Mark Chapter 10
Read 1 and 2 . The Pharisees were looking for a reason to criticise Jesus. If Jesus says divorce is OK, then they will say that Jesus does not respect marriage. If Jesus says divorce is not OK, then they will say that Jesus does not respect the Law.
Read 3 and 4 . The law about divorse written by Moses is found in Deuteronomy 24 : 1 .
Read 5 through 9 . Here Jesus quotes from Genesis 2 : 24 . Jesus says that people should not divorce, but people do divirce because sin is in the world.
Read 10 to 12 . In Exodus 20 : 14 , God tells us that we must be faithful to our husband or wife and not cheat someone of the other sex. The word ” adultery ” means to treat the other person unfairly. Here Jesus says that if we divorce someone in order to marry another, then we are breaking the command of Exodud 20 : 14 .
Read 13 and 14 : Jesus receives children. For this reason, we can bring children to be baptized.
Read 15 and 16 . A child knows he is weak, so he trusts his parents and God, who are stronger. There are many things a child does not know, so he relies on the greater wisdom of his parents and of God. In the same way, for us to believe in God means that we rely on him for his strength and wisdom. If we rely on our own strength or our own wisdom, we do not really have faith.
Read 17 to 22 . Jesus wanted to help this man. Jesus told him to donate his resources to the poor. The man did not want to. From this, the man should have seen that he was a sinner, because he was selfish and he did not care about the poor. But the man was not willing to admit his sin. Instead, he went away and did not receive Jesus’ help.
Read 25 to 27 . A camel is big ; a needle is small. It is impossible for a camel to go through. By this comparison, Jesus emphasises his point that rich people are not necessarily close to God. The disciples have the wrong idea. They think, even if a rich person cannot be close to God , then it must be even more difficult for the poor person to be close to god. But Jesus makes the point that only God can change the hearts of people, no matter whether they are rich or poor.
Read 28 . Peter’s comment shows that he did not understand faith very well. Peter compared himself to the man who had just left. Peter thought : I must be closer to God than that man was, because I do not realize that everyone has some kind of sin. In Mark 14 : 71 , we can see that Peter is full of pride. In Mark 14 : 71 , Peter tells a lie : he says he does not know Jesus, because he is not willing to take the chance that people will arrest him.
Read 29 and 30 . Jesus promises blessings to those who must give up things in order to do what Jesus wants them to do. Jesus also says that it will be normal for his followers to be persecuted.
Read 31 . People that we think are important now will not be important in heaven. There are some people that we think are not important, but in heaven we shall understand that they did many things for God and they will be honored for their faithfulness.
Read 32 to 34 . Jesus knew that he would be killed, but he was still willing to go to Jerusalem, the place where his enemies were waiting for him. Jesus was willing to be killed, because he knew this was the only way that our sins could be paid for, so that we can be close to God.
Read 35 . Zebedee is the name of the father of these disciples.
Read 36 and 37 . James and John will also suffer.
Read 40 . God the Father will decide who has the honored and important places in heaven.
Read 41 . The other disciples noticed that James and John had too much pride, so they looked down on them.
Read 42 to 44 . In usual human life, a person who has a high position will force other people to obey him. But in God’s kingdom, a person who serves other people is the person is the person who has a high position.
Read 45 . Jesus has the highest position in the Universe, but even he did not force others to obey him. He served others. We are not as highh as Jesus, so certainly we have no excuse to avoid serving others.
Read 46 . Jericho is east of Jersusalem, near the River Jordan. The word ” bar ” means ” son” , so that is why Bartimaeus means ” son of Timaeus ” . Usually the Bible does not tell us the names of the people whom Jesus healed. Maybe the name is mentioned this time because it is someone that many people in the early church knew personally. At any rate, by including the name, Mark wants us to know that heis writing about something that really happened, not a myth.
Read 47 . Jesus is called the ” Nazarene ” because his home town was called Nazareth. When the blind man called him ” Son of David “, that means the blind man believed that Jesus was the Messiah, because the Messiah was a descendant of David. When the blind man said ” have mercy “, that means he believed that Psalm 2 said about the Messiah : the messiah is God the Son.
Read 48 to 51 . In verse 51, the blind man calls Jesus by a Hebrew which means ” teacher ” .
Read 52 . Because the blind man trusted in Jesus, therefore he received help from Jesus. By writing this sentence, Mark is encouraging us to trust in Jesus, so we can receive help.
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