Full text of Pastor Jacob Cherian’s teaching titled “The Gospel of Mark: The Servant Messiah (Session 2)”
Listen to the MP3 Audio here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Jacob Cherian – SABC, Bangalore
As we have given the title itself is about a Suffering Messiah; a Suffering Servant. That is the theme that will come out especially now as we look at what we can consider the heart of the Gospel.
The Heart of the Gospel, many Marcan scholars think, is found in this section. Now look in your Bibles, Mark 8:22 onwards, till the end of Chapter 10.
What do we see here in this place? And this section is related to the meaning of Christ. The meaning of Christ and the nature of discipleship.
What is Christ? Christ, meaning Messiah, the Anointed One.
Who is this Christ? What kind of Christ do we have? And what is the nature of discipleship?
So this is in a sense we are coming to the heart of the Gospel of Mark. There are many other things that are important, we have looked at a few of them. But this is the heart of the Gospel, and it begins with a very interesting miracle.
Look at chapter Mark 8, verse 22. Quickly, I want you to read that passage, read it yourself and please tell me what is special, unique or characteristic about this story? What miracle is this? Miracle of the healing of a blind man. Very good.
Now please look at it carefully and tell me what is special about that miracle. This story, by the way, in the Gospel of Mark is not mentioned anywhere else in the any of the Gospels. This is a unique story in the Gospel of Mark.
Now, what is interesting, as you said, is that the person is not healed like this. Very interesting.
Jesus asked him: “What do you see? Can you see?”
“Yes, I can see, but I see people, but they look like trees are moving around.”
Then what happens? Very interesting thing. It says verse 25:“Once more, Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes.” Very interesting. That does not happen elsewhere.
Why? Jesus could not fully heal him the first time?
We don’t know why this interesting story is mentioned here and not mentioned elsewhere. But there is probably a good reason for that.
Why Mark, as he’s arranging the material, he puts this story here. So what is the story here?
Well, again, read the Bible in context. When you read a verse, don’t just read that verse, read the verses before, behind; you will see, we’re going to see another couple of examples of that that could blow your mind if you have not seen it before.
Okay, so let’s look at the previous story. What was there mentioned before this? We just read it. What is mentioned just before this?
Mark 8:17-21: What do you notice there? What do you notice 8:17 to 21?
There are eight questions, one after the other. Jesus is just firing them with questions, firing away with these questions. But do you realize all those questions can be summarized in one question?
I want you to summarize all those eight questions into one question tell me: “Are you blind?” Are you blind?
And what is the next story?
What Mark is trying to do? Jesus is asking His disciples: are you blind? Story is about a blind man being healed. It could have been any other story. Blind man is healed. And how is he healed? In stages.
So the healing of the blind man is a commentary on the blindness of the disciples. Correct? So it’s a miracle. But the miracle is also serving as a parabolic commentary that the disciples are also blind. Maybe they can see partially, but they cannot see clearly.
Now the question is, how do we know this is true? Keep reading.
What is the next story? The next story is… the next narrative that he writes is please remember in your Bible, you may have all these divisions and headings and all that, verse numbers and paragraph headings. There was nothing like that in the original, okay? It’s all continuing. It’s all continuous.
Mark 8:27-29: “Then Jesus and His disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way… [remember, on the way] He asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
“But what about you? Who do you say I am?”
And our dear brother Peter, what did he say: “You are the Messiah.”
Is that the right answer or wrong answer? Right or wrong answer? Right answer.
When we were in school, and when the teacher asked us a question and if we give the right answer, what did the teacher say? Very good, Shabash. Well done.
What did Jesus tell Peter? He told Peter… ‘Shut up.’
Why? He gives the right answer, but Jesus doesn’t say, ‘Wonderful, Peter. Tell everybody about it.’
The answer is the next passage.
The next passage. See how Mark is telling the story.
Mark 8:31-32:“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.”
Now you realize why Jesus did not tell Peter, ‘Very good, Peter. Go and tell the world.’ Because Peter does not understand. What he does understand is that Jesus is the Messiah. But he does not understand what kind of Messiah.
So like that blind man, Peter can see. He can see. What can he see? Jesus is the Messiah, but he cannot see clearly. He still needs his eyesight has to be healed.
What should he see?
He has to see the real nature of the Messiah.
So very interesting. What we have… this healing of the blind man is a very important story. As I said, it’s like a commentary on the disciples’ healing.
[read more]
But at the end of chapter 10, what is the last section of chapter 10? There’s a miracle again. What miracle is that? Aha, it is a story of another blind man healed, Blind Bartimaeus; here his name is given, right?
So what Mark probably has done is he has put one healing of a blind man here, another healing of a blind man here, and put it like what we call bookends. Sometimes on a shelf we want to keep some books. What do we do? We keep one bookend here and one bookend here and put some important books in between.
In the same way what he has done with two healings of blind people, he put that there and in between he has put important teachings that he wants to convey.
And the main thing is that disciples are partially blind. They know Jesus is the Messiah, but they don’t understand the nature of the Messiah.
I sometimes wonder whether that is also true of believers in the church. They are believers, they are saved. They know Jesus is the Savior.
But do they understand what kind of Messiah He is?
Well, the disciples did not understand. So in this central section and this is what Marcan scholars have understood, that probably this is what he’s doing. These two miracles of two blind men being healed and then important teaching, Chapter 8, 9, 10… three passion predictions of Jesus… in 8, 9, 10 three passion predictions.
What is passion? Sufferings.
So Jesus predicted His sufferings, and every time He predicted His suffering you should read what happens to the disciples. Every time He’s predicting His passion, what happened the first time? What did we read just now?
Chapter 8:32: Jesus spoke… “He spoke plainly about this.” And what did Peter do? Okay, I like to dramatize this. Okay, let me quickly do this.
Let me just dramatize it a minute. Here Jesus is speaking with all the disciples, and when He’s talking about it, Peter comes and taps on Jesus’ shoulder and says, “Excuse me, Jesus, 1 minute, just give me 1 minute”.
‘Okay, Peter.’ He knew what is coming.
And then Peter takes Jesus side. What does he do? ‘Peter rebukes Jesus.’
Who is he rebuking? The Messiah.
Now read the next verse. And what did Jesus do?
Jesus… you need to picture this. He turned around and looked at His disciples who are standing here because He was taken out from by Peter. Remember that?
And then what did He do? ‘Turned around again and rebuked Peter.’
Now why did Jesus turn around and look at His disciples? Because they’re having a conversation. Why did Jesus turn and look at the disciples? Because He knows Peter is only a good representative of the class. He is the only one who has the courage to speak what comes in his mind. Others are all, they don’t want to say it.
So when Jesus turns around, He knows… hey fellows, all of you are thinking the same thing, only Peter has got the guts to come out and tell it. He is like, all the disciples are still blind. They don’t understand Messiah.
Jesus turns and tells Peter what? “Get behind Me, Satan.”
Wow. That is blindness, by the way. Demonic blindness. But they are still blinded about the nature of the Messiah. Very interesting, isn’t it?
So, what does Jesus do? Jesus calls the crowd verse 34, He says, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Me.” It goes on.
So you see the first time in the Gospel of Mark when Jesus explains about His suffering in the cross, the disciples don’t understand it.
Question why? Why don’t they understand? Why? Why do they not understand? What is the problem?
Because in their view from childhood, from their grandmothers’ stories, from their mothers’ breasts, they have got the understanding that the Messiah… once He comes, He’s going to kick these Romans out.
One day, when the Messiah comes, we’ll finish these fellows. We’ll show who we are.
But this Messiah says, ‘No, I won’t kick them, they will kick Me.’
‘No, no, no… Jesus, sorry, you’re wrong. Excuse me, Jesus.’
Peter takes Him out and rebukes Him. Why? Because they have a wrong view of the Messiah. They know He is the Messiah. But their view of the Messiah not a suffering Messiah, view the Messiah. Messiah doesn’t suffer. We’ll kick these Romans out.
‘You are saying Romans will kick You. No, sorry. Something is wrong there. Let me correct you’, says Peter.
Are you getting it, friends? The blindness is they don’t know the nature of the Messiah.
Look at the second passion prediction in chapter 9.
Quickly. Chapter 9, verse 30, 31.
Mark 9:30-31:‘They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because He was teaching His disciples.” He said to them what? “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.”
So this is another, the second passion prediction in Mark’s Gospel.
Mark 9:32:“But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it.”
Now, see the next story.
Mark 9:33:“They came to Capernaum. When He was in the house, He asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” Remember that? That means as they were going towards Capernaum, Jesus was going ahead. They were following behind. Jesus knew they were fighting. They were arguing.
But He did not stop on the way to ask them, ‘Hey, fellows, what are you fighting about?’ He reached the house and after the tea was served, they had the tea, they felt a little comfortable.
Then He says, ‘Okay, guys, tell me what were you arguing about on the way?’
And you know what they said?
Mark 9:34:‘But they kept quiet.’ Why? Because on the way they had argued about what? Who was the greatest?
So, what is the game the disciples are playing? Who is the greatest amongst us?
There is a very simple answer to this: who is the greatest? One of them could have said, ‘Fellows, we are wasting our time trying to find out who is the greatest amongst us. You know who’s the greatest? The one going before us.’ Finished. Then there is no debate anymore.
Why are we trying to find out who is the greatest amongst us? Why are we trying to show we are so great?
Jesus is great. But see, when Jesus is telling them about His suffering, what are they worried about? Ourselves. They are self-absorbed… their ministry. We want to say putting us there? They are so taken up with our ministry.
But you know what Jesus tells them:
Mark 9:35:“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve… [He said, ‘Come, come, let Me explain to you friends.’] “Anyone who wants to be the first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” The greatest is the servant.
And then, “He took a child, and He said, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me does not welcome Me, but the One who sent Me.”
Bibles are blinded. They are thinking more and more about their own life, their own ministry, if you want to call it, people like us.
Then the third passion prediction is in chapter 10. And now verse 32 onwards.
Mark 10:32: “They were on their way up to Jerusalem.” Why are they going to Jerusalem? Jesus has told them I’m going there to suffer. They’re going to humiliate Me horribly and then kill Me on the way. “The disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again He took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen.”
Verse 33-34:“We are going up to Jerusalem.” I mean, he tells them many, many, many, many times. Because just like those disciples, we also don’t get it, just once. Takes time for us to learn some important things. And He says “The Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles, the Romans, who will mock Him and spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. Three days later He will rise.”
Please remember when you’re reading this, forget about all the divisions in your Bible. You understand? There were no divisions in the original.
So when Jesus tells this thing about His suffering, what is the response that is mentioned right after that?
Mark 10:35: ‘Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
Now sometimes children will do that. Our children will come and say daddy, daddy, daddy, promise me you will give whatever I ask.
First tell me, what do you want?
Whatever we ask.
Mark 10:36: Then Jesus asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
Mark 10:37: “They replied, [what?] “Let one of us sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your glory.”
So finally, what do the disciples who are following Jesus want? Glory for themselves. And of course, my brother also my dear friend. We want the glory.
What about the other ten? No, we want it. Jesus, can you please give it to us; the story that’s how it is.
Mark 10:38: Jesus says, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I’m baptized with?”
Mark 10:39-40: Oh, yes… “We can,” they answered. Jesus said “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I’m baptized with. But to sit at My right or left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
Look at verse 41:“When the ten heard about this,”… remember who came to talk to Jesus in this story? Only James and John; other ten were not there. But somehow the news got to them. When they heard this, what does it say? They became indignant… very angry with James and John.
Why were they angry? They could have said Let them have it.
No, no. They are angry. And because they also want to have the right and the left, everybody wants it. We are all disciples of Jesus, but we are after glory for ourselves.
And they would have told those fellows, you two fellows, you want that? What about us? We are also here.
Mark 10:42: “But Jesus called them together and said “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.”
This is the world, He says, the big guys have power over other guys. They show their power in different ways.
Mark 10:43-45: But He said, “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. Because even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
So what do you notice? Three passion predictions. Every time Jesus talks about suffering, the disciples… still they are self-absorbed. That’s what I said. Each time Jesus teaches them about His death, the disciples come out looking hopelessly self-absorbed.
Self-absorbed. We are only thinking about ourselves. That’s a big, big danger of us who are pastors, leaders. We are trying to serve Jesus and trying to serve His sheep. But the danger is we are self taken up too much with our own ministry. We talk about my believers. If they believe in you and we know the challenge many times your my believers may leave and go to somebody else and become their believers. We are called to learn from this.
What is it they don’t understand? They don’t understand that the Messiah is a suffering Messiah and a servant Messiah. And therefore if we are following this Messiah, we are called to become a servant. But we don’t want to be servant. We want to have glory. We want to have others do what we want to do. Hey fellow, come here. Do this, then you feel powerful.
So what does Jesus call them to a discipleship? Discipleship of self-denial. (Chapter 8) Discipleship encapsulated in self-denial, taking up the cross and being a greatest is who… servant. Become a servant. Find out what it means to be a servant.
Self-denial, taking up the cross and being a servant. I like to use the word become a holy fool. Become a holy fool.
And how can I not somewhere mention something about Apostle Paul? Because along with Jesus we all must learn about Paul. We must know Paul, we must know his letters well.
Now if I ask you what is a sign or evidence of somebody who is an apostle, give me an example today who lived with Jesus?
So can we have apostles today? There are some people we call apostles. We are living with Jesus every day. Okay? Not like that.
Those were… those apostles. But Paul is also called an apostle, but he never lived with Jesus. But he lives with Jesus, okay? He saw.
So only those who see Jesus are called apostles. One of them, very good…. was Timothy an apostle? Was Silas an apostle. Yes. You read First Thessalonians. First Thessalonians is written by not just Paul, it says Paul, Silas and Timothy.
And then when you read 1 Thessalonian chapter 2, he says we apostles. So we normally don’t call Timothy apostle, but we should be calling him. If you call Apostle Paul, we should say Apostle Timothy, Apostle Silas; they’re all apostles. They may not have seen Jesus necessarily.
So an apostle is one. It’s a very simple word in the first century: somebody who is sent out to preach the gospel, who starts churches or whatever.
Today the word apostle has become a big word… from a pastor. What’s your name? Pastor Umesh. Is it okay if I call you Pastor Umesh? Yeah. But when you become a very big pastor… big pastor meaning you’ll be 10ft tall, then if you say Pastor Umesh, you will not like it, say please put my name. I’m Reverend Umesh. Then Reverend may not be good enough. Bishop, maybe we would like it.
By the way, the word bishop is not a big word, it’s a simple word: an overseer or like to call you apostle.
But what is the sign of an apostle?
I will let me show you the evidence of who is an apostle. At least one of them.
One Corinthians, the life of the greatest apostle. This apostle Paul has had more influence on the faith than even Peter, let me say this, even though Peter was with Jesus; God used him amazing ways.
But Paul through his writings has more influence on our faith than anybody else. And in 1 Corinthians 4:9-13, Paul says, “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of a procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to humans. We are… verse 10… what is it? Fools for Christ. But you are so wise in Christ. We are weak. Oh, but you are strong, Corinthians. You are honored. We are dishonored; to this very hour we go hungry and thirsty. We are in rags. You know what does that mean? We don’t have nice clothing. We are not wearing the best of clothing. We are brutally treated. We are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we’re cursed, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure it. When we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world, right up to this moment.”
So who’s an apostle, according to this passage? Not the ones who’s got the most expensive car in the parking lot? Not according to this.
The apostle is not the one who can say no, I don’t wear ordinary clothes. I wear very, very, very special ones. Friends. In other words, an apostle is a fool for Christ. That is what the nature of discipleship is.
The other day, one of my own beloved students came visiting. Five years ago, he was working, he was very educated. He had an MPhil in science, working in a research institution, getting a very good salary, left that, from a Hindu family, left that came to the Bible college, studied. Now he’s working in Bihar as missionary. He’s able to use his science. So he teaches science also in schools and is involved in planting of churches, training of… very tough condition. His salary is a fraction of what he got before he came to the Bible college. He’s a fool for Christ.
That’s what Jesus is saying. Deny yourself, take up the cross and follow Me and become a servant. It’s not going to be easy for him to find a wife. Because you know young ladies who say I want to serve God also, when he tells them I’m sorry, my calling is in Bihar. I’m not coming here to Tamil Nadu to work Chennai or Bangalore. That’s my calling. I’m going there. If you want to marry me, you have to come there and life is tough.
That’s what Jesus said. Great, become a servant. So that’s what we have in the Gospel of Mark. See how beautifully he presents the stories.
The disciples are blind, but we know what the good news is. Yes, as you read this, it looks like they are not getting it. But we know the real story. What happened afterwards? Finally they got it.
Finally they got it. Peter realized and Peter also gave his life. So right now they are struggling. But they did get it. They did become servants and they did give up their life for Jesus and the Gospel.
OK, finally, the last few things here. Towards the end of his life, we have Jesus coming into Jerusalem. The last part is the last week in a sense.
There are Three Prophetic And Symbolic Actions.
What is the first one? The Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. That is there.
And then there is something very interesting: The Cursing of The Fig Tree.
But then there’s something else that Jesus does. What does He do in the temple? Cleansing of the Temple is what we have traditionally called story. Sometimes tradition is good, sometimes it’s not that good. We can change some traditions and have better traditions.
So let me ask you a question: DID JESUS REALLY CLEAN ANYTHING? Jesus, what did He do? He drove away in one part of the temple. This is not the high priests and all that, just some fellows selling things. And He drove those fellows away, overturned their tables.
But do you think next day they did not come back? Came back, so nothing was cleaned. It’s not the cleansing of the temple. Jesus did not clean anything.
What Jesus did was what is called Symbolic And Prophetic Action. So what Jesus did is the prophetic action at the temple.
AND WHAT IS THE PROPHETIC ACTION? Do you remember what are the words Jesus used? “You have turned this house of My Father into a den of thieves.”
Now, where was He quoting from? Jeremiah, Isaiah, the prophets. You know what Jeremiah said? Jeremiah told the people, you are doing all this drama in the temple, but let me warn you, this temple is going to be destroyed. Babylonians are coming. Temple will be destroyed. Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.
Now please remember those are the exact words Jesus is now using in the temple.
So what is He doing? And Mark does something very interesting. I want you to look at chapter 11 quickly, what we can call a Marcan sandwich. Have you heard of that? Marcan sandwich.
What is a sandwich? Usually you have bread with something in between. Suppose you keep chicken in between, you call it a chicken sandwich, and you keep egg in between, you call it an egg sandwich. So the name of the sandwich depends on what is inside. Right?
Now, I want you to see how this story is told in Mark’s Gospel is different from Matthew’s Gospel.
In Mark’s Gospel, quickly look at your text. Chapter 11, verses 12 to 14.
Mark 11:12-14: He says: “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples heard it.”
Okay, see the next thing, verses 15 to 19.
Mark 11:15-19:“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.” He did not beat anyone. Okay? Some people treat this to say you can do whatever you want. Jesus also showed anger; so I as a pastor can sometimes beat some people up.
And He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And He taught them, and He said, “Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’.” Where was He quoting from? Isaiah 56:7, and Jeremiah 7:11.
The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill Him, because they understood what He was saying, because the whole crowd was amazed at His teaching. When evening came, Jesus and His disciples went out of the city.
Now look at verse 20 and 21, 22…
Mark 11:20-22:“In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree… (again, fig tree story) withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree You cursed has withered!”
Now do you realize he starts talking about a fig tree, then the prophetic action in the temple, and then again the fig tree, it’s like a sandwich. The name of the sandwich comes from what is inside, and the action in the temple.
So the story that is holding the other story helps you to understand what is the meaning of the story. This is not cleansing of the temple. What do we call the story of the fig tree? Cursing of the fig tree.
So what is the story in between? I know it may sound shocking, it’s cursing of the temple or prophetic condemnation of the temple. And what Jesus is saying is what? In the words of Jeremiah, just like Jeremiah prophesied, this temple will be destroyed. It was Jesus is prophesying and saying this temple’s days are numbered. That’s the end of this temple.
In fact, we know from Mark’s Gospel when Jesus died on the cross, what happened in the temple? Yeah, God tore the curtain. In other words, God gave a sign that temple business is over, because from now Jesus is the Temple. Through Jesus we go to God. That’s it, we don’t need the building anymore.
So just like the story, see how Mark has put the story together? So the cursing of the tree is a symbolic way of saying all the religious, the faith of the Jews, they have failed so miserably, there is no fruit. So end of this business. God is saying enough. No more of this business in the temple. Finished.
There is no more business with this temple anymore, because from now on it’s through Jesus, the body of Jesus. So this is not cleansing of the temple, it is cursing of the temple.
And you know what happened? This may have been around 30 AD… 40 years later, Romans came and finished that temple. By the way, you see, in your image there is a stone relief. The one who came into Jerusalem and destroyed Jerusalem was… who was that? The Roman General Titus. He destroyed it in AD 70. Later on, about 12 years later, they made a stone image of that which is still there in Rome. It’s called the Arch of Titus.
See that drawing there? You know what the Romans are carrying away all the symbols of their faith. In other words, they are carrying away this God of these Jewish people. See, they worship all this. They are in our hands… that’s the end of the temple.
So what is happening here, friends? Jesus is saying the end of the temple…
