In this last passage before Jesus entered Jerusalem Mark is providing us with insights from Jesus to help us understand the meaning of what will happen in Jerusalem, Gethsemane, Golgotha, and the Garden Tomb. The heart of our faith is in these places.
Isaiah, in chapters 40-55, presents the Messiah of God who suffers and dies for the sins of Israel and the world. Mark’s account uses Isaiah’s words to make clear that Jesus is the Messiah. It is impossible to embrace the Christian faith apart from the cross and it is impossible to embrace the cross without embracing the resurrection. However, neither makes sense apart from understanding Jesus as God’s Messiah. God sent his Messiah to announce the time of the Lord’s favor has come. God’s favor, or God’s Kingdom, reorders the lives of individuals as well as society.
In the dialog following Jesus’ prediction of his death, Jesus makes clear that the cross and resurrection are the means God’s uses to not only provide for the forgiveness of our sins, but also for reordering the world. Sometimes Christians think of the cross and resurrection in terms of “Christ died for me, for my salvation.” Yes, Christ died and rose again for us as individuals. He also died and rose again to make it possible for his followers to change the world. This is not either /or. It is both / and. One cannot authentically exist without the other.
We all have blind spots in our lives, places where we are still caught up in self-centeredness. Blind Bartimaeus believed Jesus was the Messiah, that’s why he called out to Jesus as Son of David. Bartimaeus knew Jesus could heal his condition. Jesus affirmed his faith and Bartimaeus left his blindness behind him as he followed Jesus to Jerusalem.
Jesus is passing by you today. Do you have faith that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to make you whole and through you to make the world right?
Jesus is asking you “What do you want me to do for you?”
Will you tell him?
When you hear him say, “Your faith has healed you” will you follow Jesus? Even to Gethsemane?
Will you witness to the love of God in this world so that those to whom God is a stranger will find in you a generous friend?
What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?
9-Nov-11 Mark 11:1-26
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