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Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles, and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again."
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask." And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able." So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared." And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
- Mark 10:32-45
In yesterday's reading, we were told that as Jesus was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud, 'Honor your father and your mother.'" And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth." Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time -- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions -- and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles, and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again." My study bible tells us: "Here Jesus gives a more detailed disclosure about the events of His Passion and Resurrection, including being handed over to the Gentiles, the Romans. His predictions are fulfilled in chapters. 14-16." This makes the third prophecy of His Passion; Jesus is seeking to fully prepare them for what is to happen at Jerusalem.
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask." And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" A note in my study bible here says, "Jesus says you do not know what you ask because He does not promise a visible kingdom on earth or an immediate, victorious and glorious consummation, but rather toils, struggles and conflicts. Cup and baptism are references to suffering and death. The disciples do not grasp this now. But they will meet both these realities in future persecutions and in the sacramental realities of the cup of the Eucharist (1 Cor. 11:26) and the death and resurrection of baptism (Col. 2:12)." This is the second time any of the apostles speak about their positions in the coming Kingdom. These two brothers form part of Jesus' inner circle, along with Peter. (See Saturday's reading, in which the apostles disputed with one another as to who would be greatest.)
So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared." My study bible says, "A place of honor in the eternal Kingdom will be given by the Father to those for whom it is prepared, that is (according to the Church Fathers) not by God's arbitrary choice but according to a believer's sacrifice and suffering for Christ and the Kingdom."
And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." A note here tells us: "Service is characteristic of true greatness. The model is Christ's incarnate life and death: the perfect man is the perfect servant. Ransom is the price paid for the release of someone held captive. In this case, humanity is released from the bondage of sin and death by Christ's redemptive sacrifice on the Cross."
Jesus shows Himself to be the ultimate example of His teachings about service. Elsewhere He says that "a servant is not greater than his master." Again, as we are on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus repeatedly teaches (as He has done over the past few readings) the importance of sacrifice and service, and that a life lived in His name will entail such. Most importantly, these are men who will be in positions of greatness in His Church, and He's preparing them for what is to come, especially after He is gone. In this sense, the context of His third prophecy or warning about His Passion at Jerusalem is a necessary backdrop, and puts a certain framework ahead of the teaching. Jesus' radical idea of service and sacrifice is that which is lived out in His own life, He teaches by example, and He expects the others to follow. John and James will go on to this baptism and this cup; James will be the first martyred apostle, and John will live into old age first as caretaker of Jesus' mother, later in exile, and in giving us several books of Scripture. (His Gospel will set out the theology of Christ as Son.) In our own lives, I think we can do no better than to remember that we, too, teach by example. In some sense we all teach by example. If we set an example of very careless living, or living just for the power to "lord it over" others, then we set that example. Children often will follow exactly the behavior of their parents, not just what they say, and we can see this happening all around us. Social standards become set by example; we don't live alone as human beings, isolated from one another. Christ bears Himself into the world as the supreme example, and His death on the Cross will symbolize for all of us the taking up of each of our own crosses. He is an incarnational God, with an incarnational ministry. That is, one fully lived out, manifested in his human life with us and with these apostles. In recent readings, He has been called Good Teacher, and while He definitely spends His time teaching, the greatest example that teaches others is His own, the way He lives, and the way He dies, what He does, and what He doesn't do. So we are each of us teachers. If we use the excuse that "sacrifice is good" but ask others to sacrifice for our own aggrandizement and comfort, then perhaps we are teaching the wrong thing. If we ourselves care for others, we are teaching something else. Jesus' greatest criticism comes to hypocrites, who preach one thing but practice another. In all these teachings of His apostles, His repeated desire is for them to look to themselves and to their own behavior, in self-correction, in casting away the things that get in the way of the proper care of the little ones in the Church, even those things that seem most personally precious to the disciples, and here in today's reading. John and James Zebedee are pillars of His ministry; along with Peter, as noted above, they form His inner circle, present at the healing of Jairus' daughter, and also the Transfiguration. In many churches, today is the feast of the Dormition (for Orthodox and some Anglican), or (in Roman Catholicism) the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. For many Protestant traditions as well, this day was historically a day to commemorate Mary, Mother of our Lord. If we look to her life as mother, and that of her husband, Joseph, we see the sacrifices made for this Child, for the life given to them as parents of Jesus. We remember Mary's acceptance of God's word to be this particular Mother, and the holding of the words in her heart regarding her Son, and her faith in Him. Right from the beginning, it involved sacrifice for His protection, and hardship upon themselves. They put not their own lives first, but the Child's. We can imagine her example of love today, which no doubt contributed to her Son's earthly human personality. In His care of His own flock, Jesus has also given us a maternal image, even in His lament over Jerusalem, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" Let us remember that sacrifice, in Jesus' context, is linked to love. The Church from its earliest years has commemorated His mother no doubt by reason of her example. Let us remember the ways in which He calls each of us to be an example of love in His name. As Jesus sets us the example, we learn what, who, and how we are to love from Him. This is worth making all room for, every sacrifice.
