Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time
17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
A Mother’s Request
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Two Blind Men Receive Sight
29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”
34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Jesus once again lays out the plan for His disciples. He tells them what's going to happen, and it must happen that way to fulfill prophecy.
Obviously they (along with almost all Jews of the time) had forgotten some of their OT scripture - they were looking for a lion, not realizing their need for a lamb.
MacArthur...
Zechariah 9:9 says that He would enter into Jerusalem. Psalm 2, that He would know the fury and rage of His enemies. Zechariah 13:7, that He would be deserted by His friends. Zechariah 11:12, that His betrayal would be for 30 pieces of silver. Psalm 22:16, that He would be pierced on the cross. Exodus 12:46, that none of His bones would be broken, also Psalm 34:20. Psalm 22:18 says that His garments will be parted by casting of lots. Psalm 69:21 says He'll be given vinegar to drink. Psalm 22:1, He will cry out in the pain of distress. Psalm 22:31 that He will cry out the victory cry, "It is finished." Zechariah 12:10 says they'll pierce Him with a sphere. And Psalm 16:10, that He will rise from the dead. Psalm 1..10:1 even says He'll ascend into heaven.
All of those things are part of the Old Testament prophets. And you want a piece by piece detailed description of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in minute detail, you read Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and Zechariah's prophecy and you'll have there explicitly a description of all the details of our Lord's death on the cross. So when He's going to Jerusalem, He is on schedule, on target, on plan, no deviation at all.
The whole OT is filled with types, pictures and direct predictions of the cross.
Right from the get go - Adam & Eve's sin results in guilt, shame and separation, and their nakedness is covered by animal skins - a sacrifice.
The story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac (trusting that God would raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill His promise) reveals the fact that God would provide a substitute.
We see in the Passover that sin has to dealt with with an unblemished sacrificial lamb.
From the focus of sacrifice in the Mosaic law we see that there can be no worship of God without sacrifice.
So, God had to provide then a sacrifice to cover sin, who was a substitute, who was unblemished, who could redeem His people and provide the kind of sacrifice that could open up the way of worship forever. And that's why, you see, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent and the sacrificial system was over because He was the one final sacrifice that created an openness to God from which we could worship from then on without ever having to offer another sacrifice.
Jesus had to offered as that sacrifice. He had to suffer. There was simply no other way. But He did promise to rise again.
And how do the disciples react? By wanting to be the greatest. Really? How did they not want to ask more questions about His resurrection especially?! They just couldn't get it - they were confused and bewildered - until Pentecost.
And so, once again, Jesus teaches them that those who desire greatness need to be the humblest. Willing to be a servant. Willing to be a slave. And we don't get the ramifications of that any more in this society because we don't have slaves. But they sure got it. Humbleness is the prerequisite to greatness.
And Jesus is the perfect example of this.
Now, beloved, because of what He did, Philippians 2 which is the commentary on this passage says God has highly...what? Exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God. Now what happened was because He was so humbled and because He offered Himself in selfless service, God so highly exalted Him. It is proportionate. In proportion to His humility is His glory. And that is the principle you must learn. Greatness in the Kingdom, capacity for glory in the Kingdom is in direct proportion to humility and selfless service rendered.
Simple and yet profound truth. And if your spiritual life is on target, then you will seek that eternal weight of glory and you will desire it with all your heart which will cause you to serve Christ with a whole heart and to take the path even though it means pain or suffering that brings about that eternal weight of glory.
Couple quick thoughts about the healing of the blind men...They asked for mercy. There is no merit in mercy. By it's very definition, mercy is something you receive even though you don't deserve it. And the blind men were asking for mercy, demonstrating their recognition that they had no merit by which to come to Jesus - and that's exactly where Jesus wants us. When we recognize our spiritual blindness and our lack of merit, and cry out to Jesus begging for mercy - He will have compassion on us and He will save us.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 21:1-17
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