Suffering Servants: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark

If Jesus had called his disciples to sit and sip Highlander Grog all day and read, I would be sanctified holy! But alas that gospel call on the life of the follower of Christ is much more complex and challenging. A summary of what it means to be a disciple might be seen in the gospel of John. John 15 :20 states, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” We’re going to have to face what our Master faced. To follow Jesus means to “take up our cross” (Mark 8:34), it means that we must be willing to suffering like Jesus. After all, if Jesus was the Suffering Servant than we are his suffering servants.

The crux of the Gospel of Mark might be found in Mark 10:45 where Jesus states, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” There’s those dual themes we saw from last week. Son of Man and Servant. Jesus has the right to all authority and dominion, and yet he attains it by means of his crucifixion. The Gospel of Mark teaches much on this theme of service and builds a whole discipleship model from it. The theology of Mark, then, presents a picture of discipleship as service for the glory of God.

In Mark 9 Jesus makes the point abundantly clear. The disciples are traveling with Jesus and they have been secretly arguing amongst themselves about who is the greatest. Jesus says, so long as that is your approach no one will be greatest. Look at what the Master says:

³³ And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”  ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.  ³⁵ And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”  ³⁶ And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,  ³⁷ “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” (Mark 9:33-37)

It happens again in chapter 10. Here Peter is announcing with some confidence that the disciples have left everything to follow after Jesus. But Jesus reminds him that it wasn’t giving up something, but gaining something. The disciples so-called sacrifice is really just a transfer of one gift for something greater. God will reward those who seek after Jesus. But then he adds, undoubtedly to their surprise, that while they will receive rewards in this life they will also receive persecutions. The text reads:

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.” (Mark 10:28-31)

God will bless them with homes, families, lands, and … persecutions! And then he adds but if you try to put yourself first, then in the Kingdom fo God you will be last. Following Jesus comes with great blessing, but it’s not easy. The most pronounced example of this call to suffering servanthood, however, is found in Mark chapter 8.

In the context of this important passage Jesus is declaring what awaits him. He is going up to Jerusalem to die. But upon hearing this Peter is overwhelmed with emotions (fear? anger?) and he actually rebukes Jesus. After all, the disciples, throughout the Gospel of Mark, are continually seen to be spiritually blind. They are still believing that Jesus is, at some level, their political messiah. He has come to rescue them from Roman oppression. And the way of the cross, the way of suffering and death, is not, in their minds, the way to victory. So Peter rebukes Jesus to remind him of the mission. But Jesus calls Peter’s rebuke the work of Satan. No doubt a shock to Peter. But what Peter would do is actually undermine the very mission which Jesus came to fulfill. And in his rebuke Jesus warns the disciples: the only true followers are those who are willing to sacrifice, serve, and die like me. Here’s how the text reads:

³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  ³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  ³⁴ And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.  ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?  ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his life?  ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:31-38)

We’ve made discipleship in much of the Western church far more simple that Jesus made it. We call people to come to Christ to get a better life, but Jesus called men to follow him in order that they might lay down their lives for the gospel and the kingdom.

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? It means to be willing to serve others above yourself. It means being willing to die for the sake of the Kingdom of God. It means being willing to sacrifice your wants and your needs to see the glory of God proclaimed in all the world. That’s a big challenge to the easy-believism of our church culture. It’s a big challenge to me on Monday mornings when I sip my coffee and study the gospel of Mark. How am I living to fulfill the mission of God? How are you living as a disciple of the Suffering Servant?