Mark 10:1-45

The Mission in Judaea - Jesus Pronounces on Divorce, On Entry Under the Kingly Rule of God, on The Dangers of Riches and on the Requirement of Becoming a Servant As He Has Done (10:1-45).

Jesus now begins His ministry in Judaea. Each of the pronouncements that follow continue the theme of the teaching of Jesus, and bring out more about Jesus and His Lordship. His pronouncement on divorce overturned the teaching of the Rabbis and stressed the permanence of marriage and His call to a new beginning, His pronouncement on little children and on the Kingly Rule of God excluded wide numbers who thought themselves candidates for that Kingly Rule, for it demonstrated that their attitude of heart was wrong, His pronouncement on riches turned men's thinking upside down, making following Him more important than riches and prestige, and His call to servanthood demonstrated a wholly new way of thinking. Only One Who was unique could have made such demands.

Analysis.

a Jesus declares that under the Kingly Rule of God there will be a new beginning. Man must turn back from his old ways to how things were before the fall and recognise the total commitment and indissolubility of marriage. Anything less is contrary to God's will and is an act of disobedience, thus divorce is forbidden (Mark 10:1).

b Children must not be turned away because those who do not receive the Kingly Rule of God like a little child will not enter it (Mark 10:13).

c A rich man approaches Jesus seeking eternal life, and learns that in order to receive it he must sell all his possessions and follow Jesus. This is the new way of the Kingly Rule of God (Mark 10:17).

d Jesus declares the impossibility of men entering the Kingly Rule of God and being saved by their own actions (Mark 10:23).

c Jesus declares that all who have truly followed Him and ‘for His sake and the Gospel's' (that is for His sake and for the sake of the Kingly Rule of God - see Mark 1:14) have eschewed home, family will inherit a hundred times as much in this life and eternal life in the next (Mark 10:28)

b Jesus Himself will be turned away and will be rejected, arrested, sentenced and executed by those who will not receive the Kingly Rule of God, but He will rise again (Mark 10:32).

a The disciples reveal that they are still operating under the old ways, and are shown that honour cannot be obtained by seeking it in false ways, but is totally dependent on the will of God, and are shown their need of redemption to a new sense of service and obedience in accordance with the principles of the Kingly Rule of God, because the Son of Man will give His life instead of many (Mark 10:35).

Note that in ‘a' the call is to return under the Kingly Rule of God to man's state of innocence as in ‘the beginning' before the fall, and in the parallel the same call demands that they take the position of servant's as He has, as they experience His redemptive work under the Kingly Rule of God. In ‘b' not even the least is to be rejected, for the Kingly Rule of God is made up of those who seek it like little children, and in the parallel we have the picture of those who do reject it because, being as little like little children as it is possible to be, they reject Him and seek His death. In ‘c' a rich man refuses eternal life because he will not forsake all and follow Jesus, and in the parallel those who do so reveal themselves as inheritors of eternal life. Centrally in ‘d' is the impossibility of men entering the Kingly Rule of God through their own actions.