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Now they were going 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
Yesterday we read 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 came 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 going 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." The disciples are both amazed and afraid, because Jesus is boldly going to Jerusalem, leading the way to the place He has avoided throughout His ministry. They know that the leadership is plotting against Him. Being both amazed and afraid is a repeated reaction to Jesus in the Gospels. This is the third time Jesus has predicted His Passion, and it's more vivid than before. He prophesies they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him. My study bible says that His repeated predictions of the Passion were intended to encourage and strengthen the disciples for the terrifying events they would face. It also clearly affirms that, knowing what is going to happen, He goes voluntarily of His own will and choosing.
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." Perhaps John and James are inspired by Jesus' setting His sights on and leading His way toward Jerusalem. They feel the Kingdom is imminent, as they understand Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah (Jesus has, after all, prophesied that He will rise again on the third day). We can sense the focus of the request, even though Jesus has just prophesied quite clearly and graphically His suffering and death. To sit on His right hand and His left is to hold the places of highest honor in His Kingdom.
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." John and James Zebedee will indeed drink the cup of martyrdom and persecution. James will be the first martyr among the apostles, and John will face exile and persecution. My study bible explains that to drink the cup is an indication once again of the voluntary nature of such sacrifices, and the baptism Jesus refers to is death (He was completely immersed in it, and yet it cleansed the world -- see Romans 6:3-6). Jesus' Kingdom is one which is not ruled with the arbitrary power of worldly kings of His time, nor with the sheer manipulative power we might understand today. Rather it is one of voluntary service; the places of honor are prepared by God. St. John Chrysostom writes that no one could occupy an equal place on the right and the left of Christ. In the Orthodox church, the places of saints (human beings given honor) are chiefly occupied by icons on the right and the left of Christ: the Virgin Mary (most blessed among women), and John the Baptist (greatest born of women).
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." This is the clearest expression by Jesus of the difference between worldly power and the power of the Kingdom. To "lord it over" others is not the aim and goal of holy power, but to serve. He sets the supreme example of service by the example of the His death, to give His life a ransom for many. For many, explains my study bible, is an Aramaic expression that means "for all."
So what is power? How does one use power? What is greatness, and how is it connected to being a "man of power" (or a person of power) within the ranks of hierarchy and ruling position? These are questions we're invited to think about in today's reading. To be the greatest in a kingdom is a question of authority, of strength, and of position. But Jesus' aim in His ministry is not for worldly power. His aim is to bring a different kind of Kingdom into the world. His aim is for a heavenly Kingdom, the will of the Father to be done "on earth as it is in heaven." What does it mean to be a part of a Kingdom in which Christ is at the helm? Certainly in today's reading He teaches us the first rule. Those who would be greatest must be servants of all. I think we cannot get this confused with simply the desire to do what others ask of us. (Jesus does not simply give to John and James what they desire.) The head of this Kingdom is Christ, and He teaches us to pray that the will of the Father be done on earth as it is in heaven. We know where our direction comes from. Service does not mean simply doing what others would desire of us without discernment. Without discernment we have no sense of what this Kingdom is about, because we leave behind its direction, its head, its true nature. Service by Christ, in the form of His Passion and death and Resurrection, comes to all by virtue of its benefits, blessings, and liberation offered and given for all human beings. It comes in obedience to the will of the Father, not "going along" with the leadership and their choices. Humility, as the greatest saintly virtue, becomes the capacity to sacrifice in order to serve God and humanity; it is a necessary quality for discernment, the capacity to serve God -- to place God's will ahead of one's own. Christ stands worldly power on its head not simply by teaching about service and humility, but by sacrificing "worldly" notions of what is good for God's notions of what is good. How can it be that God the Father is served by the death of Christ on the Cross? St. Peter spoke for all human impulse when he denied that Jesus should go to his death. But Christ's response to Peter was to tell him, "Get behind Me, Satan!" (see Mark 8:30-35). God's plans for true service are from a perspective too great for us, for human sight, and often seem to make no sense at all. Jesus' death on the Cross is most certainly a scandal, for essential reasons. Therefore we must come to yet another conclusion about service and the power of the holy: that it may be a scandal to fellow human beings and within the social context in which it takes place. This is the paradox of faith, a perspective too big for us to see in so many ways and at so many times. Power itself becomes essentially a kind of paradox within our point of view of Christ and of Christian faith. How do we have power by serving others, by self-sacrifice? If power means "impact," then we are on quite another trail of thought. Jesus may not have been crowned a human king over a human empire, but in terms of the liberating power of His sacrifice there is no doubt of the ongoing impact -- yet another incalculable mystery we can't see nor define for its vast perspective far beyond our sights. To serve, then, means understanding what service truly is, how holiness impacts the world as a force of liberation from our assumptions of how one uses power, or how free we truly are. Jesus' death on the Cross will come voluntarily. It is neither an affirmation of the ways in which He will be betrayed nor of the desires of the leadership to rid themselves of Him. But one needs particular eyes and ears to understand this, a particular discernment, the capacity to truly see. Above all, this happens through grace, and the strength conferred in faith to know how to serve the greatest good for all.
