Mark 10
Divorce
10:1 Then Jesus left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan River. Again crowds gathered to him, and again, as was his custom, he taught them.
Jesus traveled beyond the Jordan River to Perea. Crowds followed Him everywhere. They were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus taught them deep spiritual truths.
10:2 Then some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
The Passover lamb must be tested to make sure that he was spotless and without blemish. Jesus is the Passover Lamb. The Jewish religious leaders tested Jesus, attempting to prove that He was not the Son of Man.
The Pharisees asked Jesus a question about divorce. There were two rabbinic views on divorce. The Shammai group allowed divorce only if a wife was guilty of immorality. The Hillel group allowed a husband to divorce his wife for almost any reason (cf. Mishnah Gittin 9. 10), including the burning of bread.
This question was perhaps an attempt to discredit Jesus and split His followers. Herod Antipas divorced his wife, so possibly they thought that Jesus would anger Kind Herod. Herod beheaded John the Baptist for his Biblical views on divorce.
10:3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”
Jesus did not appeal to either Rabbi Shammai or Rabbi Hillel. He went back to the written text of Moses.
10:4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.”
The Mosaic Law, given by God and written down by Moses, allowed divorce in certain situations.
10:5 But Jesus said to them, “He wrote this commandment for you because of your hard hearts.
Man was not going to keep the commandments that God gave, but Moses wrote down the Law anyway.
10:6 But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female.
Jesus disagrees with modern scientists, evolutionists, homosexuals, lesbians, and feminists. Man and woman were created in the beginning as special creations of God.
10:7 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother,
Husband and wife were to leave their parents and begin a new home.
10:8 and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Man and woman are one flesh. They are both working together for God’s kingdom.
10:9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
According to the decreed will of God, husband and wife were not ever to divorce. This was a radical statement during the time of the Roman Empire. Everyone divorced, remarried, possessed multiple wives, possessed concubines, visited the prostitution temples, and even possessed a homo-sexual lover.
10:10 In the house once again, the disciples asked him about this.
The disciples wanted more detailed information on this radical teaching about divorce.
10:11 So he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
According to Jesus, if a man divorces his wife and marries another, then he is guilty of adultery. Adultery was a capital offense under the Mosaic Law. It was death by stoning.
10:12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
If the wife divorced her husband and married another man, then she was guilty of adultery. The other gospel authors gave more specific information about divorce in the other gospels.
Jesus and Little Children
10:13 Now people were bringing little children to him for him to touch, but the disciples scolded those who brought them.
The disciples scolded the parents for bringing the little children to Jesus.
10:14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
More children have died before the age of nine years old than people who have ever lived. The kingdom of God is full of children who have been aborted, died as infants, and died young deaths. If the age of accountability is around 20 years old, then many of the children who have been drafted and sent to die in wars will also be in heaven.
10:15 I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
A child trusts their parents. Believers are the children of God. They are to trust their heavenly Father just as a child trusts his earthly father.
10:16 After he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on them and blessed them.
While the satanic world system curses, abuses, aborts, and drafts the children, Jesus did the opposite and blessed the children.
The Rich Man
10:17 Now as Jesus was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Notice that the young man did not call Jesus “Lord”.
10:18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Man is totally depraved and evil. “There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands God, There is no one who seeks God.” (Romans 3:10-11) Only God alone is good. If Jesus was a good teacher, then the young man needs to call Jesus “Lord” or “God”.
10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
Jesus listed the six commandments that deal with man’s relationship to a holy God.
10:20 The man said to him, “Teacher, I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.”
The young man claimed that he kept all of these laws.
10:21 As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Jesus asked the man to sell everything that he had. After that, he was to follow Jesus.
10:22 But at this statement, the man looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.
The young man would not give up his wealth for Jesus.
10:23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
Wealthy men were very much respected in the Roman world. Jesus declared that it was very difficult for a wealthy man to enter into heaven.
10:24 The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
The satanic world system teaches that God blesses the rich in material blessings. The eastern religions claim that the rich and wealthy are reincarnated righteous men from previous lives. The European kings taught that they were wealthy and powerful by divine right. The Pharaohs taught that they were gods on earth. The modern day prosperity teachers teach that one can gain wealth by giving money to their cause. The Mosaic Law promised prosperity to Israel as a nation if they were obedient to the Law. This was a difficult concept for the disciples to grasp.
10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Liberals claim that Jesus was talking about an actual camel fitting under a low gate, which was called the eye of a needle. This is spiritualizing the passage to make it fit the liberal’s own personal theology. Luke used the Greek word for a surgeon’s needle . Taken literally, Jesus claimed that unless a camel can pass through the eye of a surgeon’s needle, then a rich man cannot get into heaven.
10:26 They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”
The disciples understood the metaphor. A camel cannot fit through the eye of a surgeon’s needle, so no rich man could be saved.
10:27 Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but not for God; all things are possible for God.”
Salvation is impossible for all men, unless God interacts and opens up the eyes so that man can see, hear, and understand the gospel message.
10:28 Peter began to speak to him, “Look, we have left everything to follow you!”
Peter was telling the truth. He left a prosperous fishing industry to follow Jesus. Matthew left a prosperous tax collecting business to follow Jesus. The other disciples left their prosperous businesses as well.
10:29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel.
All of the disciples of Jesus had left their homes and families to follow Jesus. Following Jesus is more important than even family ties.
10:30 who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much – homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life.
Everyone who left their family will gain a hundred times greater blessings in eternity.
10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Rewards in God’s kingdom are not based upon earthly standards, such as firstborn, race, rank, priority, time served, personal merit, or sacrifice. The only basis for rewards is on commitment to the task that Jesus assigned to the believer.
Third Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
10:32 They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was going ahead of them, and they were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him.
Jesus was headed to Jerusalem to die on the cross.
10:33 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles. 10:34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him severely, and kill him. Yet after three days, he will rise again.”
For the third time, Jesus predicted His crucifixion and resurrection.
The Request of James and John
10:35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
James and John asked Jesus for a special favor.
10:36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Jesus is omniscient. He knew what they were going to ask.
10:37 They said to him, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.”
James and John wanted to sit next to Jesus during the Millennial Kingdom.
10:38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?”
The cup of baptism was martyrdom.
10:39 They said to him, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I experience,
James was martyred and John was exiled. John may have been physically martyred as well.
10:40 but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Thrones in heaven are given to believers not by ambition, but by God’s sovereignty.
10:41 Now when the other ten heard this, they became angry with James and John.
The other ten disciples were angry at this ambitious move of James and John.
10:42 Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them.
Gentile rulers are programmed by the satanic world system. Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, and Herod the Great were all conquerors, thieves, rapists, and killers. They killed, stole, and raped their way to what the Gentiles call “greatness”. This is human viewpoint and its teaching is prevalent in secular history textbooks.
10:43 But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,
Jesus possessed a different view of greatness. Great people are those who serve Christ by serving others.
10:44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all.
Whoever wants to be the greatest leader must be the greatest servant of all. This was radical thinking for those living in the Roman Empire.
10:45 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.”
Jesus was the example. He was the Creator God of the universe, yet He used His omnipotence and omnipresence to serve others. He made His own life a ransom for many.
Healing Blind Bartimaeus
10:46 They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.
Matthew mentioned that there were two blind beggars, but Mark and Luke concentrate on the more vocal beggar.
10:47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The Son of David was a messianic title. The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would heal the blind.
10:48 Many scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The people told the blind beggars to remain silent.
10:49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.”
There were always large crowds around Jesus. The Messiah called the blind beggars to Him.
10:50 He threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
The cloak was the bed and quilt of the homeless.
10:51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, let me see again.”
Jesus knew the answer, but He wanted to build a relationship with His people.
10:52 Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the road.
Healing the blind was a messianic miracle in which the Jewish leaders refused to recognize, even though they themselves taught that the Messiah would heal the blind.