Mark 10 reminds me of gravitating toward friends with great parents. I think I just liked to observe. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a mom and dad that are fully present in their home. Young people raised with two parents are significantly less likely to end up in poverty, in jail or involved with drugs. Today’s chapter looks at God’s best. The chapter begins with religious leaders trying to test Jesus. Many do not ask to understand, but they ask with an agenda. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Jesus asked them what the Law said; and they responded that divorce was “permitted”. Jesus’ answer focused on attitude, noting it was allowed because of the hardness of the human heart. Exercising Rights without Responsibilities can sometimes be selfish. He referenced the origin of marriage given in Genesis, “God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate”. Permanence and intimacy are the result of commitment, not the other way around. Marriage is much more than a legal contract, or religious ceremony, marriage is a picture of permanently joining into an unbreakable bond with God. See Deuteronomy 24 for more details, but divorce was given as an option for protection. It is messy and painful and never to be taken lightly, because God is serious about His symbols.
Next we see Jesus again breaking with tradition in welcoming children. “Let the little children come to Me”. Children have an amazing capacity to learn, explore and trust. I remember my own children leaping toward me while yelling “catch me!” They had no back up plan. Jesus continued, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”. Adults want conditions, warrantees and easy-out options. Faith sometimes requires leaping into God’s loving arms with no contingency plan.
The chapter closes with 3 examples for adults seeking fulfillment. First a man ran up to Jesus and fell to his knees and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This guy appears to be a man of action, but he understood you cannot earn inheritance. Jesus told the man to follow the 10 commandments. The man said, “All these I have kept since I was a boy”. Then, “Jesus looked at him and loved him” and added, “One thing you lack”. I believe He was very specifically talking to this man; “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me”. Apparently his possessions were keeping him from God’s love. “He went away sad”. Friend, what is hindering you? Next James and John, audaciously asked Jesus to allow them to “sit at Your right and… at Your left in Your glory”. They were asking to be made the leaders in the new kingdom. Jesus set them straight, “rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them… Not so with you”. The leaders in most organizations become distant from their clients, but within the church it is a mistake for leaders to be above ministry. He said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many”. People are God’s priority. Finally we read of a blind man, who upon hearing Jesus approaching began shamelessly shouting “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He would not shut up. Jesus asked to have the man brought to Him and asked what he wanted. He said simply, “Rabbi, I want to see”. Of all the possible prayers, perhaps this is the best. Do you want to see where you are spiritually? My friend, is it time to spend more time with your Heavenly Father? You might just learn a thing or two.