Reflection on Mark 10:35-45

Mark 10:35-45

35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42So Jesus called them and said to them,“You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

 

Reflection

I am going to give James and John the benefit of the doubt here.  When they ask Jesus to grant them to sit at his right and his left hand in his glory, I am going to assume that they are not necessarily seeking power and glory for themselves, even though the other disciple’s red-faced anger reveals that they are certain James and John are trying to do exactly that.  I am simply going to assume that James and John are like our kids, fighting to sit next to the adult of their choice whenever we go out to eat at a restaurant.  They are not maliciously trying to keep the other children away from their chosen adult (who, in full disclosure, is never me).  They just want to be close to the adult they love.  I assume that James and John just want to be close with Jesus.

I get that.  I also want to be close with Jesus.  I have wanted to be close for a long time.  During my college years, I had sort of a mystical understanding about this getting close to God business.  I reasoned: if Christ is the source of all life, and he is still making all things new right as we speak, then if I just stay still enough, I will be able to feel his life and his love at work.  It was kind of like someone standing in a thunderstorm, trying to feel the static electricity build up, hair raising up on head, before the lightning strikes…which I do not suggest trying.  I reasoned that if I stayed still enough I would feel his power and be at one with him in peace.

Meditation, thus, was my primary form of prayer.  I am not sure I ever pulled it off.  Mostly I would come out of my meditations with a backache, no nearer to Christ.  But, like James and John, I wanted to be near Christ!  I think we all want that.

Years later I had a co-worker who also wanted to be close to God.  We worked together scraping rust off of an old Corp of Engineers steamboat.  While we scraped he talked about his desire to get closer to God.  “If I can get closer to God,” he would say, “then God will reward me and I can get out of this rust hole.”  That was not a metaphor.  We were literally scraping rust in a hole.  “I know that God wants the best for me.  I know that God wants me to be successful in life, and rich.  Can you help me to know God better so that I can be successful and rich?”

It was at this point that I made the mistake of telling my coworker that I was training to be a pastor.  You know how, if you bake a good apple pie for someone once, they will keep asking for it all the time?  Well, this is the pastor version of that. 

He would talk endlessly about how God wanted him to be successful.  After days of this, our rust hole started to feel pretty small and cramped.  But, he was convinced that I could teach him the secrets of God and being rich…I mean blessed.  After-all, the guy who is scraping rust in a hole next to you is the obvious choice for holy, financial advice.

I could not give him what he wanted.  Not only was I bad at finances, but I knew this story of James and John all too well.  I knew that, like James and John, he wanted glory and reward, not sacrifice and cross bearing.  The church I went to had a huge wooden cross right in the middle of it, representing Christ’s suffering as it loomed over us.  I could not possibly miss the message that cross was sending.

“How about you check out that church on the edge of town,” I suggested.  “You know, the one where the pastor pulls up every Sunday morning in a Ferrari.”  Needless to say, a Ferrari was never in my blessed future.

Yeah, I know, it is easy to judge the guy, but how is his desire to know God more and get the benefit of nice things in life any different than my desire to know God more and get the benefit of peace in life?  We both wanted something from God.  We both came with hands open, expecting them to be filled properly.

“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you,” James and John ask, hands open…waiting to be filled (Mark 10:35). 

“What do you want?” Jesus wisely responds. 

What did they want?  They wanted to be a part of God's glory.  They wanted to sit to the right and to the left of Jesus on his throne.  They wanted to be near God. 

They did not know what they were asking though.  They just did not understand that they may want to go to the charlatan on the edge of town who drives a Ferrari because ahead of Jesus is a Great, Big Cross.  Christ's throne of glory is a cross.  And, the seats to the right and to the left of him?  James and John cannot have them because they have already been reserved for two criminals who will die with Jesus.

“The last will be first, and the first will be last” (Mark 10:31).

Greatness, being one with God, is not defined by power and glory, or even eternal peace.  Rather, greatness it is defined by serving.  “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). To be great is to serve those whom God cares about.  Serving the hungry.  Healing the physically and mentally ill.  Caring for the children.  Loving the total mess up.  Forgiving the sinner.  Getting down and dirty with those whom most people in polite company would simply push away.  Dying to save those same lowly people on a cross; that is glory.  Do you want to see glory?  Look at Jesus’ life.  Do you want to be a part of glory?  Spend time next to Jesus with the lowly, the least, and the unloved, and then hang with him on the cross.

Come to think of it, that is where Jesus usually comes to look for me when I am lost.  It seems, over and over again in life, when it is most apparent that Jesus has come to rescue and heal me, it is whenever I am at my lowest.  Why does he come then?  Maybe, I am more receptive to Jesus at those times.  Or, maybe, it is because when I am low, I am precisely the person who Jesus loves to serve. 

Jesus taught, “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.  For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).

Again and again in the scriptures we see that Jesus takes the time to serve the last and the least.

Time.  Have you ever thought of time as a blessing from God?  It really is. 

Over the years during stewardship time, you have been encouraged to think about your money as a blessing and have been encouraged to give at least ten percent of it toward the ministry of Jesus Christ.  But, have you ever thought of time as a blessing from God?

God created time after-all.  God intentionally placed you within it.  And, God decided to enter into it, sending his Son Jesus to serve during his limited time on earth. 

How your time is spent is important.  Allow Jesus to draw you away from your usual notions of glory and riches.  You wanted to be close to him anyway, right?  Allow Jesus to lead you into using your time in the most life-giving way possible: using it for another person’s sake.

We modern people waste so much time on our phones, and watching our televisions, and spending time anywhere but where Jesus is begging us to follow.  But, for Jesus, life with him looks like serving others, and giving “his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Do you want to be near Jesus, to sit at his right and his left?  Then find him where he lives: wherever there is suffering.  There, Jesus can be seen seating on the throne of the cross.