Mark 10

Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as he usually did, he taught them.

Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

“What did Moses command you?” he answered.

They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus said.

“But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female.

That's why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife,

and the two become one flesh. So they're no longer two, but one flesh.

So what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.

And he said, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.

And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples told them off.

When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and don't stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

I'm telling you straight, anyone who won't take the kingdom of God like a little child will never go into it.”

And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees in front of him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “Nobody is good — except God alone.

You know the commandments: ‘Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't give false testimony, don't defraud, honour your father and mother.’”

“Teacher,” he said, “all these I've kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you're short of,” he said. “Go, sell everything you've got and give to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to go into the kingdom of God.”

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to go into the kingdom of God.

It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who's rich to go into the kingdom of God.”

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God.”

Peter said to him, “We've left everything to follow you.”

“I'm telling you straight,” Jesus said, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age — homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields, along with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

“We're going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They'll condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles,

who'll mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. And after three days he'll rise.”

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

They said, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

“You don't know what you're asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink, or be baptised with the baptism I'm baptised with?”

“We can,” they said. And Jesus said to them, “You'll drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I'm baptised with,

but to sit at my right or left isn't mine to give. Those places belong to those they've been prepared for.”

When the ten heard about this, they got indignant with James and John.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are counted as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials throw their weight around.

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

Because even the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus — that is, son of Timaeus — was sitting by the roadside begging.

When he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Plenty of them told him off and said he should be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up. On your feet. He's calling you.”

Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” And straight away he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.