Sermon Tone Analysis

We are reaching the end of another one of the themes running through Mark.

Since we picked the book back up earlier this month, we have seen that Jesus is nearing the end of his earthly ministry.

As he heads towards Jerusalem for the final time, he is radically redefining status and greatness for his disciples.

He has shown us that you can’t always go by someone’s outward appearance to determine the depth of their relationship with God.

We saw that as a boy’s father demonstrated greater faith than the disciples by crying out to Jesus when the disciples couldn’t deliver his son from demonic oppression.

We saw it again as Jesus addressed a dispute over who was the greatest disciple.

Taking a child in his arms, he showed that the greatest in the kingdom is willing to welcome the least and serve in the smallest ways.

After showing that the Pharisees didn’t know everything they were supposed to know, he then turned everything upside down again by telling us that we not only have to receive small children, but that we have to become like them.

We saw that last week as we read about the rich young ruler who put more faith in his pride and his possessions than he would put in Christ.

This morning, we come face to face with another contrast.

Again, the disciples who should know better stick their feet in their mouths while a relatively unknown person shows true faith.

Some of the themes should hopefully sound familiar if you have been with us.

If not, this message is a great recap to bring you up to speed with what God has been teaching us.

However, whether this is your first time with us or not, I want you to see this truth today: pride blinds, and faith restores sight.

In fact, that’s how we are going to divide up today’s message.

First, we’re going to set the scene up.

Then, we are going to see how the disciples’ pride blinded them to what was going on and what they really needed.

We’ll wrap up by seeing how a blind man’s faith led to his sight being restored.

Let’s set the stage.

Read with me this morning.

Jesus is nearing Jerusalem.

As he goes, he is leading both his twelve hand-picked disciples and a crowd of others who are following.

The disciples are excited, because they expected Jesus to head straight to Jerusalem, throw off the Romans, and take over the country and world.

They knew that as his closest followers, they would surely be part of the administration and enjoy the power they had hoped for over these last several years of walking with Jesus.

The crowd wasn’t so sure, so they hung back, afraid of how it all might turn out.

Jesus took the opportunity to once again explain to the disciples what would take place once they reached Jerusalem.

He lays it out on the line this time, giving them plenty of detail about what would take place.

However, as we are about to see, they were blinded by their own pride, and it kept them from seeing clearly.

That’s the first point I want you to see this morning:

1) Pride blinds.

Read what the disciples did in verses 35-45.

Reading it like this, it seems so blatantly obvious, doesn’t it?

Their boldness has crossed the line into brashness as they make an incredibly audacious request.

Could any question seem more out of place than this?

“Guys, I am going to go to Jerusalem and get ridiculed and murdered.”...”Okay, cool.

Can we have the best seats in your kingdom?”

That’s what they were asking for, by the way.

They wanted the two most powerful positions in Jesus’ kingdom once he set up shop in Jerusalem.

How terribly insensitive could you be?

He just said he was going to die, and you are asking favors like nothing ever happened?

I would love to think that the disciples were alone in this, but haven’t we all done the same thing?

Someone is sharing something with us, and we are distracted thinking about this thing or that, so we don’t catch just how big it was until sometime later?

What is that?

Well, simply put, it’s pride.

A friend pours

Someone is sharing something with us, and we are distracted thinking about this thing or that, so we don’t catch just how big it was until sometime later?

It is our pride saying that my thoughts are more important than the person God has put in front of me.

That’s the opposite of what we are told to do:

In the disciples’ case, they reacted out of almost willful ignorance to what Jesus was saying.

Yes, he was bringing about the kingdom of God, but it wasn’t going to look like they thought it would.

However, because they thought they had it figured out, they were unwilling to even consider that it might not go like they want.

Even when Jesus tried to help them see it, they were still to blind.

Look at verse 38.

Jesus calls them out on it.

At this point, they have been with Jesus for years.

These are two of the three closest to him out of the twelve.

Shouldn’t they have picked up that there was more going on here than they thought?

They had heard Jesus debate with the religious leaders and expose them as frauds time and time again, yet they still didn’t see it.

But they barrel right through and speak up without knowing what they were saying.

“Sure, Jesus, we can do that.

It’s no problem.

We can handle it.”

They had no idea what Jesus was referring to.

Maybe they thought there would be a difficult, bloody battle for Jesus to assume the throne.

Sure, things would get tough for a bit, but nothing we can’t handle.

They didn’t realize the depth of the suffering Jesus was going to endure, and they didn’t realize that they would share in that.

After his resurrection, after they had dropped their pride and fully realized what Jesus was doing, they did end up drinking this cup.

James was the first of the twelve disciples to die for the cause of Christ.

tells us that the Herod who was ruling at the time killed James with the sword.

John would live out his life, but some of the last years of his life were spent in exile.

They would drink the cup, but they didn’t yet understand what it would mean.

Their pride blinded them to what Jesus was really up to, and it caused them to make an incredibly selfish request.

Jesus responds gently to them, but the other disciples don’t.

By the way, don’t think that their reaction in verse 41 was out of anything other than jealousy.

They weren’t concerned for Jesus’ mission and plan; they were just mad that James and John would ask when they thought they should be the ones to have those positions.

That’s when Jesus steps in to drive home the point he has been trying to make: the greatest in the kingdom are the ones who serve the most.

Isn’t that what we have seen over the last few weeks?

The ones who are greatest in the kingdom are the ones who willingly allow God to break down their pride.

They joyfully join him in serving in sacrificial ways so that others can come to know Christ.

He uses a series of parallel statements, saying basically the same thing a couple of times, but emphasizing it more each time.

He is driving this truth home to them, because it is so dramatically different than what the world around us does.

We see it in government, business, and unfortunately even church leadership.

Those in authority somehow lose sight of the incredible grace of God shown to them that allowed them to get where they are.

They are blinded by their pride, so they don’t see just how bad things are.

Isn’t that what a different James, Jesus’ brother, would write about later?

People were wondering why they never could satisfy that hunger to have the biggest and best.

Here’s how James responded:

Isn’t that what James and John were doing?

“Jesus, we deserve this.

We have earned it.”

They were presumptuous in asking Jesus to give them something they had no right to claim.

We’ve talked a lot about other people, so let’s make it personal for a minute.

The danger is that because pride blinds us, we can’t see it on our own.

Here’s the

The only way we can see if we are walking in humility towards God or in selfishness and pride is to ask him to show us!

As we take time to look at God’s word, he uses it like a mirror to our hearts and shows us what is really inside of them.

As we pray, he brings our desires in line with what honors him, and he peels back the layers of just how blind we are.

Which of these pictures best describes you?

Do you gloat in your status, making sure everyone knows about it, or do you seek to leverage the influence God has given you to help more people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Do you want recognition for everything you do, or are you willing to do the right thing God calls you to do when you know he is the only one who sees it?