By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
October 27, 2024
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Mark 10:46–52 (ESV)
46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
The past few weeks I have focused on Jesus’s response to the human quest for power. I hope that this has caused us to rethink some things within our lives. I hope that this prompts us to examine our motives and our motivations. Do the words of Jesus encourage us to look at the world through the fear that the kingdoms of mankind want us to consider or do those words encourage us to look a the human potential that can be possible if we turn away from our will and cling to the will of God?
I hope the words of Jesus will continue to ring in your ears as we move throughout our communities these next few weeks. I hope they will haunt us as we engage those within our neighborhoods, that the spirit within those words will cause us to consider if our actions truly reflect the beliefs we claim.
Last week we met James and John along the roadside. They asked Jesus to grant them whatever they asked of him. I mentioned that this is often how we approach prayer. We often see Jesus as this divine vending machine that we put our spare change into and expect a return on that investment. I encourage you to take a step back for a moment and consider that. I pray. I pray daily. I expect God to answer my prayers. We have books and videos from various Christian media sources that encourages this practice and for the most part I do not disagree with their positions. But there is something within this teaching that does not sit well. The expectation that God will answer our prayers as we expect.
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Why?
I have given my tithe. I have given God ten percent of all my earnings. I have given on the Gross income and not the net, because that is the teaching of the financial ministers. They tell us that God will bless that sacrifice. We give a tenth and we expect a return. What would happen if we approached the rest of our economy with the same expectations we approach God with?
On average we as American’s spend just under 13% of our income on food. Do we demand the grocers to do for us whatever we ask of them? We do not, and we even give more of our income to them than we give to God. According to the US Bureau of Labor statistics last year we spend 39% of our income on housing, 17% on transportation, 12.9% on food, 12.4% of our income on insurance, and 8% on healthcare. These of course are averages, but I want us to just let that sink in for a bit, 89.3% of everything we spend is on basic survival. For most of us this would probably be closer to 100%, for others if we were fully honest it would be greater than our actual income.
We give 89.3% of our income to the grocer, the bank, the insurance companies, the car dealers, and gas stations. What is our expectation from them? Do we go into the banker’s office and boldly say, “Banker, I want you do to for me whatever I ask of you.” If you have and were not laughed out of the building I would like to you accompany me to a meeting.
No, we do not approach the people of the kingdoms of men with that attitude. We submit, the bank tells us we will pay 7% interest on our mortgage and we say thank you and sign on the dotted line. We give them this, and what have we gained from that transaction? Over the course of the last few years the amount we spend on these various items has increased. We become increasingly more frustrated with the cost of food, and we lash out at the clerks stocking the shelves. We are annoyed by the interest rates and we cannot do anything about it so we seek someone to blame. And the news picks up on this, the politicians see it and they capitalize on our insecurity and frustration. They give us a scape goat someone to blame, and we give them power. What has changed?
We still give the bank or the landlord 40%, the grocer 13%, and the insurance companies 12%. Nothing changes, we give them everything expecting some return and we are left right where we were.
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
Jesus used that request to teach his disciples something important. He told them that in the kingdoms of men the rulers will lord it over them that they will exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among the people of God’s kingdom. Jesus is telling us something profound, Those that have power will keep power. They will continue to maintain the same influence over the people. The people who hold the power might change at times, but the situation remains the same. We still pay 40% of our income for housing, 17% of our income to get where we need to go, 13% for food and so on. The kingdoms of men have not changed even when we vote for someone different. My lifestyle has not changed dramatically with a democrat or a republican in the White House, because the things that are really affecting my life and lifestyle they will not touch, because those are the things that keep them in power.
Today Jesus and his disciples are continuing down the road, they are walking from Galilee toward Jerusalem. This is Jesus’s final trip, before he faces his trial. And they come to Jericho. Jericho is mentioned often in scripture, because it is situated on the best route through the mountains. If you are wanting to get to Jerusalem, as you travel across Israel you will likely walk through Jericho. It is in Jericho that Rome situated the tax booths to collect the tariffs they place on trade. Nearly everyone would travel through this town as they traveled. If they wanted to worship at the temple, they would pass through Jericho pay a tax, and proceed forward. If they wanted to return home, again they would pay the tax.
For centuries this city held power in the region because no matter what direction you went you would likely pass through this area to get to where you wanted to go. That is why the first city we come to in Joshua’s conquest of the land of promise is Jericho. It is the cross road. Today it would be that city on interstate where all the highways seem to meet. A city that holds more power than it probably should for it’s size. In America it would be similar to Chicago. In itself there is nothing really spectacular except the railroads, boats, and highways all seem to go through Chicago as they travel east or west.
Jesus is leaving Jericho, and a crowd of people are following him. And on his way out of the town Bartimaeus, a blind beggar is sitting by the roadside. Mark gives us this man’s name, this does not always happen, in fact it rarely happens. A few years ago I focused on the name because I found it to be important. But I will not go as deeply into it today. Bartimaeus means Son of Timaeus. There is a play on words in this section. Timaeus in Hebrew could mean contaminated, impure, or profaned. Yet in Greek it means honorable. There are not many names within these languages that have as stark a difference.
This blind beggar is sitting on the side of the road. In Hebrew culture he is the son of impurity. The embodiment of sin. In many religious traditions bad things happen to bad people. I do not know why we come up with this idea since bad things often do not happen to the worst people, but fall on seemingly innocent members within society. But that is often the concepts societies develop. We look on the poor, the injured, the sick and we try to explain why they are in that condition and we conclude they must have done something to deserve their lot. This blind son of contamination is sitting on the side of the road.
He cries out to Jesus, “son of David have mercy on me.” And everyone responds just how we would. They tell him to shut up.
I say they respond just how we would, that should shock us a bit, but hopefully we are able to proceed. I have student loans, these loans I have no illusion of paying off in my life, yet every month they suck up my income. I do not complain much as I know I took the loans, I am in this situation by my own will, but if I do raise my voice, there are segments within the population that will cry out telling me to shut up. I made my bed now I need to sleep in it. They do not know anything about my life, yet they know everything. I have paid on my student loans for twenty years and the remaining amount owed has not changed. I still owe the same amount I have always owed. Work harder, pay extra, I know all the cliche answers. I, like Bartimaeus, will remain in my current position. Seeking mercy while people tell me to be quiet.
But his name also has a different meaning, son of honor.
He, this blind beggar, this man that depended on the charity of others to live, cried out for mercy. He even shouted louder as the voiced sought to silence him.
He has no hope. He has no options. He has nothing to lose. And by chance Jesus walks by. He has heard stories, and he takes a chance.
Jesus told the disciples that the kingdoms of men lord power over the people. And they exercise that authority. They hold the power and they use that power to maintain their power. Law and order, war and violence, debt and collateral. These things only change if those in power find a different way to hold power. This is why Jesus says that the poor will always be with you. Someone will always be exploited by those that can. And Jesus said to his disciples, this is not so with us. The followers of Jesus are not to use the ways of men to influence. He instead says that if we want to be great we must be a servant, if we want to be first we must be a slave to all.
It is difficult to process what that means, because we like the strong and the powerful. We want to be like the celebrity that has all the wealth and influence. We want. And we ask for it, we expect it because we have given so much. We look to the heavens and demand God for justice, and believe we should be listened to because we have done so much. We have given 10%. I should get something. So we yell at the cashier. We threaten the customer service representative on the phone. But what can they do? They have no power they have no control they are just insignificant clogs in the machine, stuck in the same place we are, powerless.
The blind man has nothing. This son of corruption cries out for mercy, while everyone tells him to know his place and shut his mouth.
He has nothing. Yet Jesus heard his voice.
Bartimaeus, throws his cloak on the ground. He jumps to his feet and came to Jesus. He tossed everything he had of value. And proceeded forward. We look at James and John, we marvel that they left their father’s boat to follow Jesus, but we often forget that their father is still living. There is still a boat to go back to. When Peter and the twelve sat in the upper room waiting, Peter stood up and said, “I’m going fishing.” We see these great men of faith turning back, returning to their previous way of life as times seem to get dark. But this man is blind, the throws off his cloak and goes to Jesus. He throws off the one thing he has to his name leaves it behind. He is blind, it will not be easy for him to find his cloak again once he enters that mass of people. Yet he goes forward.
He cried out to God. And just as James and John were listened to, this man is heard. Jesus asks him the same question he asked the sons of Thunder, “What do you want me to do for you?”
James and John were told that their request could not be fulfilled. They wanted greatness. They wanted the seats of power, positions of honor and respect. They wanted to have authority over the other disciples, over the kingdom of God. They did not want to answer to anyone others than Jesus himself. The answer Jesus gave to them was, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They of course said yes, because we always think we are capable. Jesus continues, “You will drink it and be baptized in it but to sit at my right and left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” They wanted the power, but the power of God does not always go to who we expect. It often resides in the ones we least expect. It often goes to the least. The powerless. God chose Israel, not the superpower of the age, Egypt. God chose Gideon of the tribe of Manasseh, the least of the least, instead of a leader from greater tribe, Judah. God chose David, the youngest of the brothers, instead of Saul who stood a head taller than everyone else in Israel. God often chooses the least not the greatest.
And today Jesus chose the blind beggar over the Sons of Thunder.
“What do you want me to do for you.”
“Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left,” the Sons of Thunder say. But Bartimaeus says, “Let me recover my sight.” The Sons of Thunder demand, where the blind man makes a humble request.
They demand power, where this man requests the ability to see. They want control over others where this blind beggar simply wants to live.
I often sit with these two passages thinking. I listen to various teachings on how we should pray and what we should say. I consider various theological positions. Can we demand things from God? Can we expect to be healed?
Often we are taught that if we have enough faith it is God’s will to heal everyone. I was told this as my little sister died. I was told this as past relationships fell apart. I was told these things when my world seemed to be crashing around me. If I only had enough faith then everything would change. I demanded, I cried out to God. And nothing changed.
I stood on a cliff overlooking the Black Sea and I yelled…well I did not yell out loud but in my mind, “I have went to the other end of the world to serve you, grant me the thing I ask.” Maybe I should have actually yelled, but the reality is I was asking for myself. I wanted control, I wanted power, I wanted to be the master of my own destiny. And in the kingdoms of men that is perfectly fine, but that is not God’s kingdom.
I went to Ukraine and it was a life changing experience. I would not be a pastor if I had not made that trip. It was there in that land across the ocean where my ears were finally open to what God was saying. I expected things, I was demanding things. I thought I was doing great things, and because of that I should receive something in return.
Transactional faith. I gave, where is the return? I gave my tithe, where is my blessing? I gave my time, I should now have receipts in heaven that I can call in for payment, right? God should be in my debt. That is not faith, that is economics. That is the kingdom of man. “But it shall not be so among you.” Jesus tells us.
The blind man Bartimaeus, had nothing to offer and all he did have he threw on the ground as he jumped up to go to Jesus. This son of impurity became in that moment the most honorable son. He had nothing but gained everything. He did not demand power or influence, he only wanted to see.
Bartimaeus knew who he was and where he once sat. We do not know exactly what he did once he recovered his sight, only that he followed Jesus on the way. What we do know is his name. There were thousands of people in Israel that could have benefited from this very healing, but we do not know them. There were multitudes around the region of Judea that could have benefited and many did, but this man we know his name. Why?
This man shows us something about faith. We do not have the right to demand things from God. We can only cry for mercy. Sure I am a decent person in comparison to others, but I know who I am and what I am capable of. I know that I want to do good, but if I had the power to tell someone to be quiet I would probably use that power for my own benefit. If I had the power to ease the burden of my friends, I would, even if that burden would be passed on to someone else. That is the difference between the request of James and John and the request of Bartimaeus. They wanted power and Bartimaeus wanted to see. They wanted to be served Bartimaeus only wanted to lesson a burden. They wanted greatness and Bartimaeus wanted to life.
I used to think I knew a great deal. I used to think I had the answers. Life has a way of changing our perspectives. I used to listen to the news and come away angry, today it makes me sad. It makes me sad because, I have drank from the cup of Christ I have become saturated in his life. I now see things a little bit differently. What I was once sure of now has a different hue. I once to the son of corruption to shut up, but now I want to listen and hear his story.
There is pain all around us. Pain that is often caused by good intentions and pain caused by intentional exploitation. We need mercy, not blame. We need hope not fear. We need to recover our sight.
The kingdoms of men seek power to lord authority over others, but it shall not be so among us. The great among us must be willing to serve and the first must be willing to toss aside all they have to offer hope. It is not about God’s blessing us but us becoming a blessing to those around us. We should see the honorable son within the one the world sees as the despicable. Let us be conduits of mercy.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
October 20, 2024
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Mark 10:35–45 (ESV)
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.”
This week I struggled with the verses we shared today. I struggled in part because I had a migraine most of the week, but there was more to it. I do not want to speak on this passage. I do not like this passage. I might go so far as to say this passage haunts me.
Which makes it a perfect passage for this month. As some of my fellow ministers are teaching the dangers of celebrating Halloween, I am here teaching about haunting. But that is the point of Halloween, it is not to celebrate evil, but to recognize the fears we carry and to cling to the hope we have in Jesus. That message will have to come at a different time because today we need to look at why a passage of scripture haunts me.
The first thing is that a haunting originates in an internal fear, a fear that resides within us that holds both rational and irrational aspects. Is it rational to fear a building, to call a residence a haunted house? Sure. If the building is ill maintained, harm could befall anyone that entered. But why is a build’s maintenance neglected? This is where the irrational aspects come in. You do not have to agree with me, and you can believe that there are haunted houses, but what I am saying the fear we face in the places of our haunting is something that is within us. We have heard stories and we believe that those stories might be transferred to us. We felt a chill along with the story and now we have something somewhat tangible it is not just in our head but real. And it is real, even if it is all in our mind we cannot move beyond, we must live as if that is reality until something changes. We have these fears because it might happen. Is it likely to happen? That is not for me to decide. But this passage stirs something within me, it haunts me.
“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.’”
It is terrifying!
Yes, I am joking around a bit, but there is something deeper here. These brothers are asking Jesus to give them anything and everything they ask. They are asking Jesus to sign a check and trust them to write a reasonable amount on it. Give me whatever I want.
This is often how we approach prayer. We look at it from a transactional frame. If I do something good, I expect something in return. We learned this early in life, a baby makes a cute sound or face and they quickly learn that when they make that sound or face everyone in the room does something they like. They laugh or smile so the baby does it again, and they get the same response. Economist have called this the law of returns. Our employer calls it wages. But there is something more to this law of returns, the fuller statement is the law of diminishing returns.
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Today I want this. My life would be perfect if only I had… fill in the blank. Some of us would like no homework. Some of us a spouse, others of us just want a raise. There are many who want something more noble, we want our health to return. The brothers say to Jesus, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
At this point I want us to just consider our life of prayer. Often we take this approach. I say this as we, but the very real phrase is that this is often how I pray. If you were to actually hear what goes on in my head at times as I sit in my blue chair, you would be appalled.
Jesus does not respond how I would respond. If you were to ask my son what my response would be he would be quick in his answer. Because it comes so often, “NO!” But that is part of the haunting aspect of this passage.
Jesus says to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
As you let those words flow through your ears, what do you hear? “What do you want me to do for you?”
Do you hear the acknowledgment that Jesus knows their request is self serving? Jesus knows that their request is going to be indulgent. What do you want ME to do for YOU?”
Yet in the same breath there is love. I know that I will be asked a question that is self indulgent when I go to Target, yet I do not prevent the question to be asked. I often let an explanation or a clarification to be made before the final response is uttered. I know yet I like the ask. I do not like saying no but there are times when the question allows me to provide something different and often better. And yes often I dread the question because I know even if the ask is genuine I still have to say no.
I think James and John probably got the point before they even asked, yet the pushed on. They pushed on because they knew that Jesus knew their intention. They also knew that it does not hurt to ask a question as long as you are prepared to receive an answer.
“Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” This is a glimpse into the culture of the ancient world. The in a group the most important member would be in the center. Jesus, of course, is in the center. James and John recognized Jesus as being the most important person in their group. They acknowledged him as being the Messiah they longed for, as they stood in agreement with Peter as he made that profession in Caesarea Philippi. They saw him as their king and they want to be with their king as he enters that glorious kingdom. The most important figure is in the center, and on the right side is the second and on the left is the third.
This request is self indulgent, and yet it also exhibits their devotion to their king. Jesus had just for the third time expressed his coming doom, and they want to be right there by his side. But they do not fully understand what that might entail.
This is where we often find ourselves. We pray, we ask, sometimes we make self indulgent requests and at other times we express our immense faith but we do not always understand what we are asking.
My grandmother took me aside one day after a meal, and asked me why I wanted to become a pastor. I found it to be odd in the moment, but she asked, “Why do you want to be a pastor?” She then expressed a list of things. Things that are often seen in leaders of organizations, and she wanted me to tell her. I did not have words to say. It terrified me to admit that I felt a calling to be a pastor, I did not want any of the trappings of power, and I nearly cried as she spoke. Finally, all I could say was, “I just want to serve Jesus.”
I had no idea what was going to come in the future. I prayed and plead, I begged but like James and John I did not know what I asked.
“Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
Jesus looks these passionately devoted men and he asks this question. It is a heavy question. The cup is a symbol of blessing and of wrath. The Psalmist says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” This speaks of abundance, of blessing and grandeur. The cup of hope, but there is also a cup of wrath. The Psalmist also says, “Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.”
“Can you drink from the cup that I drink?” Jesus asks.
As most of you are aware I am a complete nerd. I spend most hours of the day listening to videos playing in the background as I work, and often those videos are about weird archaeological artifacts that have been found. One such day I saw a video about an assassin’s cup. A cup where, when held just right, you could drink pure wine from it. But if held differently, poison would be released into the liquid and consumed. Both assassin and target could drink from the same cup one would have the purity and the other poison. That is the image that came to my mind when Jesus spoke of the cup.
And that is often what life gives us. We desire the cup of blessing. We want the purity of the refreshment, but as we move through life we do not know of which side of the cup we drink. Our desire demand one thing, but at times we swallow the bitter draft of suffering.
Jesus also mentioned baptism along side that cup. The church speaks a great deal about baptism, and often we focus on the ritualized sign of repentance. Jesus teaches about baptism but often our understanding is skewed from centuries of tradition. Baptism comes from a word that means immersion. The use of the word is often associated with dying cloth. You immerse the fabric into the dye, you let it sit beneath the liquid as is become completely saturated with the pigmented solution. You then rinse and repeat until the fabric has taken on a new hue, and can be used for a new purpose. All fabric begins in a raw state, it is through baptism that new life is given and the fabric can emerge for common or royal use.
As Friends we believe that we obtain grace through faith in Jesus, just as every Christian denomination, yet we do not always practice ritualized baptisms. This does not mean we do not believe in baptism, in fact we believe deeply in baptism. We believe so deeply that the ritual is not enough. For a ritual to have any meaning the faith and the grace must already be present. And for that sign of repentance to hold validity your life should bear the fruit of repentance. What I mean to say is that like the dyed cloth we have a new nature because of the substance we as believers have been saturated in.
That is one way of looking at baptism. But this baptism of which Jesus speaks of today not baptism of repentance, it is a saturation of a different sort. He is bearing the responsibility of humanity’s sin. Can you be baptized with the baptism with which Jesus is baptized? Can you take on the responsibility, the blessing and punishment for yourself, your family, your neighbor, the person down the street, your entire nation and the world?
We do not like thinking about this in the Western church because we have an individualistic view of faith. This is my faith and I am only responsible for myself in that view. We are not wrong in that view, but we are not fully correct either. We do not live alone even if no one else lives in the same house. We live within communities, we interact with others. In one of my favorite books, I would tell you what it is except I would prove my inability to speak, but in this book there is a saintly elder that speaks with a young monk.
“Every day, every hour, every moment, examine yourself closely and see that your appearance is seemly. You may, for instance, pass a small child; your face may be angry, you may be uttering wicked words, and there may be rage in your heart; you might not even notice the small child, but as long as the child sees you in this state, that unseemly and ugly picture may become engraved in his innocent little heart. So, without knowing it yourself, you may thus have sown an evil seed, which perhaps will sprout within the child, and all simply because you failed to control yourself before the child, because you failed to cultivate within yourself a considerate and active love for others.”
What this fictional elder is saying is that we bear a responsibility to everyone. We are our brother’s keeper. How we live our lives today ripples through history as we interact with those around us. The question the world asks in reference to suffering in the world and where God is in it. The answer does not fall in the lap of God, but each of us. We are self indulgent, we want, we desire. And as we indulge ourselves in momentary gratification we have not prepared ourselves for the responsibility of the consequences. Why do children face abuse? Because we are self indulgent people, that have raised self indulgent adults, that do not know how to treat others, especially children, with respect and dignity. Why are people living in poverty and in hunger? We have enough food in our world today to feed everyone to their fill. Lack is not the cause of hunger.
Jesus asks two of his most beloved disciples, if they can drink the cup, and be baptized in the baptism that he is baptized in. Will they bear the sins of the world on themselves? Will they be willing to take the responsibility, the blessing and the wrath of the rebellious world and lead rebellious people?
“We are able.” They say. And you can almost hear the reservation, and pain in Jesus’s voice as he acknowledges the reality. They will bear it. They will be saturated in it. Just as we are. If we stand up and say “Black Lives Matter” there is a quick retort “All lives matter.” And suddenly I am labeled woke and canceled. If I were to say Palestinian people are oppressed, people will quickly jump on to me saying that Israel has a right to defend themselves. And I have not said anything wrong. If I say Americans are taxed too much, I am quickly called names. If I say I am a conservative or liberal we quickly come to a conclusion and make a judgment. And suddenly I am an enemy instead of a friend. Oh Friends, we will bear the cup if we decide to follow Christ. We must bear the cup, we must be saturated in the suffering of this rebellious world because that is where Jesus is.
He heard the brothers give their response, and he told them yes, you will bear it. And they immediately bore some of that burden as the others became indignant. We jump to conclusions, we fail to listen and we get short sighted. Jesus then uses this opportunity to give his disciples, in my opinion, the greatest nugget of wisdom of all his teaching.
He calls them to shut up and to listen. “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” We could go into the nuance of why Jesus used the term Gentiles here, but the important thing is that he is using this word not to describe a nation or race. Instead he is using it to speak of those that are not seeking God’s kingdom, or the people of the world. The kingdoms of humanity use violence and manipulation to force people into a submissive state. We know this well. If you were to turn on the news you will hear people saying certain groups will only respond through the use of force, justifying the use of force against them. They are not wrong but they are only looking at things through the lens of the kingdoms of men. And the submission gained by force is not love but fear. The fear of loss. If I do not submit I will lose my life or my lifestyle. “But it shall not be so among you.”
I said that this passage haunted me this week. It haunts me because I am right in the middle of each of these verses. I am the one begging Jesus to do whatever I ask of him. I am the one listening to him reveal how selfish I am. I am the one that made a profession of faith and devotion to the point of leaving my hometown to serve Jesus, and I am the one that said I can bear it even though I have no clue what that might be. I am right here with James and John. And so are each of you. We are all with them because we are members of humanity.
I want to see Jesus enter into glory. I want to stand with him as he enters his rightful place as King of kings and Lord of lords. I want to be there. But I am selfish. I want the cup of blessing, but I do not want to taste the bitterness that accompanies the initiation of true justice. I want justice but only if it does not affect my way of life. So what do I do?
“It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
This passage is haunting, because so much of our culture and way of life is packed into these words. Its haunting because wars are waging, violent acts are being done to people that only want to live. Its haunting because there is a presidential election in a few short weeks and I am supposed to vote for the person I feel will lead our nation best. And I want our nation to a people devoted to the teachings of Christ. And I remember the words written in a Russian novel that floored my way of thinking, I am responsible.
I am haunted by these verses because I am divided. I have irrational fear … and hope.
“Teach us to pray” those same disciples once asked. And Jesus responded. “Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Teach us to pray. Not for whatever we ask, but for what we need today. Teach us to pray not that we get our way but that we forgive. Teach us to pray not for our will but His to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Teach us to pray as we become instruments of justice and beacons of hope in our world. Teach us to pray as we join Christ in his glorious triumph over the rebellion, not with force, but service. As we drink from his cup, and are saturated in his baptism. Let us give what we have and who we are so that this community will know the great love God has for them. Teach us to pray.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
October 13, 2024
Click here to join our Meeting for Worship
Mark 10:17–31 (ESV)
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
What must I do to inherit or obtain eternal life? This is a question that is often asked. It is both a recognition of our mortality, and a hope for something more beyond the veil of life. This is a question that people inside and outside the church ask, but sadly it is a question we often fail to answer adequately.
We often rush through this questions. While I was in Ukraine the organization we were with encouraged us to start conversations, get to a point in the conversation where we could semi organically introduce the four spiritual laws, and then encourage those we were having a conversation with to make some sort of decision. It might surprise you that I was not exactly the most enthusiastic about this approach. I am still not thrilled with that idea. Some would say that I do not have a sense of urgency or that I do not love the lost, that I do not care enough for their souls. Early in my ministry I was actually reprimanded by the Meeting because I did not have enough alter calls. I laughed when they said this, because everyone in that church had been a member of the church for longer than I had been alive. But I understand the sentiment.
There is this urgency within us. This question or desire to know what happens. We want to know but often we do not know how to ask the question that is lurching in the back of our minds. We do not have the words, or even the imagination. Because of this we attempt to explain it away or rationalize alternatives, but this does not fully ease the tension within. We still ask, “What must I do?”
I have sat with this question this week. I have thought about it and I have played back various conversations I have had in the past. And I have come to a conclusion that often we start at the wrong point. We ask the wrong questions and because we ask the improper questions the answers or the conclusions we obtain can often leave us with false assurance.
I want us to take a step back from this story for a bit. I want us to look at this man in a way we might not have before. I want us to look at the disciples differently as well. I want us to recognize ourselves in the story.
Jesus is about to embark on a journey. He was in Capernaum a couple of weeks ago, but in the paragraphs we between my message two weeks ago and today he had moved from that town into the land of Judea. And if we were to look one more verse deeper into the narrative we would find that he is traveling south toward Jerusalem. You probably do not need to know all that but for me I like to know what direction he was walking. I like to imagine who the people might be that he would encounter. He is not in the holy city. He is walking through the countryside going toward that city meaning the people surrounding him would be normal people. People we would encounter any or every day.
He is about to start this journey and a man ran up to him and fell to his knees before him.
I want us to consider this for a moment. I want you to imagine it, to think about what this position before someone signifies. I want you to think about it because I am guessing you probably have not thought about it before. We often hurry through scriptures. We like the exciting parts, the parts where people are healed or the parts where Jesus or a prophet expresses teachings that astonish the crowds, or we look for those verses we might be able to use to win an argument we have been engaged in with a coworker or neighbor. But I want us to slow down, and look at the scenery.
Jesus is getting his blankets packed up. He is putting on his shoes and about to put his satchel over his shoulders to begin his journey to the Holy City, and as he is doing this a random guy from the neighborhood comes running toward him and falls down at his feet. Why do we kneel? To kneel before someone is a sign or symbol of reverence and submission. Our culture does not kneel, but in cultures where hierarchies exist this is important. You do not kneel to just anyone. You kneel before those who are greater than you, you kneel before you master, the king or the emperor.
I think it is important to recognize this man’s position before Jesus. He is prostrating himself before Jesus. By his bodily position he is giving a form of acknowledgment of Jesus glory that even the disciples have not shown, even when they proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah in the city dedicated to the emperor and tetrarch. This man recognizes that there is something about Jesus that is greater than anything else he has been around and he cannot help but fall down before him.
He kneels before Jesus, and he begins to speak, “Good Teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
This interaction is unique. There is so much more at play in these words than we realize, if we do not understand the context of the culture. This man is submitting to Jesus. He recognizes him as being the true authority. He is submitting, either he believes Jesus is the conqueror, the king or something even greater God himself. And yes this is definitely on the table of possibilities because of the context of the surrounding verses. He says as he has prostrated himself before Jesus, “Good Teacher.”
We do not fully see the significance of this because we have grown accustomed to the word good. We use it to describe food, behavior, our mood. Everything is good to us unless it is bad. We have this dualistic view of the world. And this is important. Because this is the context of the passage. Good in the Greek sense is dualistic. In the Hellenistic philosophies there is good and bad, that of the divine nature and that which is of the world. Today we see it as preference or indifference but in the first century this was significant. This man is prostrating himself before Jesus and he is calling him the Good Teacher.
This man in this one verse has shown us something about the essences of Jesus that we often do not see. He recognizes Jesus as greater than himself and he kneels before him, in reverence. And since they are in Judea we need to recognize that the Hebrew people do not bow to just anyone, they bow only in reverence to God. And by him uttering the words Good teacher, he is saying that Jesus bears the wisdom of God, that Jesus is the embodiment of the word or teachings of God. He is Torah.
Jesus acknowledges this by his response to this man’s words. “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”
Again, we might miss the beauty of this as we rush through the passage. We might miss the interaction as we push forward to the part we find more significant. But Jesus in this is accepting praise as God. This man is coming before Jesus and recognizing him as the embodiment of God’s Holy Wisdom. He is the Good Teacher. Greater than Moses, the one they longed for since the dawn of time. He is submitting himself to the one that will redeem all things. And he asks, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
This question is greater than merely life after death, which we so often focus on today. Eternal or everlasting life speaks of more than heaven, it speaks of the restoration of all things. It speaks of the return of the Eden, where God will once again walk among mankind in full communion. This man is asking what he must do to take part in that restored life. For us though we often get lost in the translation. We see eternal life and over the centuries we have come to understand this as how do I get to heaven.
We ask improper questions and we receive inadequate answers. What is the gospel? What is the good news? What did Jesus say when he spoke of the Gospel? Often for us the answer to that question is how we get to heaven and avoid hell. That was not the Gospel that Jesus spoke of, the Gospel Jesus taught was that the kingdom of God was at hand. That the restored life is within our grasp, all around us. It is not something far off in the future but right here in front of us. Do we see it? Can we sense it?
We like this man recognize the source of our hope and we even acknowledge and submit ourselves to him, but do we understand? What must I do to inherit that life?
Jesus looks at this man and he continues to speak, “You know the commandments.” The man says, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” He knows religion, he lives a righteous life, this man is holy in the eyes of men. And Jesus looks at him, and he loves him.
This man was a good man by our definitions. He was moral, he was decent. He was nice. He was a good man. But good today is bland. Good has lost its power. Good is no longer divine instead it is adequate. If you were to ask anyone if there is a heaven would you get there? The answer would generally be, “sure I am a good person.” They are not religious, they may or may not even believe in a God, in our mind good is moral and the reality today is that religion no longer holds the keys to morality.
We see people walking away from traditional expressions of faith. We see deconstruction and many of us are afraid of the future because of this. But I want us to take a step back. Why is this happening? What could have been the cause?
We have taught morality. We have focused on keeping rules instead of teachings. Our religions and faith traditions are about having the right answers instead of life together. We are worried about getting to heaven instead of living within the kingdom here and now. “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” We cry out with everyone else in our society. I have not killed anyone, I am good. I have not stolen, I am good. I do not tell big lies so I am good. But like this man we are often left feeling as if something more must be done. Something is not quite right we are good, why don’t we have what we think we should? Why hasn’t the kingdom come? Where is God?
Jesus looked at him and loved him. He looks at us too and that same love is granted. And Jesus said, “You lack one thing: go, sell al that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
The man that had knelt before Jesus, the man that acknowledged that Jesus was the Good Teacher, the one that embodied the Wisdom of God, listened to those words and he walked away in sorrow. And this is where we are today.
Jesus said to the man, “you know the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, or defraud and honor your father and mother.” You know the commandments be a good person. But Jesus did not list all the commandments. He did not express all the teachings of the law. He neglected to mention the first few commandments.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who take his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you , or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20)
I want us to consider the commandments, the teachings of God, that Jesus did not mention to this man. I want us to look at those lessons in light of our own life and the life of our culture.
What must I do this man said on bent knees before Jesus, and Jesus looked at him with love and said, “one thing you lack. Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” It is at this point that most of us begin to pay attention to this story. We see that this man walked away in sorrow because he had great possessions.
We look at this man an we see that he was sad because he could not give up all that he had, his wealth, land, and money. We look and we see Jesus say, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” and we like the disciples are amazed at his words.
We jump ahead and look at the weird saying that Jesus makes, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And we do not stop and think about the fullness of what Jesus is saying.
Jesus here is not teaching anything new. Even in exile there was a similar saying, but instead of a camel it was an elephant. We try to explain it away by saying maybe instead of camel Jesus meant a rope because it is similar in that language and it would be hard to put a rope through a needle too. Or we like the teachers of the middle ages say that it was not a literal eye of a needle but a small pedestrian door within the gate that a camel could only go through if it were on its knees and completely unloaded. We try to explain it away but we miss the point Jesus is making.
We focus on what we can do. I am a good person, I have not murdered, I have not committed adultery, I have not stolen anything I am a good moral person. What must I do? I, I, I do you see the problem? “All these I have kept from my youth.” The kingdom is not about I. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is he answered, “Hear O Israel the Lord your God is one, you shall love the lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength this is the first commandment, and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The greatest of all teachings is that we should acknowledge that we are not the center of the universe. We are not the most important thing but God and others are. It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom, not because they have wealth. We often get caught up on that aspect of the story. When Jesus teaches about wealth he does not mean what we mean when speaking of wealth. Yes, there are similarities but what was wealth in ancient times? Who had wealth?
Those that had wealth were the rulers. They were the kings, the emperors, the warlords that get power and maintain power by the strong arm bearing a sword. Jesus told us that the poor will always be with us. He is telling us that there will be those that exploit and those that will be exploited. There will be those that will rule and those that will be ruled. There will be those that have and those that will not have. This is the way of the world. And those that have, like having. They like the prestige, the love, the fame. They like that people will do things for them, they like that people want their attention. They like the respect. They bear the image of God in vain, they are not reflecting that of God, but they are putting themselves above God. It is pride.
The kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of the world. The world is focused on I, but the kingdom of God is submission to God and to your neighbor.
We look at our world today and we wonder why people are leaving the church, why are people deconstructing, how can people that have no faith at all appear more moral than those within the church? I want to ask a simple question, are we seeking to love God with all that we have and our neighbor as ourselves or are we seeking something else? Are we willing to go, sell, give and follow or do we want power?
The disciples said, “See, we have left everything and followed you,” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundred fold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
We do not do for our sake. We do not give for our sake. All we do is for the glory and honor of the one whose name and image we bear. That is where our focus is to be. Nations and power comes and goes. Influence rises and falls. But one thing remains, God and those around us. It is not about I or even us, but them. Will we love God and our neighbor or will we desire the kingdoms of this world.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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