Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all

 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 sad 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 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 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."  In the face of open hostility from the religious authorities, Jesus leads the way to Jerusalem, the center of their power.  We recall that Jesus and the disciples are currently in Judea "on the other side of the Jordan."  This is the third time Jesus predicts to the disciples what is going to happen to Him.  My study bible says that His repeated predictions of His Passion were intended to encourage and strengthen the disciples for the terrifying events they are going to face.  And these repeated prophecies of His Passion confirm that Christ was going to His death 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."  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 sad 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."   James and John Zebedee are two of the closest disciples to Jesus.  With Peter, they form the inner three who've accompanied Jesus in critical points of the Gospel journey, such as the healing of the daughter of Jairus, and the Transfiguration.   It seems the disciples have been interpreting Jesus' predictions of His Passion and death and rising on the third day to mean He will then come into a physical and eternal kingdom on earth.  In an earlier reading -- and just after an earlier prediction of His death and Resurrection -- the disciples were disputing "who would be greatest."  Here as they are on their way to Jerusalem, the presumed place from which the Messiah would rule, the brothers Zebedee decide they will ask Jesus directly about their places in this kingdom they imagine.  Jesus' question, "What do you want Me to do for you?" is one He asks of others who wish Him to heal them.  But this time the request is one He must correct, because they fail to understand not simply the nature of the Kingdom, but the nature of its leadership and authority.  My study bible says that this quest for temporal power and glory is unfitting for a disciple and shows an earthly misunderstanding of the kingdom of God.  Christ calls His Crucifixion a cup and His death a baptism.  His death is thereby a gateway to something.  He calls it a cup because He drank it willingly (Hebrews 12:2).  Like baptism, He is completely immersed in death, but it cleansed the world (Romans 6:3-6).  In His response to them, Christ makes another prophecy here:  that James and John will also participate in the same cup and baptism.  He correctly shows the life of persecution and martyrdom they would lead after Pentecost.  Christ cannot give these places of authority arbitrarily; they will be given to those for whom God has prepared them.  St. John Chrysostom teaches that no one could possibly occupy such a position of equal authority to Christ on His right hand and His left.  But by tradition, the highest places of honor in the Church have gone to the Virgin Mary (most blessed among women, Luke 1:28) and John the Baptist (greatest born of women, Matthew 11:11). 

 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."   Jesus explains what leadership means in His Kingdom and His Church.  He is the prime example of that leadership, and His sacrifice of His life is for all; the Aramaic expression for many means "for all."

The Gospels go to great lengths to let us know that the disciples are very slow to grasp the nature of what is coming, of Jesus' life and His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross.  Earlier Mark's Gospel taught us that they didn't understand even about two miraculous feedings in the wilderness, when Jesus asks the question, "How is it you do not understand?"  It illustrates for us how strongly our own expectations play a role in defining our faith and understanding of life itself and the things we experience.  In today's reading, the disciples clearly expect a Messianic kingdom such as was widely prophesied among the Jews at the time of Christ.  It's not only the disciples who have such anticipations, but rather the whole of Israel seemed to be awaiting delivery from their predicament.  We can see this, for example, in Simeon, whom Luke's Gospel tells us was "waiting for the Consolation of Israel," and to whom it had been revealed "by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ" (see Luke 2:25-35).  The disciples, therefore, being sons of Israel and steeped in such expectation, were awaiting a worldly kingdom.  As such, their notions about leadership and service also fit the model of a worldly kingdom.  It's important that Jesus notes how those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  By this time in Israel's history, it had been over 400 years since Israel had seen a prophet (until John the Baptist).  Kingdom had fought against kingdom for approximately three centuries, with warfare only getting more intense as the time of Christ approached, including a civil war, until Israel was a part of the Roman Empire.  At the time of Christ, of course, there were those planning military insurrection against the Romans.  Into this pageant of warfare and worldly kingdoms and power comes Christ, an entirely different figure indeed.  No wonder the disciples are ill-prepared to understand the way that He is preparing for them.  The unfathomable thought that a king -- and not only king, but Messiah -- would sacrifice His life and be crucified in the most brutal form of Roman punishment reserved for the worst criminals, is completely outside of any understanding of what a kingdom was.  This is self-sacrifice, the opposite of grasping for worldly power.  Jesus, in making this once-and-for-all-time sacrifice of Himself, shows us the fullness of the exchange of worldly power for the holy.  His Resurrection will bring the kingdom of God, open to all who choose to enter.  But its rules differ from worldly rules, its notions of service and authority must be understood on their own terms.  This is how we must treat each other.  As Messiah, His own "baptism" will give birth to a Kingdom that is "not of this world," as He will say to Pilate, representative of the Roman Empire.   Jesus' lengthy prayer to the Father (immediately before His betrayal) which is given us in John 17, is filled with multiple references to "the world" and His Kingdom not of the world.  He says of His disciples, "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.   Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." (John 17:16-18).  Here we are given a picture of the time in which we, too, live.  We as faithful dwell also within a kingdom that is not of this world.  We seek, as Jesus prays, to be sanctified by God's truth, God's word; that is, a part of what is holy.  As such, we take up His cross, and follow Him.  Our lives are to be a part of this same exchange and understanding, that we are guided in the ways of the Kingdom just as the disciples are.  We may often find ourselves in this complex sort of "battle," where we are called one way but our understanding has taught us another.  Let us not conflate the two.  Let us be guided in our faith to discern His Way.  He has prepared the same for each of us.