Mark-Lesson 15...Continued from page 1

DAY TWO:  An Amazing Request

Please carefully read Mark 10:35-40 and answer the following questions.

1.  After this clear proclamation of what faced Jesus in Jerusalem, what did James and John, the Sons of Thunder, unbelievably ask Him (v. 35-37)?

NOTE: Matthew 20:20, 21 added that their mother came with them and spoke for them. She was probably a sister of Jesus’ mother (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25), making James and John Jesus’ first cousins. Perhaps they hoped their family ties would help their cause.[iv]  One thing is clear: They didn’t understand what they were asking of Him. 

2.  How did Jesus respond to their request (v. 38)?

3.  When they told Jesus they could share in His “cup” and “baptism,” what was made known to them, and how did Jesus redirect them (v. 39, 40)?

4.  In your glory as it is used in Greek shows that “they were looking for a Jewish world empire with apocalyptic features in the eschatological culmination of the Messiah’s kingdom. That dream brushed aside all the talk of Jesus about his death and resurrection as mere pessimism.”[v]  As Warren Wiersbe well pointed out, James, John, and their mother didn’t understand that it costs something to get answers to prayer. For Jesus to grant their request, He would have to suffer and die, not establish an earthly Kingdom at that time in which they’d rule.[vi]  What are some things that the following passages remind us about seeing prayer answered?

Psalm 106:15; 1 John 5:14,15

James 4:2,3

Scripture Memory:  Try to fill in the missing words in the blanks below, by memory if at all possible, and then review the passage several times today.

For even the Son of Man did not _____________ to be served, but to ________________, and to give His life a ____________________ for many.  Mark 10:45 (nkjv)