Daily Double: Markin MarkSample

Jesus Desires Humility

By Ps Matt

If you’re rich, you’re going to have a hard time with Jesus. From the start of our passage, it’s clear that money has blinded the rich man. He thinks of himself as better than he actually is – but Jesus gets straight to the heart and calls out the one thing he can’t see about himself: his money is his god, not the “Good Teacher” who he is asking for the answer to eternal life.

Money can so easily become a blindfold. Too much of it and we forget about God as provider and instead rely on our wealth and our means. Too little and we grind our life away to get bread, living by sight and not by faith in manna from heaven.

Ultimately Jesus wants us to be freed from our obsession with money and instead enter into His Kingdom, where everything we need, and more is ours for eternity.

The disciples feature in this passage as well. They are contrasted to the rich man. They boast they have left everything to follow Jesus, but they still have an obsession. Their obsession is power. James and John want to be in a higher place than the other disciples… and all of them definitely don’t want Jesus to die.

It’s likely the disciples were enjoying the limelight that Jesus’ increasing ministry, crowds, and profile were creating. Jesus rebukes their mindset by telling them their greatest work will not be sitting on a throne but serving people.

The passage ends with blind Bartimaeus being healed of blindness. Bartimaeus has the right response. He responds to Jesus with faith by seeking Jesus’ mercy. Out of everyone in the passage, Jesus favours Bartimaeus the most. He is humble, faith-filled and seeking Jesus.

How humble am I to receive from Jesus? Have the idols of wealth or power taken my eyes off God and put them onto myself? In what ways can I give up something to stay humble?