verse 34

The following are verses from Mark 10 in which Jesus tells His disciples of the things He will suffer when they reach Jerusalem:

verse 33: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;

verse 34: "and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again."

verse 35: Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."

Reread verse 35. Do you ever find yourself pulling this with Jesus? I do. Like the disciples, I can easily gloss over His sacrifice and say, "OK, yeah, the scourging, the spitting, the killing...thanks, Jesus...now what I really want You to do for me is..."

I hope that, despite your needs & wishes & wants, today you will stop at verse 34.

For today may you camp out there...really listening...as if Jesus is speaking to you while you walk the dusty road to Jersusalem. May you ruminate on the truth and reality of His words until they make a change in your heart.

For today may verse 34 be enough.