"And those who followed were fearful."
"Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.... They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.'" (Mark 10:1; 32-34)
We find here those gathered around Jesus divided into two groups: those who are amazed, and those who are afraid, yet follow Him. Amazement is maybe the easiest reaction to Jesus and shared by many, many people -- think of Pilate, of Nicodemus, of Herod. This is not to suggest that it is wrong to be amazed. It is great and very important because to be amazed is to be a little bit like a child. But we must experience Jesus beyond this: if we follow Jesus only in our amazement, we will soon find ourselves afraid of Him and of where He is leading us. Because He is going to Jerusalem. And even though terrified, we cannot help but follow Him.
To Jerusalem, the place of death and resurrection where Who Jesus really is will be revealed, and, irrevocably, who the disciples are as well. After what happens at Jerusalem, their identity in Him can never be revoked or effectively denied, though, as in Peter's infamous denials, we often attempt to do just that.
After teaching the crowd for a while (v. 1), Jesus does something very dramatic: He walks resolutely on ahead of them, and then takes the twelve aside to tell them where He is going. This is one of the special times when Jesus turns to the disciples and speaks with such directness and plainness.
He tells them that He will be humiliated, tortured, and killed. And finally resurrected. He could have gone on by Himself without telling them -- it was only He Who was appointed to die there. Nonetheless, He is telling them in this dramatic tenderness that He wants them to share in His suffering and death, and -- though they did not, like we, know the end of the story -- finally in His resurrection. He does not invite and include them because it is somehow noble for them to share in His fate, but simply because He longs to have them with Him. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem..."
And He longs for you and me to go with Him as well. If we are to never get over being amazed by Jesus, let us follow Him in fear and trembling to the Jerusalems in our lives so that our identity in Him may never be revoked. When we are truly "in Christ" we are surrounded and engulfed by Him so that we can see only Him; maybe we will not always see where He is going and taking us. But seeing Him is enough.
[GEN, 2001]
We find here those gathered around Jesus divided into two groups: those who are amazed, and those who are afraid, yet follow Him. Amazement is maybe the easiest reaction to Jesus and shared by many, many people -- think of Pilate, of Nicodemus, of Herod. This is not to suggest that it is wrong to be amazed. It is great and very important because to be amazed is to be a little bit like a child. But we must experience Jesus beyond this: if we follow Jesus only in our amazement, we will soon find ourselves afraid of Him and of where He is leading us. Because He is going to Jerusalem. And even though terrified, we cannot help but follow Him.
To Jerusalem, the place of death and resurrection where Who Jesus really is will be revealed, and, irrevocably, who the disciples are as well. After what happens at Jerusalem, their identity in Him can never be revoked or effectively denied, though, as in Peter's infamous denials, we often attempt to do just that.
After teaching the crowd for a while (v. 1), Jesus does something very dramatic: He walks resolutely on ahead of them, and then takes the twelve aside to tell them where He is going. This is one of the special times when Jesus turns to the disciples and speaks with such directness and plainness.
He tells them that He will be humiliated, tortured, and killed. And finally resurrected. He could have gone on by Himself without telling them -- it was only He Who was appointed to die there. Nonetheless, He is telling them in this dramatic tenderness that He wants them to share in His suffering and death, and -- though they did not, like we, know the end of the story -- finally in His resurrection. He does not invite and include them because it is somehow noble for them to share in His fate, but simply because He longs to have them with Him. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem..."
And He longs for you and me to go with Him as well. If we are to never get over being amazed by Jesus, let us follow Him in fear and trembling to the Jerusalems in our lives so that our identity in Him may never be revoked. When we are truly "in Christ" we are surrounded and engulfed by Him so that we can see only Him; maybe we will not always see where He is going and taking us. But seeing Him is enough.
[GEN, 2001]
posted by CS at 11:56 AM
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