Mark 10
Go Deeper
In today’s reading, we see how Jesus responds to different types of people, and it reveals a lot about who He is. At first, Jesus’s disciples attempt to keep a group of young, rowdy kids away from Him, but Jesus harshly rebukes them and says that “the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Then, a man of great status and wealth approaches Jesus wanting to know how to be saved, but leaves empty-handed when Jesus tells him something he doesn’t want to hear. Next, two of Jesus’s disciples fight over a position of status and importance only for Jesus to tell them that in the Kingdom of God, being great means being a servant. And finally, Jesus heals a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, because of his great faith. We see two instances of people who should’ve known better due to their status and their proximity to Jesus, the rich man and the disciples, being rebuked by Jesus because they actually didn’t quite understand what the Kingdom of God was about. And then we see two groups of people who weren’t expected to get the mission of Jesus, young children and a blind beggar, being celebrated and touched and healed by Him because they got it.
This reminds us that in God’s Kingdom, it’s not about what you know, but rather, who you know. The children may not have known much, or even been highly valued in society, but they knew that Jesus loved them. Bartimaeus may have just been a blind beggar with no money or status, but he called out after Jesus in faith because he knew who Jesus was. The next time we’re tempted to rely on ourselves, our skills, our bank accounts, our popularity, position, or our power in life, we need to remember that no one is actually capable of saving themselves. All we need to do is run to Jesus like a needy child, or call after Him like a poor, blind beggar. All we need to know is that we can’t save ourselves. All we need is to be dependent on Christ alone. Salvation is impossible for us on our own, but thankfully, with God all things are possible.
Questions
What was the first thing that stood out to you about the character of Jesus in today’s reading?
What does it mean to receive the Kingdom of God like a child? In what ways do you struggle to do so?
What is the “one thing” that is hardest for you to surrender before the Lord? How is that unwillingness to surrender keeping you from Jesus?
In this pandemic, we’ve all been stripped away of any sense of control over our own lives. How might God be using this time to teach you dependency on Him rather than on yourself? How are you doing learning that lesson?