Ransom for Many

Christ’s disciples are called to self-sacrificial service for others just as Jesus gave his life to ransom many from sin’s bondage – Mark 10:35-45.

After predicting his death, two disciples began jockeying for high positions in Christ’s Kingdom. Thinking according to the ways of this world, they did not comprehend just what kind of Messiah Jesus is and what it meant to follow him. Nevertheless, he would demonstrate in Jerusalem how his followers become his disciples and achieve “greatness” in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus revealed what citizenship in God’s Kingdom means through his words and deeds, namely, Self-sacrificial service to others. Daily self-denial, taking up his cross, and following the Nazarene wherever he leads is the only way to become his disciples. However, as they approached the city, even his closest followers continued to hold a worldly understanding of God’s Kingdom.

[Cross Photo by Pete Godfrey on Unsplash]

James and John asked Jesus to install them at his right and left when he came “into his glory,” presumably, positions of great honor and authority. Despite all they had witnessed, they could not yet understand the words and actions of the ‘Servant of Yahweh’, they were “dull of hearing.”

Contrary to the political ideologies and practices of this “present evil age,” Suffering and Death precede glory and exaltation in his Kingdom. To be the Messiah and King of Israel meant becoming the ‘Suffering Servant of the LORD” described in the Book of Isaiah.

Christ’s inner circle expected him to manifest his glory upon his arrival in Jerusalem, impose his reign over others, and destroy Israel’s enemies, especially Rome. But to reign with him we as his disciples must first “drink his cup” and undergo “his baptism.”

• (Mark 10:35-40) - “Grant to us that we may sit in your glory, one on your right and one on your left. But Jesus said to them, You know not what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I, myself am drinking, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I, myself am being baptized?”

The image of the “cup” symbolizes something given by God in the Hebrew Scriptures, usually in the negative sense of judicial punishment for sin. In the passage from Mark’s Gospel, it points to Jesus enduring the wrath of God for the sins of others. Likewise, the context indicates the same sense for his use of the phrase “my baptism,” that is, his submission to an unjust death for others- (Psalm 11:6, 16:5, Isaiah 57:17-22, Jeremiah 25:15-28).

James and John declared they were prepared to drink from his “cup,” but Christ’s response demonstrates they had no idea what he meant. Eventually, however, they would drink the same “cup” when they suffered for his sake and the Gospel.

In the English translation of the Greek passage, the clause “I, myself” represents the emphatic first-person pronoun or ‘egō’. It occurs four times in the Greek text and stresses the Messianic role of Jesus. It is most emphatic. The sacrificial death of the “Son of Man” was the event that inaugurated the Kingdom and the Messiah’s reign over the Earth:

• “Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, You are My son! This day I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for your possession” – (Psalm 2:6-8).

“Greatness” in God’s Kingdom is measured by self-sacrificial service for others, not political power, rank, or dominion over nations and peoples. We are called to serve, not to exploit others. If we wish to become “great” we must first become the “servant” and “slave” of all. This is what it means to “drink his cup” and undergo “his baptism.”

RANSOMING MANY

• (Mark 10:41-45) - “Jesus says to them, ‘You know that those considered rulers of the nations, lord it over them and their great ones take dominion over them. Yet not so is it among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, he will be your servant, and whoever desires to be chief among you will become the slave of all, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his soul a ransom instead of many.”

Jesus came to serve and thereby save humanity. That is how he fulfilled the role of the Messiah though, paradoxically, God appointed him to reign over the “Nations of the Earth.” His self-sacrificial death is the foundation of his reign – (Luke 22:26-27).

Christ became the “servant and slave of all” when he offered his “soul” as the ransom price for others. Jesus uses the term “soul” here in the Old Testament sense of referring to the entire person, both physical and non-physical aspects. Thus, the Son of God gave his entire being or “life” for the benefit of others.

The Greek preposition translated as “instead of” or ‘anti’ means “on behalf of, in exchange for.” Behind this saying is the passage describing the ‘Suffering Servant’ in the Book of Isaiah:

• (Isaiah 53:11-12) - “Therefore, will I give him a portion in the great, and the strong shall he apportion as spoil because he poured out to death his soul, and with transgressors let himself be numbered, Yea, he the sin of the many bare, and for transgressors, he intercedes.”

Jesus referred to the “many” for whom he gave his life. This did not mean an exclusive company. It is a verbal link to the passage from Isaiah where “the many” refers to the “transgressors.” The contrast is not between “many” and “all,” but between the one Messiah who gave his life and the many beneficiaries of his sacrifice.

The passage in Isaiah is also Christ’s source for the term “soul” heard on his lips. Just as the “Servant of the LORD poured out his soul,” so the Son of Man offered his “soul” to ransom the “many” from slavery to sin and death.

Christ’s real-life example becomes the pattern for how we are to follow Jesus, reign with him, and achieve “greatness” in his Kingdom - By sacrificing our lives in service for others and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only is this how we “drink his cup” and become “great in his Kingdom,” but also how we will be judged when it truly matters – “As you did to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it unto me.”

“No man has greater love than this, that he lays down his life for his friends.” Yet Jesus gave his life to reconcile us to God when we were yet the “enemies of God.” For those with “ears to hear” no longer are “dull of hearing,” this is how we follow the “Lamb wherever he goes.”

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SEE ALSO:

• Suffering and Death - (To be the Messiah of Israel meant suffering and death for others, and Jesus summoned his disciples to follow that same path – Mark 8:31)

• Let this mind be in you... - (The submission of Jesus to an unjust death is the pattern of the love and service to others that his disciples are called to imitate)

• Starting from the Cross - (The theme of fulfillment is dominant in the New Testament. In Jesus Christ, the promises of God have found their fulfillment)

• Christ or Caesar - (Jesus refused the political power of Rome when Satan offered it. So, why do we insist on seeking the very thing our Master rejected?)