Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Mark 10 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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What if greatness looks nothing like the ladder we’ve been climbing? We walk through Mark 10 and watch Jesus challenge our instincts on marriage, children, money, leadership, and what it means to truly see. The chapter opens with a hard but hopeful word on divorce, pushing past legal loopholes to reveal God’s heart for covenant love. Marriage, in Jesus’ frame, isn’t a contract of convenience; it’s a living picture of faithful, self-giving love that points to Christ and the church.

From there, we shift to the sound of small voices. The disciples try to keep children at a distance, and Jesus pulls them close. That simple act exposes a deeper value system: the kingdom is received, not achieved, and those who come with empty hands are closest to the door. Then comes the rich young ruler, eager and moral, yet unable to release what owns him. Jesus looks at him and loves him, then invites him to surrender and find true treasure. When the man walks away sad, we confront a sobering truth: salvation isn’t about trying harder; with man it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Jesus predicts his death again, making clear the cross isn’t an accident—it’s the plan where justice and love meet. As James and John angle for prestige, Jesus flips power on its head: whoever would be great must be servant of all. Authority isn’t dismissed; it’s redeemed through service, patterned after the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. The chapter closes with Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who won’t be silenced. He cries out, names Jesus as Son of David, receives mercy, and sees. Ironically, the one without sight recognizes the King.

If you’re wrestling with commitment, achievement, or being seen by God, Mark 10 offers a clear path: honor covenant love, welcome the small, release the grip of wealth and status, serve instead of striving for the spotlight, and cry out for mercy. If this conversation encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can join us on the journey.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck along with Pastor Holland, and we're talking Mark chapter 10. We're going to outline it. Uh, we're going to find some observations. We're going to make some interpret interpretations about the character of God and the nature of people. And then we're going to find an application for our daily life. First off, outline. So Mark 10, 1 through 12 talks about Jesus' teaching on divorce, which is a huge teaching because it's so valuable to understand marriage, then ultimately God's design for men and women. Then we're going to look at how Jesus blesses the children and why he wants them to come to him and what that means for us in verses 13 through 16. We then encounter the rich young ruler who uh wants to follow Jesus, but then Jesus gives him a crazy cost to follow him in verses 17 through 31, and we find out that true treasure is found in surrender, not in our wealth. Then in chapter verses 32 through 34, we got the prediction of Jesus' death and resurrection. And then we've got just after that, James and John come up with their uh request for leadership or power in the kingdom of God. And then finally, we have the healing of blind Bartimaeus in verses 46 through 52. All right, let's get into some observations. Holland, what did you see in this chapter?

Pastor Holland:

Uh, I love a couple of things in here that just kind of stand out. One is Jesus' attitude toward children and just the way that he takes the children in his arms, he blesses them, um, you know, in contrast with the disciples who, you know, wanted to keep the children away. So I just love that, the heart of Jesus there. And then um also in the rich young ruler, um, it says that when Jesus looked at him, he loved him and said, you know, what Jesus said. And so I think you just see um Jesus' heart of love um in a special way in this passage.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I love that. I think one of the things that strikes me is how strongly Jesus goes after divorce. Yeah. Like that is like pretty strong. Very strong. Uh, and it seems like he takes the Mosaic law and says, Hey, listen, I know that Moses gave you a certificate of divorce, but that was because of your hardness of heart. Here's God's intention. Yes, what marriage should be. Right. And I really think that's just a powerful reminder for what God's heart for marriage is and what lies behind it of it really. And Paul makes it more clear uh in Ephesians 5 that it's to represent God's love, Jesus' love and relationship with the church. And that how what a perfect picture of that. Well, a great picture of that is husband and wife. And that's where a husband would sacrifice himself for his wife, and a wife would submit to her husband as the church does to Jesus. Um, clearly, we live in a fallen world, and so when we can emulate that really well as Christians, it says a lot about the kingdom of God. Your marriage could be a huge witnessing tool. Okay. What else do you see here?

Pastor Holland:

Um I think the uh I just the rich young ruler story I think is really interesting. And um, you know, it brought up Jesus' how he looked at him and loved him, but uh in love, he said something that was very hard for the rich young ruler to hear. And so I think sometimes we think that um, you know, it's you to love someone is to affirm everything that they believe. To love someone is to, you know, not hurt their feelings or say anything that would make them sad. And yet here we see Jesus clearly loving this man and yet giving something that giving him a teaching that made the man walk away disheartened and sad. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

And I think this is where uh uh Second Corinthians, forgive my lack of exact verse, but there's a difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Here is a worldly sorrow that he is sad because he is being convicted by Jesus and it just makes him sad. It doesn't make him want to change. And godly sorrow would be like, sweet, I'm following you, Jesus, whatever you ask.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

And it just shows, and and I think people sometimes look, it's like who the disciples ask the right question. Who then can't be saved? Because how are they supposed to know and about you know that it's Jesus, the Messiah? He looks like everybody else, but he's saying such difficult teachings, he's doing these crazy miracles, and the way that you believe is the way that Peter believed is that it's revealed to you by your father in heaven. And so that's the ultimate joy that we have that people are saved, not because of our works or even our attitudes, because of the grace of God. Um, all right. How about uh what other things stuck out to you? I I I think it's interesting that Jesus brings up having to die over and over again. Yeah. And the disciples are confused, and then also maybe why why this specific plan? Couldn't we do Jesus have done another way where he didn't have to take on the wrath of God? That's a great question. I mean, and I guess he probably would have thought of it if there was any other way. He was praying for it, and we find that in Matthew, or sorry, Luke 22, where he prays for another way, and the father says essentially no and strengthens him for the the task at hand.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, it is interesting because you go, couldn't God just forgive our sin without this? Right. Couldn't he just pardon us? And it's very clear, though, that this was God's plan, that he would um forgive our sin via an atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, taking the penalty we deserve. Um, and Jesus, you know, it's a very hard teaching for his followers to accept. It's not what they were expecting, even though it was prophesied, you know, even though the whole sacrificial system pointed to this. I think it's just it was such a hard teaching for them to comprehend that he gives it three times in the gospel.

Pastor Plek:

And it also goes straight to the love and joy, or sorry, love and justice. Like the Jesus, um, he as God in his ultimate justice cannot just wink at sin and be like, I don't know. Think about all the murders, all the tragedy, all the wicked things that we've seen, and these are unrepentant people who, in a sense, get away with it. If all they do is just die and you know, eat, drink, and be a merry for tomorrow we die, and I'm gonna murder whoever I need to murder and kill whoever I need to kill and cheat whoever needs to cheat, then there is no justice in the world, so nothing matters. But on the flip side, if God punishes that, then what degree he's gonna have to punish everything? And so Jesus, in his ultimate act of love, takes on the wrath of God uh for us, and then we are given new hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, which I just super grateful for. Amen. All right. What and I know this might, I just thought it was fascinating that James and John on the heels of Jesus talking about his death, burial, resurrection, they're worried about power. They're worried about messianic, I need to be on the right and left. Don't you understand? And and to a degree, you know, if if you were to ask my children, everyone's sort of vying for attention, everyone's vying for I want to be the in charge, I want to be the most loved or most whatever. What is going on with that question? And then what do you think uh Jesus' response means?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, they so the question or the request, grant us to sit, one at your right hand, one at your left, in your glory. It's like we want to be your top dudes. And um he says, you know, are you able to drink um the cup that I drink? And they say, we are able. So they're like, we'll, you know, it's kind of like Peter when he's like, No matter what, I'll never, you know, leave you. I'll never deny you. There is an overestimation of their own kind of ability and also a misplaced priority on, you know, Jesus' priority is clearly him, his mission right now is the suffering servant. Right. And they're, you know, really hyper-focused on the glory. And he Jesus is trying to redirect their attention to glory will come, but right now, stop thinking, you know, you need to be thinking about what it looks like for you to follow this pathway of um sacrificial service and taking up your cross uh rather than what position you're gonna have in heaven. And so I love that. Um they were probably thinking on earth, right? Or yeah, or on earth. Yeah, true. Um the other ten get indignant, you know, um, and he corrects, he gives a correction uh addressing the issue, basically saying, like, you it seems to be saying that like the the idea they had of power and authority, not that power or authority are bad, but that it would come, you know, in a self-serving kind of way. Yeah. That's what he that's what the criticism of the Gentiles, uh, the rulers of the Gentiles, they lord it over people. You know, it's a self-serving kind of power. And I so I think that's the problem that James and John had. Not that they desired some measure of power or authority at all, but rather a self-serving, self-glory kind of uh position. Does that make sense? Oh, yeah, for sure.

Pastor Plek:

All right, I want to go into blind Bartimaeus. I love the fact that he is annoying. Like uh he does not care. He does not care. He is gonna he's gonna shout and he goes, Son of David. Like he knows who Jesus is. They rebuke him, tell him to be silent, but he cried out all the time. He cried out all the more. And I wonder if we just get annoyed at people who cry out for Jesus, or if uh that's encouraging, and maybe we need to do more crying out for Jesus to have mercy on us and to forgive us, heal us, and all that.

Pastor Holland:

Also, the irony of this passage, it's so funny that um it's the blind man who sees, you know, who really recognizes Jesus. Uh he's the son of David, he's the, you know, the one who can heal and grant mercy, and the people who can see are spiritually blind and miss who he is. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

All right, let's get into some uh three truths about maybe the nature of man uh that we can kind of pull from here that kind of help us. What do we what do we learn about the nature of man here?

Pastor Holland:

We value worldly wealth over spiritual wealth. Um, the rich young ruler was promised treasure in heaven. Yeah. If he were to sell his possessions and follow Jesus, and he he would he chose his earthly possessions instead. Right.

Pastor Plek:

He wants a temporary fix as opposed to an eternal glory. I think we all are nearsighted when it comes to the the the rewards that Jesus offers. Okay. Um yeah, I think on that same vein, I think we understand we misunderstand what true greatness is naturally. Yeah. Jesus says the the least of all will be the greatest, and the greatest will be the least. And it's so confusing to wrap your head around that because how often do you think of the least as the greatest?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And children, you know, being an example, their attitude towards children. It's another one on the nature of man is we tend to, you know, attach value or esteem in terms of what someone can offer or contribute rather than you know a person's inherent worth and dignity. And so the children, it's like, get these kids out of here, you know, that they're wasting the important people's time. Right. Right. And Jesus says, no, they they matter. I love that.

Pastor Plek:

Um, I love like the everybody comes to Christ in a crisis. Uh and so the Bartimaeus is at is at a point of crisis that clearly because he's blind and he's living a life of and when he gets the opportunity in his crisis to meet Jesus, he just goes all in. And when the rich young ruler he comes to an existential crisis, but he had he can't he would rather go for what he knew, which was comfort, as opposed to what he didn't know, which was trusting Jesus. Yeah. And it might just get into why it's so hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, because Bartimaeus, he has nothing to lose, he has everything to gain. Right. Um, what about character of God? What are you seeing here about God's character?

Pastor Holland:

Um, his omnipotence. You see, uh in verse 27, with man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. You see his omnipotence and also his, you know, ability to save, his sovereignty over salvation. Yeah. What we can't do ourselves, God can do.

Pastor Plek:

So I like that. How about a verse, specifically verse 21 through 23? Like God's call for people to surrender for eternal treasure, greatness, something better on earth. He calls you to surrender what you can see for that which you can't.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. God is uh He He loves to serve. Um Jesus being Lord of all, you know, the Son of God. He he came not to be served, but to serve. Verse 45.

Pastor Plek:

Um how about Um God hears our cries. Yeah. I I I know that might be just really simple. Uh I think there's a lot of us that sometimes we don't cry out to Jesus because he's too busy. He's got a lot of things, he's got wars and he's got corporate greed, and he's got uh politics issues to handle. Why would he have time for me? And Bartimaeus, little man in the totem pole, cries out and Jesus hears him in response in compassion. Um, how about this? Let's get into some application using specs, in to avoid, promise to claim, example to follow, command to obey, or knowledge to believe. What you got?

Pastor Holland:

Example to follow. Um blessing the children as uh, you know, in in your own personal attitude. So yeah, I'm thinking of like at a community group or in your church or something, and you know, and just if there's a kid making noise or you know, a baby running around, you know, a toddler running around or whatever, and instead of being like, man, get these annoying kids out of here so the adults can have real important kind of, you know, do our adult worship stuff. Take on the posture of Jesus of receive the children, love them, bless them, include them. Um yeah.

Pastor Plek:

How about this? Cindovoid, attachment to wealth, or maybe this attachment to having a little bit more than everybody else. Like James and John, they just want to have a little bit more power than the other disciples. The rich young ruler, he was good with following Jesus as long as he didn't have to give up his power or wealth. That's good. Um, or maybe it's pride or even the self-reliance. It's it's just there's something there that there's an attachment to this world and the system of the world that we get stuck on.

Pastor Holland:

Uh, blind Bartimaeus, uh, an example to follow. Don't let anybody stop you from calling on Jesus. I love that. Hey, that's it for today.

Pastor Plek:

We'll see you tomorrow on a chapter a day.

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