A ransom for many: the Son of Man on the road to Jerusalem

Mark 10 belongs to the long section of the Gospel (8:22 to 10:52) in which Jesus travels with his disciples toward Jerusalem and teaches them about his coming death. Three times he predicts that he will be handed over, killed and raised (8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34), and each time the disciples misunderstand, and each time Jesus follows with teaching on what it means to follow him. For authorship, date and audience, see the class on Mark 1: Mark is traditionally linked to John Mark and Peter's preaching, is usually dated near the late 60s, and appears to be written for readers who were largely Gentile. Scholars differ on these points.

The chapter opens in 'the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan', the territory east of the river ruled by Herod Antipas, the same ruler who had imprisoned and executed John the Baptist. The question about divorce was a live one. The law of Moses allowed a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce in cases of 'something indecent' (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), and the Jewish schools disagreed about the meaning. The Mishnah records that the school of Shammai restricted it to serious misconduct and the school of Hillel allowed it for much more. The question put to Jesus asked him to take sides in a debate and, in Herod's territory, risked offending a ruler who had already had one prophet killed over marriage.

The journey ends at Jericho, an oasis city about fifteen miles from Jerusalem, where pilgrims gathered before climbing the steep road to the city. Pilgrims commonly gathered there before the climb, especially at festival time, so a beggar by the road would be used to crowds.

The chapter is made of short scenes, and its structure is a pattern repeated: a question or request, Jesus' surprising answer, and then teaching to the disciples. Most of the scenes are controversy stories or teaching episodes (pronouncement stories), in which the climax is a saying of Jesus. The reader should look for that saying and ask what question prompted it.

The chapter belongs to the journey section and must be read in light of the three predictions. After the third one (10:32-34), the disciples ask for places of honor. Mark means the reader to see the contrast: Jesus walks ahead toward death, and the two brothers think of thrones. The same pattern holds for the other scenes: Jesus' teaching on marriage, children, wealth and servanthood reverses what the world expects of status.

Three interpretive cautions apply.

• First, Jesus' sayings are often sharp and use vivid exaggeration, as with the camel and the needle, and they are to be understood as the first hearers heard them, as purposeful hyperbole.
• Second, hard sayings such as the call to sell everything must be read with the rest of the Gospel. Traditions differ on whether it is a command for every disciple or a particular test of this man's divided heart, and all take it seriously.
• Third, the Gospels give parallels (Matthew 19; Luke 18), and the differences between the accounts, such as Matthew's added exception clause on divorce, are part of the evidence and are not to be ignored. This class follows Mark's own presentation.

Verses 1–12

Some Pharisees test Jesus: 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' Jesus asks what Moses commanded and they answer that Moses permitted a certificate. Jesus replies that Moses wrote this 'because of the hardness of your hearts'. Divorce is a concession to human sin and not God's design. He then goes back to creation: 'God made them male and female' (Genesis 1:27), and 'a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' (Genesis 2:24). His conclusion is 'What God has joined together, let man not separate.' In the house, he tells the disciples that a man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and a woman who does the same commits adultery. The second statement fits a Roman setting, where a wife could initiate divorce. Jesus' principle is to read the Law in light of God's original intent and to refuse to use a concession as a permission.

Verses 13–16

People bring children to Jesus, and the disciples scold them. Jesus is 'indignant' and says, 'Let the little children come to Me... for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.' Children had no standing in the ancient world. They have nothing to offer and simply receive, and Jesus says the kingdom must be received the same way. Then he takes them in his arms and blesses them, laying his hands on them.

Verses 17–31

A man runs up, kneels and asks, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus answers, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.' This does not deny his own goodness; it asks the man to consider what his word means. He lists commandments from the second table of the Law, and the man says he has kept them from youth. Mark adds, 'Jesus looked at him and loved him.' Then comes the 'one thing you lack': 'Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.' The man's face falls and he leaves sad, 'for he had great wealth'. Jesus tells the disciples how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom; the image is a camel passing through the eye of a needle, a deliberate impossibility. The disciples are 'even more astonished' and ask, 'Then who can be saved?' Jesus answers, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God.' Salvation is God's work. Peter points out that they have left everything, and Jesus promises a return of families and fields 'with persecutions' now and eternal life in the age to come, and he ends with 'the first will be last'.

Verses 32–34

The prediction is the most detailed so far. Jesus walks ahead, and the disciples are amazed and afraid. He says the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, condemned to death, delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, spat on, flogged and killed, and that after three days he will rise.

Verses 35–45

James and John ask for the seats at his right and left in glory. Jesus asks if they can drink the cup he drinks and be baptized with his baptism, images of suffering. They say yes, and he says they will, but the places are not his to give. The ten are angry. Jesus calls them together: Gentile rulers 'lord it over' their subjects, and he says it must not be so among his followers. Whoever would be great must be a servant (diakonos), and whoever would be first a slave (doulos) of all. Then the foundation: '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.' A lytron was the price paid to free a slave or captive. 'Many' here is inclusive, as in Isaiah 53:11-12, and does not exclude others.

Verses 46–52

Leaving Jericho, Jesus passes Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, who calls, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' The crowd tells him to be quiet, and he shouts louder. Jesus stops: 'Call him.' Bartimaeus throws off his cloak, springs up and comes. Jesus asks, 'What do you want Me to do for you?', the same question he put to James and John (10:36). His answer is that he wants to see again. Jesus says, 'Go, your faith has healed you.' Immediately he sees and follows Jesus 'on the road'.

Mark 10 touches several doctrines at once. Marriage is grounded in creation: God made male and female and joined them in a union that Jesus calls his own act. Divorce in the Law is a concession to sin and not a design. The kingdom is a gift received, as a child receives, and not a reward earned. Salvation is impossible for human effort and possible for God, which is the same truth Paul will later state about grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). The chapter also shows the danger of wealth, a theme from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, and developed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and by James.

The heart of the chapter is the ransom saying. It teaches that the Son of Man's death is an act of service and a payment that frees many. Christians have explained how this works in different ways, as substitution in the place of sinners, as victory over the powers that held them, or as the satisfaction of justice, and many hold more than one of these together. The Old Testament background is the redemption of Israel from Egypt and the servant of Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12 who gives his life as a guilt offering and bears the sin of many. The chapter also looks forward to the cup of Gethsemane (14:36) and the baptism of the cross.

In Mark 10 Jesus is the Son of Man who comes to serve. In Daniel 7:13-14 the Son of Man receives dominion and all peoples serve him; Jesus takes that title and says he has come 'not to be served, but to serve'. The reversal is the center of the chapter. The ransom saying also joins the title to the servant of Isaiah 53, who pours out his life to death and bears the sin of many. Some scholars doubt that Mark 10:45 directly alludes to Isaiah 53, since the wording is not an exact quotation, while others defend it on the grounds of shared themes and Jesus' other sayings. The class takes the allusion as likely, since it fits the wider pattern of the Gospel, and reads the verse as the clearest statement in Mark of what Jesus' death accomplishes.

Jesus predicts his own death in detail, and the Gospel then records those events in chapters 14 to 16: he is handed over by Judas, condemned by the Sanhedrin, delivered to Pilate, mocked and flogged, and killed. The resurrection is part of the prediction.

Bartimaeus is the first person in Mark to call Jesus 'Son of David' aloud, in the final scene before Jerusalem. The title recalls the promise to David of an everlasting king (2 Samuel 7), and Jesus accepts it without silencing him, in contrast to earlier scenes. The next chapter shows the royal entry into the city. The pair of requests, from James and John and from Bartimaeus, shows that the one seeks glory without the cup and the other asks only for mercy and sight. Jesus grants what is asked in faith and corrects what is asked in pride.