Mác 10

What God has joined

¹Jesus set out from there and came to the districts of Judea and the land beyond the Jordan. Crowds came together around him again, and he taught them once more, as he usually did.

²Some people asked him whether the law allows a husband to divorce his wife. They were trying to trap him.^{a 3}He replied with a question: “What did Moses command you?” ⁴They said, “Moses allowed a man to write out a certificate of divorce and send his wife away.” ⁵But Jesus told them, “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote this commandment for you. ⁶But at the beginning, when the world was created, God made them male and female. ⁷‘This is why a man will leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸and the two of them will be one flesh.’ And so they are two no longer, but one flesh.^{b 9}What God has yoked together, then, no human being is to separate.”

¹⁰Back in the house, the disciples asked him about this again. ¹¹He told them, “A man commits adultery against his wife if he divorces her and marries another woman. ¹²And a woman who divorces her husband and marries another man commits adultery.”

Let the children come

¹³People were bringing young children to him so that he would touch them, but the disciples scolded them. ¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was angry and told them, “Allow the children to come to me. Do not try to stop them, because it is to people like them that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God the way a child does will never get into it.” ¹⁶Then he took the children in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

A rich man’s question

¹⁷As Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up to him, fell on his knees in front of him, and asked, “Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸Jesus answered, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹You know what the commandments say: ‘Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Do not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰“Teacher,” he replied, “I have obeyed all of these since I was a boy.” ²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “You are missing one thing,” he told him. “Go and sell everything you own, and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. After that, come and follow me.”^{c 22}At these words his face clouded over, and he went away sad, for he owned a great deal of property.

²³Jesus looked around and told his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴The disciples were amazed at what he said. But Jesus said to them again, “My children, how hard it is to get into the kingdom of God!^{d 25}A camel could pass through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich person could enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶They were utterly amazed and said to each other, “Who can be saved, then?” ²⁷Jesus looked straight at them and said, “For human beings it cannot be done, but not for God. God can do anything.”

²⁸Peter spoke up: “Look, we have left everything behind to follow you.” ²⁹Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, anyone who has left a home, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children or land because of me and because of the gospel ³⁰will receive a hundred times as much now, in this present time: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land, together with persecutions. And in the age that is coming they will receive eternal life. ³¹Yet many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”

On the road up to Jerusalem

³²They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, with Jesus going on ahead of them. The disciples were astonished, and the others who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve with him and began telling them the things that were about to happen to him. ³³“We are on our way up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and there the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, who will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴They will make fun of him, spit on him, whip him and kill him; and three days later he will rise.”

Not to be served but to serve

³⁵Then James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came up to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we would like you to do whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶“What would you like me to do for you?” he asked them. ³⁷They answered, “Grant that when you are in your glory, one of us may sit on your right and one on your left.” ³⁸Jesus said to them, “You have no idea what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup that I am drinking, or be baptized with the baptism I am going through?” ³⁹“We can,” they told him. Jesus told them, “The cup I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism I am going through you too will be baptized. ⁴⁰But a seat at my right or at my left is not mine to grant. Those places belong to the ones for whom they have been prepared.”

⁴¹When the other ten heard about this, they became angry with James and John. ⁴²Jesus called them to him and told them, “You know that those who are thought of as rulers of the nations lord it over their people, and their important men use their power over them. ⁴³That is not how it is among you. Instead, whoever among you wants to become great must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever among you wants to be first must serve everyone as a slave. ⁴⁵The Son of Man himself came, not so that others would serve him, but to serve them and to give his life as the ransom price for many.”^e

Blind Bartimaeus

⁴⁶Then they came to Jericho. As he was going out of Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting beside the road. ⁴⁷When he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth, he started to shout, “Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸Many people scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he kept shouting even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹Jesus stood still and said, “Call him over.” So they called to the blind man and told him, “Take courage! Get up! He is calling you.” ⁵⁰He threw off his cloak, sprang to his feet and came to Jesus. ⁵¹Jesus said to him in reply, “What would you like me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabbouni, I want to see again.” ⁵²Jesus told him, “Go. Your faith has saved you and made you well.”^f At once his sight came back, and he followed him along the road.