Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” “What is your request?” he asked. They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:35-45
Dear God, this was the Gospel Reading from this last Sunday that went along with the Isaiah prophecy about what the Messiah would be like. I think verse 39 is the key that links the two passages:
Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering.”
Then he goes on to teach all of them, not just James and John, what he figured out over the first 30 years of his life:
So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
I read an article this morning that had a headline that caught my eye. It was “If You Answer Yes to This 1 Question, Chances Are You’re a Better Leader Than Most People.” That intrigued me so I found the question. “Did I make a difference in the life of an employee today?” That’s not a bad question. While maybe not completely, it fits fairly well within Jesus’s teaching here. In addition to giving direction and vision, am I serving?
One last thing. I want to go back to Jesus as a boy at the temple. They said he asked questions that astonished the leaders. I’ve always wondered what kinds of questions would have amazed them. Now I wonder if perhaps it was Jesus figuring out these different paradigms for his life than the cultural wisdom had determined and asking the Pharisees about it.
Father, I guess my prayer out of this is that you make me the man you need me to be. As a husband, father, son, leader at work, church member and community citizen. Teach me. Mold me. And lead and love through me.
In Jesus’s name I pray,
Amen
Emails to God 