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14. The Request of the Sons of Zebedee (Mark 10:35-40)
MARK 10:35-40
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.” 36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They said to him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; 40 but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.”
The meek Lamb of God proceeded to the altar of his life, while his disciples disputed about politics, presidency, honor, authority, and predominance, seeking the glory of this world. They did not recognize the necessity of the cross, supposing that they could serve God without repentance and regeneration, and they were proud. John and James followed Jesus. They left their work as fishermen, thinking they were better than the others, because of their family relationship to Jesus, and their belonging to the priestly family. They expected that he would reign on earth with great pomp and glory, and wished to be distinguished in the day of his triumph.
Jesus did not deny their request immediately, but blamed them because they did not know what they were asking. He condemned their intentions, and exposed their ignorance and shortsightedness with his searching question: could they drink the cup of God’s wrath, and bear the baptism of the sufferings of the cross? It appears, from their answer, that they did not know their weakness and corruption, nor did they know the holy God in his anger, or the need for the Lamb of God, and the necessity of Jesus’ death. They failed in the test of following Jesus, for the Holy Spirit had not yet dwelt in them, nor had they experienced the knowledge of their deep sins or their justification by the cross. They were spiritually blind, and humanly arrogant.
It is astonishing that Jesus did not refuse their preparedness to suffer with him while they were not renewed, but declared to them that following him means suffering for the sake of serving others. As Jesus the righteous suffered for sinners, so the baptism of the Holy Spirit does not only come with joy, gifts, and shining certainty, but is also followed by Satan’s temptations, and hatred of those who are possessed with the devil.
Are you prepared to pay the price for following Jesus? Are you willing only to enjoy the grace, or are you prepared to give your life in the midst of mockery and hatred?
The reward for our fellowship with God and his Son is not as John and James imagined. It is impossible for a man to sit at Christ’s left hand, for this is the place of the Father, who seated his Son at his right hand. The request of the sons of Zebedee shows the pride of the devil insinuating the idea into the disciples’ ears, trying to turn them against the Spirit of their Master.
Where is our place in heaven? Are we among those who are brought near, or among those who are taken away? All those who believe in Christ are with his Spirit forever. We are his spiritual body, and are not separated from him. In heaven there is love, spirit, and unity, and not self-esteem, and separation because of pomposity and boastfulness. Jesus prayed asking his Father “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You.”
PRAYER: O Lord, you are patient with us who are proud and ignorant. You did not reject us, but drank the cup of wrath that we might live in the power of your Holy Spirit. You bore the baptism of suffering on the cross that we might be baptized with your Holy Spirit. Forgive our foolishness, our self-esteem, and lust for power. Transform us into your image that we may humble ourselves, and become meek and prepared to serve others, and bear their mocking, their rejection, and their blows, that they may be saved. Amen.
QUESTION:
- How did the question and answer of the sons of Zebedee uncover their spiritual state?