astonished, they were afraid. It is curious to me that after assuring His followers of the blessings that would be theirs as His followers, He now began to tell them what would happen to Him when He got to Jerusalem. “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death. Then they will mock Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him, and He will rise after three days” (Mark 10:33,34).
What was the response of Jesus’ followers to this sobering pronouncement? John and his brother James approached Jesus and asked Him for a favor. I think they must have still been thinking about what they would receive since they had given up their fishing boat and left their father Zebedee to follow Jesus. “Allow us to sit at Your right and Your left in Your glory” (Mark 10:37). Jesus didn’t rebuke them. Instead, He pointed out that they didn’t know what they were asking. The other disciples were furious when they heard what the two brothers had requested! They were indignant! But why were they indignant? I think it was because they all expected the place of honor. When Jesus had promised that they would receive 100 times more at this time—houses, brother and sisters, mothers and children, and fields—somehow they had missed the last thing Jesus had said, “with persecution.”
Jesus used this opportunity to teach them about the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of men. “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high position exercise power over them. But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all” (Mark 10:42-44).
There was the promise, but with it persecution, There was to be power executed with the heart of a servant. There was the fulfillment of the prophecies written in Isaiah. The disciples were going up to Jerusalem knowing that Jesus was the promised Messiah. They were hoping that finally Jesus would make His name known to their adversaries and that the nations would tremble at His presence! But their spiritual eyes had not yet been open and they couldn’t yet see that the king was coming as a man of sorrows. He had told them that He would be despised and rejected, but their spiritual ears had not been opened. They didn’t understand that in order for them to inherit the kingdom of God that the Messiah would first have to pour out His soul in death and be numbered with the transgressors. He was going to Jerusalem to bear the sins of many by His death on the cross. But there was also the promise of the resurrection. But as yet their spiritual eyes were blind and their spiritual ears were deaf.
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