<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 10;35<div><br></div><div><b>35. &nbsp;And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Jesus had only moments before just told the disciples he was going to Jerusalem to be killed and on the third day he would rise.</div><div><br></div><div>If anyone said to you, ‘I am about to be killed’….would it not seem polite or reasonable&nbsp;for those who heard you say it, to ask&nbsp;more about why or how your&nbsp;impending death was going to happen? &nbsp;Instead, what Jesus said to them was virtually ignored.</div><div><br></div><div>I suppose their confidence in the powers at work in their&nbsp;‘Teacher’ was so certain, (they had seen him do so many miraculous things), that the idea of Jesus being controlled by anyone, was simply beyond comprehension. &nbsp;Jesus was never not in control. &nbsp;There was no way they could imagine that he would ever become a victim of anyone. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>It is very foolish to ever ignore anything Jesus says. &nbsp;But, that is exactly what the disciples did. &nbsp;They simply rejected his words. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Instead, the disciples were expecting that&nbsp;Jesus was going to Jerusalem for a final show-down with the Romans and the corrupt religious leaders. &nbsp;They fully expected he would use his great powers to somehow defeat the Romans, drive them out, and purify their religious worship system. &nbsp;They fully expected and believed that Jesus,&nbsp;(a direct&nbsp;descendant of king David) would rightfully take the throne and restore Israel to her former glory, as under David and Solomon.</div><div><br></div><div>How sorrowful for Jesus, that his closest earthly friends completely failed to understand anything of what he was doing or why he was doing it.</div><div><br></div><div>Instead, according to their selfish sinful natures, they were already looking to their own advantages. &nbsp;They were thinking,&nbsp;‘ It is always good to be the king’s friend…’</div><div><br></div><div>Even today, we are still guilty of ignoring the Word,&nbsp;and instead, we with the disciples want to treat Jesus as some kind of&nbsp;spiritual credit card. &nbsp;We want God to do for us whatever we ask of Him. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>This may be the saddest verse in the entire Bible.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, forgive us for our shallow and selfish understanding of You, Your good will, and the faith. &nbsp;Open the eyes of&nbsp;our hearts to see that You have sent Jesus into this world, and into us, to change us into servants who no longer want to use You to get what they want. &nbsp;Bless us to live in the Mind of Christ and &nbsp;inspire us to instead become Your servants, who mean it when they pray, ‘Thy will be done.’ &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 10;35
35.  And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
Jesus had only moments before just told the disciples he was going to Jerusalem to be killed and on the third day he would rise.
If anyone said to you, ‘I am about to be killed’….would it not seem polite or reasonable for those who heard you say it, to ask more about why or how your impending death was going to happen?  Instead, what Jesus said to them was virtually ignored.
I suppose their confidence in the powers at work in their ‘Teacher’ was so certain, (they had seen him do so many miraculous things), that the idea of Jesus being controlled by anyone, was simply beyond comprehension.  Jesus was never not in control.  There was no way they could imagine that he would ever become a victim of anyone.  
It is very foolish to ever ignore anything Jesus says.  But, that is exactly what the disciples did.  They simply rejected his words.  
Instead, the disciples were expecting that Jesus was going to Jerusalem for a final show-down with the Romans and the corrupt religious leaders.  They fully expected he would use his great powers to somehow defeat the Romans, drive them out, and purify their religious worship system.  They fully expected and believed that Jesus, (a direct descendant of king David) would rightfully take the throne and restore Israel to her former glory, as under David and Solomon.
How sorrowful for Jesus, that his closest earthly friends completely failed to understand anything of what he was doing or why he was doing it.
Instead, according to their selfish sinful natures, they were already looking to their own advantages.  They were thinking, ‘ It is always good to be the king’s friend…’
Even today, we are still guilty of ignoring the Word, and instead, we with the disciples want to treat Jesus as some kind of spiritual credit card.  We want God to do for us whatever we ask of Him.  
This may be the saddest verse in the entire Bible.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, forgive us for our shallow and selfish understanding of You, Your good will, and the faith.  Open the eyes of our hearts to see that You have sent Jesus into this world, and into us, to change us into servants who no longer want to use You to get what they want.  Bless us to live in the Mind of Christ and  inspire us to instead become Your servants, who mean it when they pray, ‘Thy will be done.’  In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”
 

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