V. The Servant's journey to Jerusalem 8:31--10:52

Having comprehended Jesus' true identity the disciples next turned south with Jesus and headed from Caesarea Philippi toward Jerusalem. This section of the Gospel traces that journey and stresses Jesus' preparation of His disciples for His coming death and resurrection.

"It is no coincidence that the narrator frames the journey to Jerusalem with two healing stories about blindness [8:22-26; 10:46-52], for the journey surely seems dominated by Jesus' urgent efforts to deal with the disciples' blindness to the things of God."²⁰⁵

Mark structured his narrative around three predictions of His passion that Jesus gave the disciples. Each unit begins with a prediction followed by the disciples' reaction. Then follow lessons that Jesus taught them about discipleship. Until now, Mark reported Jesus speaking in veiled terms (cf. 2:20; 4:33-34). From now on He spoke more clearly to both the disciples and the multitudes.

"This openness is theologically significant within the larger context of Jesus' messianic self-revelation in the Gospel of Mark. It points beyond Jesus' hiddenness, which reaches its climax on the cross, to his revealed glory. In the cross and resurrection of Jesus the secret of the Kingdom is thoroughly veiled as well as gloriously revealed. Mark exposes this tension, which is inherent in the gospel, through the reaction of the disciples to Jesus' sober teaching throughout Chs. 8:31-10:52."²⁰⁶

 A. The first passion prediction and its lessons 8:31-9:29

In this section, Mark recorded Jesus' first clear prediction of His passion (8:31), the disciples' reaction to it (8:32-33), and several lessons on discipleship (8:34-9:29).

 B. The second passion prediction and its lessons 9:30-10:31

For a second time, Jesus told His disciples of His coming death and resurrection (cf. 8:31). Again they failed to understand what He meant (cf. 8:32-33). Jesus responded by teaching them additional lessons on discipleship (cf. 8:34-9:29).

 C. The third passion prediction and its lessons 10:32-52

This is the last time Jesus told His disciples that He was going to die and rise again as He approached Jerusalem. Each time Jesus gave them more information than He had given before. The first time the disciples reacted violently (8:32). The second time they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him for an explanation (9:32). This time Mark recorded no reaction to His announcement except that an argument about who would be the greatest in the kingdom followed immediately. Clearly the disciples were not comprehending what was coming because they continued to focus increasingly on the coming physical kingdom and their roles in it. Nevertheless Jesus continued to teach them lessons of discipleship that they needed.