Mark 10:41-45 - Ransomed

Chad Werkhoven
5 days ago
6 min read

You've been bought at a price by the One who came to serve.

Text on a beige background reads: "TO GIVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM MARK 10:45" in colorful, cut-out style letters.

Mark 10:41-45 (NIV)

CONTEXT: Two of Jesus' disciples, James and John, had asked Jesus for the honor of sitting right next to Jesus in His glory. Jesus turns them down, and it doesn't take long for the other ten disciples to hear about this audacious request. If possible, read this passage in a printed Bible, looking at what came before and right after it for the full context.

41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 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. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Article 2: The Satisfaction Made by Christ

Since, however,
1. we ourselves cannot give this satisfaction [required by God's justice]
2. or deliver ourselves from God’s wrath,
3. God in boundless mercy has given us as a guarantee
  1. his only begotten Son,
  2. who was made to be sin and a curse for us,
    1. in our place, on the cross,
    2. in order that he might make satisfaction for us.

Summary

You can imagine the tension hanging over the group as James and John returned to the group after their selfish attempt to secure the highest places of honor from Jesus. Mark captures it well - the other ten were indignant. Maybe harsh words were muttered, or maybe it was just their silent but piercing glances at those two jerks who tried to make themselves the most important.

Mark doesn't tell us, but it's a safe guess that they weren't just mad at these fellas tried and failed, but they were jealous, because deep down they all wanted those spots next to Jesus for themselves. James & John's misguided power play and the indignation of the other ten really get at the foundation of sin: wanting to lord it over others.

Jesus doesn't let things fester. He immediately puts an end to it all, calling them together and turning the unfortunate episode into a teaching moment. Don't be like the rulers of the Gentiles and high officials (literally: the great ones), Jesus explains. He goes on to turn conventional wisdom on its top: whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

Digital Bibles are a convenient and powerful tool for looking up and reading passages. But today's passage is a great example of why you shouldn't shelve your printed Bible. Notice the surrounding passages: Jesus welcomes children, sends away the rich man who won't give up his stuff, and explains to His disciples for the third time that He must die. And now He tells them that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. In the passages that follow, Jesus gives sight to a blind man and then enters Jerusalem as the servant King.

Dig Deeper

It's the last few words of Jesus' mission that grab our attention today. Jesus came to serve by giving His life as a ransom for many. We often associate the word ransom with the price paid to free a captive, which certainly fits what Jesus did for us. But in Jesus' day and age, the word would have been more commonly used to refer to the price required for a slave to redeem himself - that is, to buy his freedom.

This is one of the key things the Bible wants you to understand about yourself: You weren't just held captive by sin, as if you were tied up in the back room just waiting for your rescuer to arrive and pay the ransom. Rather, you were enslaved to it, mindlessly doing its bidding with no realistic hope of ever scrounging up enough to redeem yourself.

But this is exactly why Jesus came: to become your ransom - to pay the price of redemption that set you free from your slavery to sin. Jesus didn't enter Jerusalem as a King in order to gain the type of selfish glory the disciples so badly wanted, but rather to, as the Canons put it, make satisfaction for us.

Although you've been set free from slavery to sin, you're not really set free as if now nobody else has a claim on you. Rather, you now belong to the One who ransomed you - the One who redeemed (purchased) you. But His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He simply wants you to act like Him; not to be served, but to serve.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who sent His Son to give His life as a ransom for many;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will seek to serve rather than to be served;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: