Sun Kwak, “The Son of Man”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CwHKyrxJbs

TEXT: Mark 10:32-45

[32] And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, [33] saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. [34] And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

[35] And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” [36] And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” [37] And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” [38] Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” [39] And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, [40] but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” [41] And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. [42] And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. [43] But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [44] and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

SERMON: “The Son of Man”

You might recall from the Harry Potter stories something called the Mirror of Erised. And if you could piece it together, erised is desire backward. And what this magical mirror does is look deep into the heart of the person looking into the mirror and reveals the deepest desire of the heart. And so, when Harry stands before this Mirror of Erised, the mirror shows to him his parents and those he loves standing around him. And so, he’s expecting that everyone would see their families when looking at the mirror. But when Ron looks into the mirror, he doesn’t see his family. But rather, he sees himself holding up the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup as the head boy of Gryffindor. And you look at both of these characters, what the mirror showed was that their deepest desires also came from the place of their deepest lack. That for Harry, he grew up without the presence of his parents and under the cruelty of Uncle Dudley and Aunt Petunia. And for Ron, he grew up in a loving home but was always overshadowed by the accomplishments and presences of his older brothers who went before him. I’ve heard it said that the deepest longing of the heart is what often, by default, shapes our fabricated idea of what kind of Savior we envision Jesus to be. And it’s the Word of God’s power that turns us eyes toward not what kind of Savior we envision but what kind of Savior we’ve been given and ultimately need. To confront our depiction of Christ through our own Mirror of Erised revealing, we have the Word reorient our hearts toward not what we want out of Jesus but who he actually is and has been revealed to be.

And so, you look at the question there in verse 36 that Jesus asks James and John — What do you want me to do for you? As in, what’s your deep desire. And how is that shaping the way you view me as your Savior? And the way that James and John respond to this sometimes gets turned into this cartoon. Here, I think it’s helpful to remove cartoonish caricatures of James and John. We often picture this scene, where James and John are rushing up to Jesus and kind of buddying up with him, asking him — Hey Jesus, forget those guys. Give us the best seats in the kingdom. And the reason I think that this becomes almost cartoonish is that when we think about what James and John are saying and asking for, when they say in your glory, we’re picturing heaven. But for James and John, and for many who were around during this time, they weren’t picturing some far off place. They weren’t asking for the best seats at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. They were thinking about the right and left hand as seats being more of military rank. Because they were envisioning a current reign here on earth, one that looked like Rome’s rule. And so, this isn’t like kids who are trying to race into a new home to call dibs on the best room in the house. But here, they’re asking Jesus, in some sense, to trust them to be among his most loyal — that they would fight alongside and for him, in this new kingdom that he was going to bring in. That they wanted to be prime minister and the general in this new kingdom. They wanted to be important.

And so, as we reflect upon this, I want us to consider our own heart’s understanding of who Jesus is and what kind of Savior he is. We might know all the right answers from a theological point of view. But what is it that you want Jesus to do for you? Whether it’s provisions or security or comfort, it’s natural for us to fabricate a vision of who we think Jesus ought to be. And it’s a battle all of us have to fight. Because we want to put Jesus upon all of our felt needs. But here, with our focus leading us to verse 45, the verse that scholars deem to be the thesis statement for the entirety of The Gospel of Mark. Here, we hone in on who Jesus is and why he came by giving to us a vision of what kind of king he is. That he’s not the king people expected. And he’s not the kind of Savior that many often picture. But it’s the Word of God, not our heart’s desires, that must inform us on who Jesus is and what kind of Savior he is — For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a (KEY WORD) ransom for many.

There’s this TV show that Judy and I watched together called The Special Forces. It’s a show that invites celebrities into this grueling selection process that simulates what it’s like to be qualified for the special forces. One of the contestants was one of the Spice Girls Mel B. I think she was Scary Spice. But as the contestants would share about why they came onto the show, so much of it was about self-discovery. And for Mel B, she repeatedly shared that she was in this ten year long abusive relationship. And she had felt trapped and forgot what it was like to fight for herself, and so, she came on the show to turn a new page. Sociologists say that victims of abuse come back to their abuser an average of seven times before fully disengaging. And that’s not because they find comfort in their abuser. But they have this perpetual need to make right the narrative that has been so sad for them. That all of us have a bent toward finding the right and true narrative for our lives.

And you and I, whether we choose to believe it or not, have an abuser over our hearts. And it’s an abuser that we turn back to time and again. Not just because we want to make right what’s wrong. But because we’re lured by what it offers and fall back into its traps time and again. And for all of us who fall victim to sinful habits, to the need to self-medicate, to our slothful attempts at disengaging from our sin. For us, what we need is not a sevenfold visiting to make things right ourselves. But we have a narrative that will once and for all (KEY WORD) liberate us from the stranglehold of sin. Not that we won’t sin again, but that we will no longer live as its servant. That by the power of our king who’s come for us, we’ve been set free. Because that word for one of our key words ransom is about a transaction, as it suggests a bondage. That this ransom is something that needed to be paid because there is an opposing force and power that keeps his subjects in chains. And in order to attain us for his kingdom, Jesus takes we who were in chains and pays the ultimate price that we might live shackle-free.

And not without good reason, but I think the lion’s share of focus on that statement in verse 45 is often directed toward Jesus saying he came not to be served but to serve. I’ve seen it plastered all over when ministries are trying to recruit servants to serve. But I want us to disengage from that. Because what I actually think that Jesus is saying here isn’t something that we’re able to replicate. Because it’s a picture of the kind of king Jesus is. And none of us deserve the throne. And so, in some ways, this is something exclusive to who Jesus is. And the biggest tell here about what kind of king he is comes with the title that he gives himself — the Son of Man. And this was Jesus’ favorite title to use of himself, not necessarily because he wanted to accentuate his humanity. That’s not primarily what Son of Manevoked in the minds of those who heard the phrase with Jewish ears. But this was a title that came from Daniel 7. One who was with the Ancient of Days, the glorious depiction of God the Father. But one who, at one point, would approach the Ancient of Days. And if you can get that picture, to be with someone means you’re next to them. But to approach someone entails that you were apart from them. So, at some point in time, Jesus, who has had eternal fellowship and with-ness with his Father had to leave him. And this approach to the Ancient of Days is something the Son of Man does in Daniel 7:13-14, in order to present the Ancient of Days with something — with what he’s done, what he’s accomplished. And the result of what’s presented warrants him this everlasting kingdom with no end or rival competition. That’s the Son of Man. So, when Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, he’s referring to the one who would out-king all kings. This is the ultimate ruler that the people of God are looking for. Which is the reason why it’s all a bit confounding for these disciples to hear Jesus say that as the Son of Man, he wouldn’t come to be served. If anyone was to be served, it was to be this figure. There was no one to match his strength and power and authority and dominance. And yet, here was Jesus saying that he’s not the kind of king that they’ve come to anticipate and to expect.

Now, you look at what Jesus says here in our passage. And you look at how Jesus introduces himself here. Before the Son of Man proclamation, there are eight future tense verbs that Jesus uses regarding what will happen. And seven of those eight have to relate to his death, with the eighth related to his resurrection. Here, Jesus is guaranteeing what is to come. But then, he drops this Son of Man title, and all of a sudden, he starts using what’s called the aorist tense. And this is the Greek verb tense most related to an event, a one-time action. And the visual that I think is most helpful is that Jesus depicts in these broad strokes things that will happen at large. But then, he zooms in on this particular moment, when he comes to give his life as a ransom for many. The Greek word for one of our KEY WORDSransom is λυτρον, with its verbal form being λυω, which means to loose. And there’s an aspect of liberation here that’s obviously entailed with this word. But this side by side of a bigger story with the zooming in of a particular moment shows that there is something about this one moment, one event that has implications and effects on the masses.

Because the sudden change when it comes to the verb form switching from these future tenses to the aorist tense, signals the here and now. For this is a story that’s been carefully scripted from the beginning of time. And here, the author has entered in so that he might perfect it, that he might complete it. Because a particular word that’s used here in our passage we read in verse 40, when Jesus tells James and John — But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those whom it has been prepared. And that word prepared is only used in two other places in Mark’s Gospel. And it comes all the way toward the beginning of the Gospel, in ch1v3, where we read the quote from Isaiah 40:3 — Prepare the way of the LORD. That this was about the great entrance of the king who was to make the mountains low and lift the valleys. This great king of upside down mannerwho comes to reverse all that’s wrong in this world. His path is said to be prepared there. But then, what is the other place where this word is used? It’s in chapter 14, when the Lord’s Supper, along with the Lord’s Table, is said to be prepared. And what was being prepared there? It was a meal for those who would leave his side. You talk about James and John, who are so eager to request positions of prime minister and general in this new kingdom. And yet, they would leave the king’s side when he was at his most desperate hour of need.

But something that I want us to engrain into our minds is that this loosing, this loosening is not continuous activity that Jesus refers to in verse 45. It happens once. And we might say once and for all. Sin’s grip on some of us are hearts is nasty. All of us have something where we fall into its trap too often, where we can’t wait until glory where we stop wrestling with that sin. But in the story of the gospel, this loosing is a shattering, it’s a complete undoing of shackles once and for all. And I know that it might seem like the power of sin is far too overwhelming at times, but know that Jesus as the Son of Man has declared war against it and has ceased its reign once and for all. While it might wrap its fingers around our hearts for the time being, it has no definitive lock or hold upon our hearts and our lives. Jesus has once and for all defeated sin and smashed its shackles when taking on chains upon himself on the crossand ripping them off when being raised from the tomb. And that’s the promise we enter into when we celebrate together the Lord’s Supper. This is a meal for right now, and it’s a meal that guarantees our tomorrow. That Jesus is with us here right now, but he’s promising us a tomorrow that will not only be so much better than anything we experience here but fully guaranteed.

For we read in Acts 20:28 that Jesus has purchased us by his blood. Because the word for in verse 45, where we read that he gave up his life as a ransom for many. That word for is the Greek word αντι, which suggests something or someone in place of or in the stead of another. That because we’ve sinned against God, for Jesus to step into our place, it’s when he as willing victim commits to what was deserving for sinful criminals. And in 1 Peter 1:18-19, we read that we were ransomed not by things perishable but by means imperishable. Meaning that there’s nothing in this fading order that can separate us from these guarantees — not Satan, no power of this world, no evil force. But not even us. Even our failures and our mistakes are fading and perishing, along with this world. And they will not have a definitive claim on our verdicts — not now, not ever. And so, you think about this Table that you’ve been invited to. It’s also been prepared for you. Because you see, Jesus knew that the sheep would scatter when the shepherd was struck. Jesus knew that Peter would deny him three times. And yet, it’s prepared for these disciples, because this Table, much like our salvation, is not contingent upon our obedience or goodness. Because he knew they would need it for their hearts and their souls. And for us who struggle with our doubts and our anxieties and our feelings of inadequacy. This Table has been prepared for you. Not because you’re qualified, not because you’re righteous on your own efforts and merits. But because you aren’t. And yet, by the gracious invitation of the gospel, Jesus says — Come. Because he came for us, he set us free. Because the gospel calls upon us to celebrate and to rejoice.