Mark 10: “What Do You Want Me to Do for You?”

Today’s reading is Mark 10.

I recently noticed something in this chapter for the first time. I don’t know how many times I’ve read this and missed it. When Bartimaeus comes up to Jesus, Jesus asks him the same question He had asked James and John.

What do you want me to do for you?
–Mark 10:36, 51 (ESV)

He grants Bartimaeus’s request, He chastises James and John’s.

In the larger block of Mark, we need to pick up on this. In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus healed the blind man in Bethsaida in two stages. Immediately following, we see Peter spiritually half blind. He sees Jesus, but not clearly. So he confess Jesus as Christ, but has no idea what that means. He can’t imagine the Christ as a sacrifice. Multiple events occur over the next couple chapters in which the disciples fail to cast out a demon, argue about who is the greatest, rebuke the children. Then James and John come with a special request. Jesus asks them “What do you want me to do for you?” And they make the wrong request.

Like Peter, they still don’t get it. Jesus has just foretold His coming death and resurrection. They still don’t understand it. Instead of asking for understanding, they ask for prominence. Right before healing the blind man in Bethsaida, Jesus had even rebuked the apostles asking them, “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” (Mark 8:18, ESV). When Jesus asked James and John, “What do you want me to do for you?”–the same question He asked blind Bartimaeus–they should have had the same response as blind Bartimaeus: “Rabbi, make us see.”

Jesus comes to us and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” May we respond correctly: “Give us eyes to see. Give us ears to hear. Give us hearts to understand. Give us minds to perceive. You are the teacher who sees, let us see that we may not fall into the pit, but have everlasting life.”

What do you want from Jesus?

Next week’s reading is Mark 11.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from Mark 10?

Mark 4: Pay Attention to What You Hear

Today’s reading is Mark 4.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

What an odd thing to say. Doesn’t everyone have ears? Yes. And No. Jesus was not distinguishing between those who could audibly hear and those who were deaf. He was actually bringing back into mind that reference He made to Isaiah 6. Some people will see, but not perceive. They will hear, but not understand. “Don’t just hear,” Jesus says. “Understand!” Don’t just let the words audibly enter your ears. Don’t just read the words on the page. Recognize they mean things. Recognize they have consequences. Recognize they should impact us and change us.

Therefore, we need to pay attention to what we hear. Literally, Jesus commands us to “See what you hear.” Even in this command He uses forms of the words in His reference to Isaiah 6: “See,” “Hear.”

Be careful how you look, be careful how you hear. Take pains with. Take care with it. Pay attention to what you are doing. Don’t be careless and reckless. Don’t think because you’ve read through some passage and had some initial thoughts you’ve figured out or understood what the teaching is.

Observe as you read Scripture and as you listen to it being taught. How much care should you take? How much observing should you do? That depends on how much you want to get out of it. The measure you use in your observation, your meditation, your rumination will be the measure you receive in your understanding. In fact, when you take pains and take care to observe and pay attention to your looking and listening to God’s Word, He will multiply the effectiveness of the work you are putting into it. He will measure back to you according to the measure you supply and will add even more.

However, if you decide a cursory listen, a once over, a quick read, a reliance on first impressions is plenty, even what you have will be taken away. That is, even the understanding you have now will be destroyed as your misunderstandings mount up and attack foundations of understanding which once were laid within you.

Jesus is the light. We don’t put Him under a basket. Rather, we lift Him and His Word up for all to see and hear. But let us be certain to listen. To listen carefully. To listen with a view to application and transformation.

In fact, when I listen but without the care and attention to understand, I won’t find forgiveness. That sounds a lot like what Jesus said about the person who committed blasphemy of the Holy Spirit back in Mark 3:28-29, doesn’t it? When I refuse to listen to the truth revealed by God, when I refuse to listen carefully, that’s when I won’t be forgiven. That is when I’m blaspheming God’s Spirit.

Listen up! Pay attention! God will be with you if you do.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 4.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Mark 4 prompt or improve your trust in God?