Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

Deesis mosaic, 13th century.  Haghia Sophia cathedral, Constantinple

Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, "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 to mock and to scourge and to crucify.  And the third day He will rise again."

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.  And He said to her, "What do you wish?"  She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom."  But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; 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 by My Father."  And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

- Matthew 20:17-28

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught:  "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'  So they went.  Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.  And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, 'Why have you been standing idle here all day?'  They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.'  He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.'  So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.'  And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.  And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.'  But he answered one of them and said, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong.  Did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what is yours and go your way.  I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?  Or is your eye evil because I am good?'  So the last will be first, and the first last.  For many are called, but few chosen."

Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, "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 to mock and to scourge and to crucify.  And the third day He will rise again."  My study bible comments here that Christ's repeated prediction of His Passion is meant to encourage and strengthen the disciples:  after Jesus is in Jerusalem they will face the terrifying events to come.  According to Theophan, it is as if Jesus is saying:  "Think on all these [words and miracles], so that when you see me hanging on the Cross, you will not imagine that I am suffering because I am powerless to do otherwise."

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.  And He said to her, "What do you wish?"  She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom."  But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask."   My study bible calls this question for temporal power and glory unfitting for a disciple, and says that it shows an earthly misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God.  Here, Matthew tells us that it was the mother of Zebedee's sons who made this request.  But Jesus' responses is in the plural you (in the Greek text), when He says, "You do not know what you ask . . .."  Mark 10:35 clearly indicates the involvement of John and James as well.

"Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; 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 by My Father."   Jesus refers to His Crucifixion as a cup and His death as a baptism.  My study bible says that the Cross is a cup because Jesus drank it willingly (Hebrews 12:2).  His death is baptism, as He was completely immersed in it, yet it cleansed the world (Romans 6:3-6).  Jesus' prophecy of John and James participating in the same cup and baptism shows the life of persecution and martyrdom they would lead after Pentecost.   That these places of honor requested by the mother of Zebedee's sons (and John and James themselves) is not Christ's to give doesn't mean that He is lacking in authority.  Rather, my study bible points out, it means that they are not Christ's to give arbitrarily.  Instead, these places will be given by Christ to those for whom God has prepared them.  St. John Chrysostom, additionally, teaches that to sit as equals on the right and left hand of Christ in His Kingdom belongs to no one -- for there is none who could occupy such a position.  Regarding the highest places of honor given to human beings, in the icons of the Orthodox Church it is universally depicted that the Virgin Mary (most blessed among women, Luke 1:28) and John the Baptist (greatest born of women, 11:11) hold these places.

And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."  For many, my study bible says, is an Aramaic expression which means "for all."

What does it mean to accept a place of honor?  We have to think about this in terms of Christ's answer to Zebedee's wife Salome, the mother of the apostles James and John.  Jesus makes it clear that the places of honor in His Kingdom are not about favoritism.  They are not about doing political favors.  Neither are they even about how close Jesus might be to one disciple or another in a worldly sense (for these men are surely His friends, and one of them -- John -- will be the one to whom He entrusts the care of His mother at the Cross; see John 19:26).  Jesus makes it very clear that the positions of honor which may come in is Kingdom are those for whom God has prepared such places.  This authority does not rest only in Jesus, but rather in the will of the Father and -- perhaps even more importantly -- within the grand scheme of salvation for an entire cosmos.  This "event" therefore, of honor in the Kingdom, involves much more than a temporal sense of Jesus' ministry.  It involves all who are to come, and all that is to become in the salvation plan of God.  Moreover, it involves spiritual judgment, even the ultimate judgment in the hands of Christ.  Therefore, when you or I speak about honor, about whom we should honor in our hearts and in our lives, about how we ourselves might find honor in our lives, let us consider first of all to Whom it is that Jesus turns when He's asked about places of honor.  He makes it clear that all things rest in the hands of God, and it is to God that all must turn in honor in order to realize honor.  That is, there is an entirety to the plan of salvation not only for this world and all of the people in the world, but in terms of the entirety of a cosmos,  a created order of things, the full range of time and space and all that is within it.  Honor, in short, comes only from the One who has such a perspective, and we don't know what roles we may play in such a purview.  Consider, for instance, the long-range effects of one person's choice and another's.  We don't really know where such things will lead.  We don't know the depth of commitment in their hearts to God, nor their actual level of participation in the life of God.  Who can know these things?  Only God can know such things.  But there is one thing of which we can be certain:  that is that Jesus turns the attention from the places of honor to what it takes to fulfill that honor and to live that honor.  That is, He focuses their attention upon the cup of His Crucifixion, and the baptism of His death.  These are the things that are asked of Jesus in the fullness of the story of salvation and in His role in it.  Can they be prepared to drink that cup and accept that baptism for themselves?  Will they participate in the same honor in which He will play that role?  The answer is surely yes, as James Zebedee will be the first of the apostles to be martyred (Acts 12:1-2), and his brother John will go on to a life of exile and persecution, to care for Christ's mother, and to have attributed to him one Gospel, three Epistles, and the Revelation.  Each one will fulfill the cup and baptism asked of them as well.  But the answer of Christ, and this question posed to these disciples, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" is really a question that applies to each of us.  It is, moreover, a question to be asked throughout time of all who would follow Jesus.  This is because, to one extent and another, we must all be prepared to follow in Christ's footsteps -- but even more importantly, to participate in His life.  We do this through the sacraments, through the Eucharist and the commemoration of His life and Incarnation, through our understanding of His Ascension, and even as we await His return.  We participate in the same sense in which the rich man was asked to give up His possessions to receive eternal life (in this reading).  It is not that we each must follow some pre-ordered prescription of what we must do.  It is, rather, that as we move forward in faith in Christ, and grow in that discipleship, there will be cups and baptisms that are asked of us, and that this is the way of the Cross, to which each of us is called.  We are called to become what we must be in Christ's image of who we are, and that image is shaped, formed, and transfigured in the life He offers.  What that means for each one of us is specific to each, as St. Chrysostom has commented on the story of the rich young man.  But it is indeed the way of the Cross.  It is, indeed, the call for humility and especially for us to honor the very place -- or rather, the Person -- from whom all honor comes.  Jesus goes on to set the record straight with the rest of the disciples when He contrasts the "Lordship" of the Gentiles (and worldly power) with the kind of Lordship He exercises.  His power is in the reality of the love that is the substance of God, and all power and authority extends from God who is love (1 John 4:7-8).  In that understanding, it is the One who will lay down His life for His friends in an expression of the greatest love to whom we turn to define "honor" (John 15:13).  In the icon above, a mosaic made in the 13th century on the wall of the Hagia Sophia Church in Constantinople, we see a scene which is called in Greek "Deesis" (which means prayer or supplication).  It shows the risen Christ, the Almighty.  Closes to Him are Mary ("blessed among women") and John the Baptist ("among those born of women no one greater").  Both bow to Christ in the position of prayer.  Let us consider those whom we join when we do the same, and enter into the honor of those who honor God with their lives.