Mark 10:35-45 (NRSV)

The Request of James and John

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’³⁶And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ ³⁷And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ ³⁸But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ ³⁹They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’

41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’ 

William Barclay inspires this week's reflection.

It is said of Oliver Cromwell that he insisted that his portrait be painted ‘warts and all’ – and this is where the expression comes from. One of the interesting things about the Gospel of Mark, is that he is so honest – he tells the story of Jesus and the disciples ‘warts and all’. Some consider the difficult passages to be a hindrance; I have always felt that the disarming honesty gives both the Gospel and its truth credibility. James and John requesting places of honour is just such an instance. It is also a great comfort to me that the first disciples of Jesus were just ordinary people and, as Barclay puts it: “It was with people like ourselves that Jesus set out to change the world – and did it …”

James and John were ambitious; and they wanted to be Jesus’ first ministers of state. Jesus did think they were special as he had made them part of his inner circle. They were also people of means as their father had been well off enough to be able to hire servants (Mark 1:20). Barclay is probably right in suggesting that “… they rather snobbishly thought that their social responsibility entitled them to the first place …” They, like most people, want to get on in this life.

But it also tells that, despite all the warnings that Jesus had given them of his future, they still misunderstood. Jesus had made it plain to them that he was heading for the Cross so in the light of this, Barclay suggest that they their request is especially staggering! He adds a positive note, though, in showing how despite all this they still believed in him! They still associated this seemingly failed messiah with glory and so Barclay concludes: “Misguided James and John might be; the fact remains that their hearts were in the right place.”

Jesus’ reference to the ‘cup’ is interesting. This is a typical Jewish metaphor. It was custom at banquets for the king to hand the cup to his guests. The cup therefore became a metaphor for the life and experience that God handed out to people. This appears frequently in the Psalms: “My cup runs over …” (Psalm 23) and “… in the hand of the Lord is a cup …” (Psalm 75:8) Isaiah speaks of the disasters that had come over the people of Israel as them having drunk “… at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury …” The cup therefore refers to ‘… the experience of allotted to men by God …’

Jesus also refers to ‘baptism’ which refers to either being dipped or submerged. So here, the reference has nothing to do with the sacrament of baptism he is saying – in Barclay’s paraphrase:

“… can you bear to go through the terrible experience which I have to go through? Can you face being submerged in hatred and pain and death, as I have to be?”

Jesus was making it clear that the Christian crown comes with a Cross. And indeed, James and John did face earthly crosses in their lives.

It is also true that the final destiny of any person is the prerogative of God. Jesus himself, never usurped the place of God as his whole life was one long act of submission to God the Father – one of the great mysteries of our faith.

Pertinent things to think about in the ambitious world we find ourselves in!

The other disciples were angry with James and John, not because they were being offensive of Jesus, but rather because they ‘… had tried to steal a march upon them and try to take an unfair advantage …’ The old controversy about who was the greatest began to rage once more. This could have wrecked the fellowship if Jesus had not taken immediate action. Once more Jesus had to explain to this stubborn lot that the ways of the world were wrong and that true greatness in the Kingdom of God was so different to anything in the world. In the world the standard of greatness is ‘power’ with the test being ‘How many people do I control? How many are at my beck and call? On how many people can I impose my will? In the Kingdom of Jesus, the standard of greatness is service; not in having others serve us but reducing oneself to their service; not what can I get – but what can I give.

Barclay points out that this is in fact just sound common sense and works in the world as well. In many industries, especially the motor industry the company that will do better than others will be the one that will promise to ‘… crawl under your car oftener and get themselves dirtier than any of the competitors, in other words, be prepared to give more service …’ In really fine organisations, the ordinary clerks go home at 5.30 pm, while the Chief Executive will work long into the night.

Barclay rightly points out that ‘… the basic trouble in the human situation is that people wish to do as little as possible and to get as much as possible …’ But it is only when we have the desire to put into life more than we take out – to serve others – that we will become happy and prosperous.

The world, and not only the Church needs people whose ideal is service. Jesus pointed to his own example – he had come to ‘… give his life as a ransom for many …’ More on this important statement next time.

I now focus on verse 45: “⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’”

Barclay suggests that this is one of the great phrases of the Gospel ‘… and yet it is a phrase that has been sadly mishandled and maltreated …’ because people have tried to develop a theory of atonement around what is essentially a saying of love. Once again, Barclay comes into his own by giving us an excellent historical overview.

In Church history, it was not long before people began asking to whom this ransom of the life of Christ had been paid!

ORIGEN suggested that it could not have been paid to God, so was it then to the Evil one? The devil was holding us fast until the ransom was paid which was the life of Jesus. The devil had been deceived that he could have dominion over it but could not see that he could not bear the torture involved in retaining it! The devil, in the process discovered that he had bitten off more than he could chew.

GREGORY OF NYSSA saw very easily that the problem with Origen’s theory was that it made the devil equal with God because it allows him to make a bargain with God on equal terms. Gregory therefore came up with another idea and that was that God played a trick on the devil. Jesus was seemingly helpless and weak through the incarnation – by becoming a mere human. The devil mistook Jesus for being a mere man and so was tricked because Jesus conquered him by his victory on the Cross.

GREGORY THE GREAT expanded on this by using a fantastic metaphor. For him the incarnation was a divine strategy to catch the great leviathan: the deity of Christ was the hook and the flesh of Christ the bait. The bait was dangled before him and he swallowed it and so was overcome forever.

PETER THE LOMBARD took it a further step referring to the Cross as a mousetrap and the blood of Jesus the bait.

Barclay concludes: “All this simply shows what happens when men take a lovely and precious picture and try to make a cold theory out of it …” and suggests the following instead.

Sorrow is the price of love. We would all agree that love is only possible with the potential at least for sorrow – but we never think of trying to explain to whom that price is ever paid! In similar way we would all agree that freedom can only be obtained at the price of blood, sweat and tears; but we never think of investigating to whom that price is paid. Barclay adds:

“This saying of Jesus is a simple and pictorial way of saying that, whatever else is true, it cost the life of Jesus Himself to bring men back from their sin to the love of God … the cost of our salvation was the Cross of Christ …”

We do not need to go beyond this; we cannot go beyond this. All we know and can say is that something happened on the Cross which opened for us the way to God! C F D Moule makes the point that it is not a New Testament idea that God required recompense rather that the death of an individual leads to the benefit of many.