35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” ~ Mark 10:35-40
Today, we return to Mark 10 where the Lord Jesus continued to provide for His disciples a crash course on discipleship. Up to this point in the narrative, there had been quite a clash between the thinking of the disciples and that of the Lord Jesus. The disciples idea of greatness and that of the Lord Jesus could not have been more different. Where as greatness to the disciples looked like being in the place of preeminence, greatness to the Lord is seen as leastness.
In v.35 of today's passage we read, "Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. 'Teacher,' they said, 'we want you to do for us whatever we ask.'"
The sons of Zebedee, James and John had their eyes on the positions of greatness, and, this is why they were fearful. According to Matthew's Gospel, it was the mother of James and John who made the request. They were asking for something which the Lord Jesus had given them every reason to ask for, just a few days before. In Matthew's account of this story, the Lord Jesus had promised them that when He came into His glory they would sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what they had in mind as they walked up to Jerusalem, but their idea of the thrones they were to sit on and the Lord's idea of those thrones were quite different.
In v.36-37 of today's passage we read, "36 'What do you want me to do for you?' he asked. 37 They replied, 'Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.'"
When we are at the helm of our lives, we instinctively know that there is much to fear. When we experience God's sovereignty, we begin the process of being freed from fear to faith in the God of the Bible. The more we risk His faithfulness, the more we experience His faithfulness. And, the more of Him we see and experience, the more we are granted stability in our souls.
In v.38 of today's passage we read, "'You don’t know what you are asking,' Jesus said. 'Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?'"
Here, the Lord Jesus used two items to help us understand what He was facing: a cup, and baptism. The cup symbolized the realm of ones experience, the circumstances into which we find ourselves. In the Old Testament the figure was also used of things which are not so joyful. Jeremiah speaks of Israel as having to drink the cup of the fury of the Lord at his hand. This cup of fury was their lot due to their sinfulness.
Of course, for the Lord Jesus, the metaphor of the cup and baptism represented the cross upon which He would hang and die. This cup was given to Him by His Father, and, He eventually drank it that our sin could be forgiven. Later, in the Garden of Gethsemene, He prayed, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will but yours be done." The baptism was also a metaphor to illustrate how He would be overwhelmed by the flood of the judgement of God on our behalf.
In v.39-40 of today's passage we read, "39 'We can,' they answered. Jesus said to them, 'You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.'"
The disciples responded to the question from the Lord Jesus as to whether they could drink the cup with, "We can." Often in the Gospels these two were referred to as "the sons of thunder" giving indication that they were tough guys. It does not matter how tough any of us are, we will never be able to provide forgiveness of sin for all of mankind. They had not connected all of the dots, thus they responded out of their ignorance. But, as history shows, both James and John served very important roles with regard to the advancement of the gospel in this world.
When God is at work in our lives, He always starts with us, not with events. He shapes our lives to fit the circumstances. When we take control of our lives, this process is reversed and we never get the results we want. And, it is then that fear begins to set in. Like us, the disciples had a poor understanding of the cup and the baptism of which the Lord Jesus spoke, therefore they concluded the wrong thing about their abilities and the purpose of their lives at that moment. After losing the Lord Jesus they learned to depend upon Him more. This is greatness in the eyes of the Lord: when we are most dependent upon Him.
As it turned out, James was the very first of the apostles to be martyred, as recorded in Acts 22. And, John was the last of the Apostles to die on the Isle of Patmos. These two brothers formed a parenthesis of martyrdom among those early disciples. All of the disciples, as it turn out, were put to death for the sake of the Lord Jesus. When we get to the place where we recognize the enormity of our salvation, we too will recognize the blessing of laying down our lives not for the forgiveness of our sin but for the advancement of the good news the Lord Jesus came to provide.
