Mark 10 - The Cup, the Cross and the Crown

The this week's lesson was about being successful, both by the world's standard and by God's.  We looked at several passages in Mark 10: the rich young ruler who was too attached to his wealth, how difficult it can be for the rich to go to Heaven, and Jesus' teaching about being servant leaders.  Once again Jesus turned their human reasoning on its ear, and the disciples continued to be amazed and astonished at the things Jesus taught them along the way.  But the thing that continues to gnaw at me is how tunnel-visioned the disciples were in spite of all of Jesus' words to them concerning what they would REALLY face when they arrived in Jerusalem.

The timing of this account was during a busy period in the life of the Jews.  It was nearing Passover, so many were traveling up to the Holy City.  Jesus and the disciples were among those making the trip and though there were others who were traveling with them, Jesus periodically took time to draw the disciples aside and repeat the message: "There is going to be big trouble, I am going to be killed, but I will rise after three days."  In fact, they've already heard this message several times before they made this trip (Mark 8:31, Mark 9:9-13, Mark 9:31).  But they still didn't get it.

We know now that the Holy Spirit kept them from fully understanding, but we also know that in their humanity their sights were set on an earthly kingdom and not a heavenly one.  Jesus knew this, and we wondered about the tone He may have used when James and John (and their mama!) asked Jesus to let them sit on His right and left in His glory.  (The smart-aleck in me hoped that Jesus said something like, "Seriously?? Are y'all KIDDING me??  Get a clue, you clowns..."  Y'all DO know that the Lord speaks with a Southern accent, don't ya?)  But of course Jesus was more gracious and patient when He told them, "You don't know what you're asking.  Can you drink from My cup or experience My baptism?" (Mark 10:38 paraphrased).  They impetuously said, "We can," and sure enough they did, but it wasn't until their world was turned upside down.

All the disciples could see was the crown - the power and position and authority that would one day belong to Jesus and in turn would belong to them.  But Jesus knew that the fulfillment of that prophecy was a long way off, and in His immediate future was the cup and the cross.  

I think we follow a similar pattern.  No truly valuable "crown" comes without a cup and a cross.  The cup of suffering comes to us, sometimes through a tragedy or illness or death, even the death of a dream.  Then comes the cross, when God reveals something we need to DIE TO.  It can be a myriad of things depending on the circumstance and the individual, but we come to the place where we realize that we can't move forward until we surrender ourselves (our pain, confusion, pride, doubt, fear, plans, etc).  It's when we've suffered and then come to a place of surrendering to His will that He can begin to pick up the broken pieces, and we can receive the blessing He has in store for us.

Since we're digging out of another snowstorm, Pastor Bryan diverged from his sermon series to preach about what we can learn from the storms of life.  The saying goes, "At any given time you're either in the MIDDLE of a storm, coming OUT of one, or heading INTO one."  But regardless of where we are in the storm sequence, we are never without hope.  Even though Jesus asked the Father to let the cup of suffering pass from Him, He was willing to accept it because He knew the inexpressible joy and unspeakable blessings that would come after His suffering.

Those same promises are ours if we keep our eyes on Jesus and we don't lose heart.  He is seated at the right hand of His Father, and one day we'll sit in Their presence too.  Hopefully all of the suffering here will seem like a bad dream, and we will be able to look back and see how He walked each step with us and used the suffering to strengthen our faith and draw us closer to Him.

NEVER lose hope, and never EVER give up!

(Hebrews 12, 2 Corinthians 4, Philippians 4, 1 Peter 4-5 )