The Servant King
Text: Mark 10:45
Introduction: When I was not long saved, my wife, who was no relation at the time, gave me a little book by John Blanchard called, “Read, Mark, Learn.” by John Blanchard. It was really a book for new Christians, and I can tell you I enjoyed reading through the book of Mark as a new believer, and that little book was a great help to me, so I suppose I have always had a soft spot for the Gospel of Mark.
The Gospel of Mark is, of course, the shortest of the Gospels. Along with Matthew and Luke it forms what is sometimes referred to as the Synoptic Gospels. Synoptic means “viewed together”. These are eyewitness accounts of the life of Christ, and though there is, by necessity, some over lapping details and similarities between them, each gospel has its own distinctive. Last week we saw how Matthew sought to present Jesus as the King of the Jews, with the recurring phrase, “that it might be fulfilled”, but Mark takes a different tact.
For a start, if you read through this little gospel you will notice it contains no genealogy. There is no nativity story, and no record of the early years of Jesus. There is your first clue to Mark’s direction. You will find it carries little of the teachings of Jesus, few parables, no sermon on the mount. What takes up great tracts in Matthew is barely mentioned in Mark. In fact Mark 1 covers in one chapter the ground covered by Matthew in eight! So is Mark shortchanging us? Not at all. Mark is concerned about what Jesus did, far more than what he said. Mark’s gospel presents Jesus as the Servant of the Lord.
That is why no record is given of Jesus’ lineage or birth. Who cares about the birthday or genealogy of a servant? Certainly Romans didn’t care about such things, and neither did the Jews of old. Matthews Gospel gives us much teaching on the kingdom, a term he mentions over 50 times, but Mark speaks of only it 14 times. No, his interest wasn’t so much in Christ the King of the Jews, but in Christ the Servant King. Mark is driven by the works of Christ. So the key verse (Mark 10:45) summarizes this book for us, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” He came to serve and to sacrifice.
Mark wants us to see that, and so his gospel is quickly moving through the life of Jesus from one great act to the next. His favourite word is “eutheos”. It is translated in the Authorised Version by the words “straightway” “immediately” and “forthwith”. (See Mark 1:10, 12, 18, 20, 21, 28, 29, 31, 42). This is a gospel with urgency. It shows Christ to be a man of swift response in meeting needs and solving problems. Twelve out of the sixteen chapters begin with the word “And”. This is a gospel that keeps moving, and it does so to impress upon us the busyness of Christ.
But there is one other conspicuous element to this gospel of Jesus’ deeds and that is the mention of His hands. A servant is a man whose is always at work with his hands. This is the gospel of the servant’s hands:
I. Those Hands Were Always Reaching
A. They reached out to Peter’s mother-in-law – see Mark 1:30-31
B. He reached out and healed a deaf and dumb man – Mark 7:31-35
C. He reached out to the blind man at Bethsaida – see Mark 8:22-25
D. He reached out to the demoniac son - Mark 9:17-27
E. Now notice the response of the people to these and similar events – Mark 6:22
F. Back in the 1970’s Christians were singing a popular country song called “Put Your Hand in the Hands”:
“So put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water
Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea
Take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently
By puttin’ your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.”
G. What marvelous power there was and is in those hands!
II. Those Hands Are Ever Restoring
A. Here we are in the Gospel of Mark, and the question arises just who is Mark?
1. Matthew and John were clearly Jesus disciples, chosen among the twelve, but Mark was not.
2. Yet, those who have studied this book feel sure Mark does get a little mention in the account of Christ’s life.
a. Mark 14:42-52
b. Many suspect that the mysterious young man fleeing the scene on the night of Jesus’ arrest was Mark.
c. So what became of this young man?
d. Let’s follow his story.
B. His full name is John Mark, part Jewish, part Roman.
1. His mother was a Jew and it is possible his father was Roman.
2. His parental home was the venue for early church gatherings – Acts 12:12.
3. Notice, this was the home to which Peter fled after he had been miraculous released from prison by an angel.
a. Keep that little detail in mind, for we will comeback to it.
4. Evidently Mark had quite a well to do upbringing if his mother’s home was of sufficient size to house the church, but not only that he had a well known and wealthy uncle – Barnabas – see Colossians 4:10 and Acts 4:36-37.
C. What’s interesting is that when Paul and Barnabas were ordained to embark upon their first missionary journey, they decided to take John Mark along as a helper.
1. See Acts 12:25-13:5
2. But they are not very far into the journey when Mark got cold feet and turned back – see Acts 13:13.
3. Later, when the two evangelists decided to retrace their steps and make a second journey, Barnabas wanted to give his nephew a second chance, but Paul was having none of it and consequently the two men fell out – see Acts 15:36-40.
4. From this point on the Spirit of God tracks the ministry of Paul and we hear no more of Barnabas.
5. But twenty years later Mark re-emerges in Scripture.
a. By now Paul is a weather beaten, battle scarred veteran of the mission field.
b. He is imprisoned in Rome, and from there he writes his so called prison epistles: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, and it is as he writes to the Colossians that he makes mention of Mark, as one of those who are alongside him in Rome.
(i) See Colossians 4:10-11
(ii) Did you see that? Mark is described as a comforter to Paul and a fellow worker, one whom the Colossians should receive and one of only three Jewish believers who were with him during his imprisonment.
(iii) So evidently, Paul had had a change of heart about Mark. He no longer sees him as a hindrance, but a help.
(iv) Notice now Paul’s last word on this young man – 2Tim 4:9-11.
D. You see, though Mark initially failed the Lord fleeing Him at His arrest, turning back on his first outreach, the man was ultimately restored.
1. Mark knew something of the marvelous hands of Christ upon his life.
2. His experience and walk with Jesus proves once and for all that every failure can be retrieved, every sin can be canceled out, every haltering step restored. Poor beginnings may give way to a glorious end, thanks be to God.
3. In the words of the great Scottish preacher, Alexander McClaren, “Many a ragged colt makes a noble horse.”
4. That is what Mark found, and no doubt that is why he wants to write of Jesus life, and he wants to speak about what Christ did, and he wants us to see how the Saviour served others.
5. Yet, whilst he can speak with confidence about what Christ did for him, how could he write with authority about the life and ministry of Jesus when he wasn’t really there?
III. Those Hands Are Gladly Recounted
A. As we read through Mark, we certainly feel that we are reading an eyewitness account.
1. There are many and vivid details given which the other gospel writers do not recount.
2. As we read Mark we see a certain familiarity with the events, so much so, that these things had to be written by someone close to the scene, one of the apostles, or somebody transcribing for an apostle.
3. Though Mark wrote this gospel, was he acting in a secretarial capacity for somebody else?
4. Who? John? James? No. Peter?
5. Remember earlier we mentioned Peter’s release from prison, and how he made his way to the prayer meeting at Mary’s house?
6. Did Mark know Peter? See 1Peter 1:13.
a. Was Peter Mark’s father? No. Mary lived in Jerusalem, Peter and his wife lived in Capernaum.
b. So in what way was Mark Peter’s son? It seems that Mark was brought to Christ by Peter, and though we see the two early on in the unfolding of Mark’s life and Christian experience, evidently they had maintained contact given the affectionate designation in 1Peter.
B. When we think about Peter who do we see?
1. We see the disciple who was impulsive, intense, energetic and spontaneous.
2. Are these not the hallmarks of this gospel? …“immediately, straightway, forthwith,… and, and, and…”
3. This is Mark’s narrative, but it reveals Peter’s nature.
4. We may have nothing yet but circumstantial evidence, but then we look at the writings of early church leaders and what do we find?
a. Listen to the words of Papias, Bishop of Hieropolis, whol lived and ministered in the late first century, early second, wrote: “John the presbyter also said this: Mark, being the interpreter of Peter, whatsoever he recorded he wrote with great accuracy, but not, however, in the order in which it was spoken or done by our Lord; for he neither heard nor followed our Lord, but as before said, he was in company with Peter, who gave him instruction as was necessary, but not to give a history of our Lord’s discourses.”
b. Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) too, quotes from Mark’s Gospel referring to it as, “the Memoirs of Peter”.
5. This Gospel is Mark’s writing, but Peter’s words
C. So what drew these two men together: The old apostle and the young minister?
1. Could it not be that they were kindred spirits because of their common experience?
2. Mark had deserted the Lord, but Peter denied Him.
3. Mark fled the night of His arrest, and Peter feared that same night.
4. Mark was fully restored and so was Peter.
5. Both men seem characterized by impulsiveness, energy and eagerness only to find such traits dampened by fear and failure early on, later to give rise to holy boldness, and usefulness in the service of the Lord.
6. Was Peter concerned that we should know Jesus as the Servant King? I think that he was, look now at his witness before Cornelius – Acts 10:37-39a:
a. “That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem.”
b. Peter had seen His hand at work, not only in his own life, but in the lives of others.
c. Now, what became of those healing hands? Peter continues: “whom they slew and hanged on a tree” (Acts 10:39b)
d. You see the Lord came both as a servant and a sacrifice
IV. Those Hands Are Still Redeeming
A. “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
1. Those hands that had healed the blind, the deaf, the dumb, those hands which reached out to and lifted up the fevered, the fearful and the failing, were taken and nailed to the tree.
2.Why, that we might be ransomed.
3. You see those hands are still reaching out.
Conclusion: A lady by the name of Linda Mae Richardson wrote a little article entitled, “When I Was Diagnosed With Cancer” and I want to share it with you, because I think it says best of all, what Peter and Mark both wanted us to know, when they told us about Jesus’ life of service and those redeeming hands.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer: My first friend came and expressed his shock by saying, "I can’t believe that you have cancer. I always thought you were so active and healthy." He left and I felt alienated and somehow very different. My second friend came and brought me information about different treatments being used for cancer. He said, "Whatever you do, don’t take chemotherapy. It’s a poison!" He left and I felt scared and confused. My third friend came and tried to answer my "whys?" with the statement, "Perhaps God is disciplining you for some sin in your life?" He left and I felt guilty. My fourth friend came and told me, "If your faith is just great enough God will heal you." He left and I felt my faith must be inadequate. My fifth friend came and told me to remember that, "All things work together for good." He left and I felt angry. My sixth friend never came at all. I felt sad and alone. My seventh friend came and held my hand and said, "I care, I’m here, I want to help you through this." He left and I felt LOVED!”
Jesus is that kind of friend. He is that kind of Saviour. Whatever your need may be, no one knows it better than He does, and no one has a better touch than He has. Maybe your need is to be forgiven. To know that God unconditionally loves you and is willing to give you a fresh start in life. Maybe your need is to be restored. You have failed. You have fled. You have feared. Well, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water. His touch can redeem and restore. He is our Servant King.
