Mark 10:32-45
The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them.
They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him.
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man
will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death,
but after three days he will rise.”
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,
‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
He replied, ‘What do you wish me to do for you?”
They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
They said to him, ‘We can.”
Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
James and John along with the other disciples are keeping Jesus company on his travels. In the preceding passage, they are traveling to Jerusalem when Jesus will enter into his passion.
I am not sure how James and John could miss the message Jesus shared about what was to happen but miss it they did.
From our perspective looking back at what Jesus told them would be impossible to overlook. Perhaps, however, they were so used to Jesus speaking in parables and metaphors that they did not take him literally when he told them about the torture and mistreatment that was going to happen. Remembering the crazy impossibility of death and resurrection, they had no clue about the future.
I would like to retell this story using a different analogy. Jesus and the disciples are embarking on a great voyage to a wondrous place. They were walking up the gangplank to board a great beautiful ocean liner. Before they board, Jesus tells them that the ship was going to sink, and they would all drown. Jesus would drown first but then be resurrected. Later on, the rest of them drown even though they could have chosen to climb on a lifeboat and spared from that manner of death.
“Cool,” James and John said. “Can we sit in the front of the boat with you, one on each side?” Excuse me. What part of drown did they not hear?
Meanwhile, just as they step over the gangplank, James said to John, “Look the name of the ship is the Titanic. This should ship must be so big it can’t sink.” Un ha.
The question running through my mind is if some days or even most days am I thinking like one of the brothers? Jesus has given a clear message. We have to die to ourselves in order to join with him. We have to be willing to give up another kind of life to enter into the life with him we say we want.
Is ambition clouding my judgment and cloaking over my true need for humility so that some weak part of me can say, “Look at me! Aren’t I holy? I am sitting in the front seat of the boat with Jesus. What will it take for me to remember that the call to die to self is not made to me alone but to all of us so we can equally share in the sacrifice and equally share the reward? I guess the need for the occasional scriptural slap in the face is still a thing. Like a daily thing.
Time to head to the back of the boat.
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
They said to him, ‘We can.”
Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
James and John along with the other disciples are keeping Jesus company on his travels. In the preceding passage, they are traveling to Jerusalem when Jesus will enter into his passion.
I am not sure how James and John could miss the message Jesus shared about what was to happen but miss it they did.
From our perspective looking back at what Jesus told them would be impossible to overlook. Perhaps, however, they were so used to Jesus speaking in parables and metaphors that they did not take him literally when he told them about the torture and mistreatment that was going to happen. Remembering the crazy impossibility of death and resurrection, they had no clue about the future.
I would like to retell this story using a different analogy. Jesus and the disciples are embarking on a great voyage to a wondrous place. They were walking up the gangplank to board a great beautiful ocean liner. Before they board, Jesus tells them that the ship was going to sink, and they would all drown. Jesus would drown first but then be resurrected. Later on, the rest of them drown even though they could have chosen to climb on a lifeboat and spared from that manner of death.
“Cool,” James and John said. “Can we sit in the front of the boat with you, one on each side?” Excuse me. What part of drown did they not hear?
Meanwhile, just as they step over the gangplank, James said to John, “Look the name of the ship is the Titanic. This should ship must be so big it can’t sink.” Un ha.
The question running through my mind is if some days or even most days am I thinking like one of the brothers? Jesus has given a clear message. We have to die to ourselves in order to join with him. We have to be willing to give up another kind of life to enter into the life with him we say we want.
Is ambition clouding my judgment and cloaking over my true need for humility so that some weak part of me can say, “Look at me! Aren’t I holy? I am sitting in the front seat of the boat with Jesus. What will it take for me to remember that the call to die to self is not made to me alone but to all of us so we can equally share in the sacrifice and equally share the reward? I guess the need for the occasional scriptural slap in the face is still a thing. Like a daily thing.
Time to head to the back of the boat.
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