On the Way of Discipleship III
In this section Jesus formally prophesies his death and resurrection for the third and last time. It is the most solemn and detailed of his passion predictions, almost a synopsis of what is soon to occur. Like the first two (8:31; 9:31) it is immediately followed by an inept response on the part of his disciples (10:37), which becomes an opportunity for Jesus to give further instruction on discipleship (10:42–45). He is continuing to open his disciples’ eyes to the mystery of his messianic vocation and their call to follow in his footsteps.
Third Prophecy of the Passion (10:32–34)
32They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. 33“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles 34who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.”
OT: Isa 53:12
NT: John 11:16; Acts 2:23; 13:27; Rom 8:32. // Matt 20:17–19; Luke 18:31–34
Catechism: Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, 557–58
10:32–34 With the refrain characteristic of the journey narrative, on the way, Mark reminds us that this episode, and the teaching that follows, is all about “the way” of the Christian life. Now he explicitly notes that they were going up to Jerusalem, to the suffering and death that Jesus knew awaited him there. Whether one is traveling north or south, in Jewish idiom one always goes “up” to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:13; Zech 14:17), the holy hill where God’s dwelling place on earth, the temple, was located. It is likely that Jesus went to Jerusalem many times in his life (see Luke 2:22, 41; John 2:13; 5:1; 7:10), but Mark mentions only this one time to highlight its significance as the time he went there to fulfill his destiny as the suffering Messiah. That Jesus went ahead of them indicates his firm resolve, his determination to embrace the will of the Father. One can imagine his disciples dragging their feet a little, having a foreboding feeling about what lay ahead.
Mark leaves much unsaid in this cryptic passage. He gives no indication why Jesus’ companions are amazed as they walk along the road. Are those who followed his disciples, or others? And why were they afraid? Earlier, the crowds had been “utterly amazed” when they encountered Jesus descending from the mount of the Transfiguration (Mark 9:15). Here too Mark seems to hint that there is an awe-inspiring quality to Jesus’ countenance, expressing at once both authority and humility. It may also be that they were amazed that Jesus would dare to go to Jerusalem, knowing he had powerful enemies there (3:22; 7:1, 5).
Far from dismissing their fears, Jesus calls aside the Twelve to forewarn them once again about his passion, this time giving more precise details. He again uses the key verb “hand over” (paradidōmi), which on a human level expresses the treachery of Judas and the religious authorities, but on a theological level expresses God’s loving, redemptive purpose in handing over his Son to sinful humanity (see 9:31; Rom 8:32). This is the first time Jesus indicates that he will be handed over by his own people to the Gentiles, a particularly painful rejection for a Jew to experience. He foretells the details of his suffering, all of which are fulfilled to the letter in the Gospel (Mark 15:15, 19–20, 37; 16:6). The last phrase puts everything in proper context: Jesus’ passion will end in a glorious victory over death itself. His own destiny is the model for that of his disciples, in which “persecutions” are part of the necessary way to “eternal life” (see 10:30).
Seeking the Glory Seats (10:35–45)
35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36He replied, “What do you wish [me] to do for you?” 37They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” 38Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. 42Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. 43But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; 44whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. 45For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
OT: 1 Kings 22:19; Isa 51:17–22
NT: Luke 12:50; Acts 12:2; Rom 6:4; Col 2:12; 1 Tim 2:6. // Matt 20:20–28; Luke 22:25–27
Catechism: Jesus’ sacrifice, 599–618, 1225; authority as service, 876, 2235
10:35–37 James and John, two of Jesus’ earliest and closest disciples (1:19–20; 5:37; 9:2), could hardly have chosen a more tactless moment for their request. Perhaps they were dreaming so much about their future prominence that they were completely oblivious to his words about imminent suffering and death. Their approach is designed to get Jesus to agree to their request before they say what it is. The “sons of thunder” (3:17) may be counting on their special status among the Twelve to expect such an open-ended grant. Jesus does not accept this tactic, but asks what they have in mind. The two brothers are seeking to secure for themselves the top posts in the Messiah’s future government. To sit at a ruler’s right or left hand was a sign of power and prestige (1 Kings 2:19; 22:19; Ps 110:1). Although Jesus had spoken earlier of his coming “in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38), James and John probably still had only a foggy idea of what his “glory” meant. What they do know is that they want first rights to a share in that glory, before the others get in on it.
10:38 Jesus does not reproach them for their boldness. Instead he lays out what appears to be a condition. In the Old Testament, a cup is a metaphor for what God has in store for someone, whether a cup of blessing (Ps 16:5; 23:5; 116:13) or, more frequently, the cup of his wrath (Ps 75:9; Isa 51:17–22; Jer 49:12; Ezek 23:31–34). Jesus has the latter in mind, since “drinking the cup” symbolizes his accepting the full brunt of God’s judgment on sin (Mark 14:36; see John 18:11). He is asking whether the disciples are willing to be united with him in his redemptive suffering (see Col 1:24). Yet the other meaning is also in the background, since through the eucharistic cup of his blood (Mark 14:23–24), his passion becomes the source of salvation to all who receive it.
The idea of baptism (immersion in water) as a metaphor for the passion occurs in a different context in Luke 12:50, where Jesus cries out, “There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!” Immersion in water is a biblical image for overwhelming calamity (Ps 42:8; 88:17–18; Isa 43:2). Jesus’ own baptism in the Jordan (Mark 1:9) was a prefigurement of his death, and the early Church understood Christian baptism as a union with Christ in his death (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12) by which believers die to their old self and begin a new life in him. To share in Christ’s sufferings was considered a privilege and a joy (Matt 5:11–12; Acts 5:41; Col 1:24; 1 Pet 4:12–13).
Jesus’ reply thus alludes to the two foundational sacraments of the new covenant—baptism (see Mark 16:16) and the Eucharist (see 14:23–24)—pointing toward the way in which all his followers can be made worthy to share in his future glory.
10:39–40 The two brothers reply eagerly, and perhaps glibly, We can. They do not yet realize what they are asserting. Only on Golgotha will the deep irony of their request become clear: those at the right and left hand of the Messiah-King are the two thieves crucified with him (15:27). Yet Jesus takes their willingness seriously: they will indeed drink his cup, and be plunged into his baptism. For James, this promise will be fulfilled literally in his martyrdom not many years later (Acts 12:2). Suffering is the unavoidable doorway to glory, for Jesus’ disciples as for himself (see Luke 24:26). Yet to assign the seating at his right or left in glory is the Father’s prerogative alone.
10:41–44 Understandably, the other ten disciples are indignant, perhaps because they too want to be VIPs in the kingdom and are annoyed that others have upstaged them. Jesus patiently takes the occasion for another lesson in discipleship, explaining in different terms what he has said before (9:35; 10:15). In the ancient world, as today, authority is naturally assumed to entail perks and benefits for those who wield it, and the powerful often enjoy throwing their weight around. But Jesus’ command is stark: It shall not be so among you. His disciples are to display a radical and countercultural attitude toward leadership. There is no place for self-promotion, rivalry, or domineering conduct among them. Jesus does not deny that there will be offices of authority in the community he is establishing, the Church. Nor does he reject the aspiration to greatness that lies deep in the human heart. Rather, he reveals that the only way to greatness, paradoxically, is by imitating him in his humble, self-emptying love. The whole mentality on which Church leadership is exercised must be that of service (diakonia), acting entirely for the benefit of others, putting oneself at their disposal, caring for their humblest needs (see John 13:14; Phil 2:3–4). A slave can be called on to perform the most menial tasks, such as washing feet or waiting at table. To be a “slave of all” is an incredibly tall order. St. Paul often characterizes his own apostleship as being a slave of those to whom he ministered (1 Cor 9:19; 2 Cor 4:5).
Jesus Died for All
The Catechism teaches: Jesus “affirms that he came ‘to give his life as a ransom for many’; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us. The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception. ‘There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer’ ” (605, quoting the Council of Quiercy).
10:45 The passage concludes with one of the most important sayings in the Gospel, summing up the purpose of Jesus’ messianic mission: For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus’ own coming into the world (see 1:38; 2:17) was not for the sake of any advantage to himself, but only to serve his heavenly Father and all men and women. Here he explains that this service entails giving up his life as a ransom. The idea of a ransom expresses a price that is paid on someone’s behalf; for instance, to free a slave (Lev 25:51) or to save someone whose life is in jeopardy (Exod 21:30). God is often said in the Old Testament to have ransomed his people from slavery in Egypt or exile in Babylon (Deut 7:8; Isa 35:10), and the Jewish hope was that God would definitively ransom his people from sin and death (Ps 130:7; Isa 59:20; Hosea 13:14; Luke 24:21). The Old Testament never clarifies how God could be said to “pay a price” for his people; only in the passion of his Son does the price become clear. “For” many can mean both “in place of” and “on behalf of” many. Though we have nothing to give in exchange for our life (Mark 8:37), Jesus can give his own life, a gift of infinite value, in exchange for us. “Many” is not intended to exclude some, as if Jesus did not die for all (Christ “gave himself as ransom for all”; 1 Tim 2:6); it is a Hebrew way of expressing a vast multitude. The saying alludes to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah (Isa 52:13–53:12), who “gives his life” as an offering for sin—that is, a sacrifice that atones for sin—on behalf of “many.” St. Paul further developed this insight into the meaning of Jesus’ passion (Rom 3:24; 1 Cor 7:23; Gal 3:13; 1 Tim 2:6), which became a crucial part of the Church’s theology of redemption.
Reflection and Application (10:35–45)
This episode, in which Jesus extends to his disciples the privilege of drinking the cup he will drink, is part of the foundation for the Church’s teaching on redemptive suffering (Catechism, 618). St. Paul experienced to a profound degree this reality of sharing in Christ’s passion, and reflected on it theologically in his letters. As ambassadors of Christ, Paul wrote, he and his coworkers “are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor 4:11; see Gal 6:17). Paul could even say, “In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24). Our bodies, by being joined to the body of Christ, can be transformed into instruments of redemptive grace. Our sufferings, willingly united with his, become in a mysterious but real way the means of grace for others. This principle was given eloquent expression by a contemporary martyr, Fr. Andrea Santoro, an Italian priest who was assassinated in Turkey in 2006. Shortly before he died, Fr. Santoro wrote, “I am here to dwell among these people and enable Jesus to do so by lending him my flesh.… One becomes capable of salvation only by offering one’s own flesh. The evil in the world must be borne and the pain shared, assimilating it into one’s own flesh as did Jesus.”[1]
The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus (10:46–52)
46They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. 47On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” 48And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” 49Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, he is calling you.” 50He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. 51Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” 52Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
OT: Isa 29:18; 35:5
NT: Matt 9:27–31; Eph 1:18. // Matt 20:29–34; Luke 18:35–43
Catechism: Jesus hears our prayer, 2616; signs of the kingdom, 547–50
Lectionary: Anointing of the Sick
The beginning of the journey toward Jerusalem was preceded by the gradual healing of a blind man at Bethsaida (8:22–26). Now at the end of the journey, just before the entrance into Jerusalem, is another healing of a blind man—this time instantaneous and complete. Mark has framed the journey in this way to symbolize that it has been all about the healing of the disciples’ spiritual blindness. Although Jesus has been teaching them all along “the way,” at this point their vision is still only partial; they do not yet grasp who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. Only after the resurrection will their eyes be fully opened.
10:46 Jesus and his companions arrive at Jericho, an ancient city fifteen miles northeast of Jerusalem, the site of Israel’s first conquest in the holy land (Josh 6). After passing through the city, they are accompanied by a sizable crowd, probably including both Jesus’ followers and pilgrims heading toward Jerusalem for the feast of Passover (Mark 14:1). Every year all Jews in Palestine who were able would travel to the holy city to celebrate Passover (see Luke 2:41), commemorating the exodus from Egypt. Bartimaeus (Aramaic for son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, is strategically located at the roadside where he can beg for alms from passing pilgrims. In contrast to the festive crowds walking along, he sits, emphasizing his social isolation as a disabled person.
The Oldest City in the World
Jericho, at 850 feet below sea level, has the distinction of being both the lowest and the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It was built at the site of a freshwater spring in the Jordan River valley, a few miles north of the Dead Sea. Archaeologists have unearthed there the remains of settlements dating back to 8000 BC. Jericho is most famous for being the Israelites’ first conquest in the promised land nearly seven thousand years later. The book of Joshua recounts how the Israelites, led by Joshua, conquered the city by God’s power after a seven-day liturgical march in which the Ark of the Covenant was carried around the city in procession with horns blowing and finally a jubilant shout (Josh 6).
The Jesus Prayer
As the Catechism points out (2616), the urgent plea of the blind man, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me,” is renewed in the traditional prayer known as the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” This prayer, prayed unceasingly throughout the day, sometimes in rhythm with breathing, is especially cherished in Eastern Christian spirituality.
10:47 Sensing something unusual, Bartimaeus inquires and is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He has evidently heard enough about this miracle-working rabbi to stir his faith. Bartimaeus is the only recipient of healing in Mark to address Jesus by name. This is also the first time in the Gospel that the title son of David has been applied to Jesus.[2] The title literally means a descendant of David (see Matt 1:20), but for the Jews it had much greater meaning as the heir of God’s promises, the Messiah-King who would restore the Davidic monarchy and rule over Israel forever (2 Sam 7:12–16; 1 Chron 17:11–15; Ps 89:21–38; Jer 23:5–6). Moreover, one of the promises associated with the coming of the messiah was the opening of the eyes of the blind (see Isa 29:18; 35:5; Luke 4:18). Have pity on me is a plea often lifted to God in the Psalms (Ps 6:3; 25:16; 51:3; 86:16). Blind Bartimaeus already sees much more than those around him.
10:48 Yet as often happens (2:4; 7:27; 10:13) there are impediments in the way of coming to Jesus: many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. Perhaps there is a quiet solemnity to Jesus’ procession out of Jericho, and the blind man seems to be making an unseemly commotion. But it is a callous reaction, given Jesus’ many works of healing. Those following Jesus have not yet learned to bring people to him instead of sending them away (see 6:36). But Bartimaeus is undaunted by this public reprimand. Like the Syrophoenician woman (7:25–29), his determination is only toughened in the face of an obstacle. And Jesus cannot refuse such bold, exuberant faith, even when it interrupts his messianic journey. He is totally accessible: “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved” (Joel 3:5; Acts 2:21). It is the first time that Jesus allows a public acclamation of his messianic identity. Up to this point it has been a secret (Mark 8:30), but now that the fulfillment of his mission as suffering Messiah is near, the time has come when it can be openly revealed. “Nothing is secret except to come to light” (4:22).
10:49–50 Instead of calling the man himself, Jesus asks those around him to reverse their previous stance: Call him. Ironically, they now reassure the blind man, Take courage; get up, he is calling you—as if Bartimaeus were the one needing encouragement. His response is a model of enthusiastic and decisive faith: he sprang up, and came to Jesus. To cast off his cloak symbolizes his leaving behind his former life, as Christians are called to put off the old nature at baptism and throughout their life (Rom 13:12; Eph 4:22; Col 3:8–9; Heb 12:1).
10:51–52 Jesus asks the same thing he had just asked James and John (10:36), challenging Bartimaeus to express his faith in concrete form. Unlike the sons of Zebedee, Bartimaeus does not ask for any special honor for himself, but only the restoration to wholeness that is part of God’s messianic promise. Jesus replies as he had to the hemorrhaging woman (5:34), Go your way; your faith has saved you. The man’s faith is his absolute confidence in God’s power to do the “impossible” through Jesus (10:27). The Greek verb sōzō, meaning both “heal” and “save,” calls to mind the eternal salvation of which Jesus has been speaking along the way (8:35; 10:26, 30).
Bartimaeus is healed physically, but even more, the eyes of his heart are enlightened (see Eph 1:18)—an image of what happens to every Christian at baptism. He demonstrates the perfect response to being healed: he follows Jesus on the way of discipleship (Mark 10:52), the way through Jesus’ passion and death to the resurrection and eternal life. Bartimaeus is the only recipient of healing whose name is recorded by Mark, suggesting that he became a disciple and was known in the early Church.