Welcome, I can’t believe that we have had snow two separate times. It’s only October! I still had hoses to put away and a garden to clean up. The cold has also brought a tom cat to our house and he would really like it if we would invite him in, however the other pets would have a fit so Tom will have to live outside in the garage and look for his buddy Jerry. It is my hope that all the Jerry’s will be chased away. For that I’ll gladly feed and pet Tom plus make him a bed out of a box and rags.
Our text continues on in Mark. Jesus has just interacted with the young rich man while he and his disciples are traveling up to Jerusalem. People traveling to Jerusalem went up as it sat on the highest peak around. That way they were as close to God as they could be. For the third time he predicts to the disciples that he will be killed when he reaches Jerusalem. For the third time this goes over the top of their heads.
V35-36 Two of the disciples come forward to talk with Jesus as he, in rabbinic fashion, is walking ahead of his disciples. They have a request to make. So Jesus asks what they want.
V37 They reply that they want to sit on Jesus’ right and left when he is placed on his throne. These were positions of honor in a kingdom. “Could we just have two little thrones on either side of you?”
V38-39 Jesus responds “You have no clue as to what you are asking for, do you? Are you able to drink the “cup” that I drink, or be baptized with what I will be baptized with? The “cup” in the Old Testament was used to describe the experience allotted to men by God, usually meaning the wrath of God. Baptism here means submerged into an experience. Are they able to endure (be submerged into) the wrath that he will take upon himself as the representative of the new Israel? All of Israel had broken the covenant and sinned and someone had to pay for that sin. Something had to die and each Israelite providing a lamb at Passover wasn’t getting Gods message across about how important sin was to Him. Now a bigger price was to be extracted and Jesus had volunteered to be that perfect Lamb of God for sacrifice. This was his last event of serving others and it was going to be the most horrifying and gruesome event ever. Crucifixion wasn’t a game. He was going through with this for everyone, even those who hated him. We would die for someone that we love but would we die for someone who hates us? The disciples were still in a fog about what was going to happen in Jerusalem. They just couldn’t let go of their view of how the events would unfold and how they would be part of a royal court. We are the same way still. We still always want the outcome to be our ideal. Jesus then tells them that even though they don’t understand what is about to happen they too will go through the same gruesome trials. They will receive the same treatment.
V40 Jesus then tells them that it isn’t his decision to make about who sits beside him on his throne but that it is his fathers.
V41 The rest of the disciples find out about the request and become angry. They too feel they want to sit in positions of honor and it isn’t fair that James and John have asked first. Had they thought about it first they certainly would have asked but now it has been requested by others.
V42 Jesus replies to the whole bunch of angry men that are to be following him that they are seeing his kingdom set up as a worldly Gentile power structure. Worldly rulers lord their power over other people.
V43-44 My kingdom is to be different from the worldly kingdoms. In Gods kingdom the lowest man, the slave, who has to perform all the grossest tasks will be first because he served others. I, the Son of Man, the true way of being Israel (how Israel was originally to be) came to serve others, not to be served by others. I also came to give my life for others, to pay the awful price for sin that each should pay themselves but it will be my final act of servanthood to pay that price for each of you so each of you can be reconciled to God.
We see a lot of ourselves in this passage. We don’t want to hear the truth so we manufacture how events will unfold, always to our advantage. If we don’t like it we block it out but there always comes a time that we have to face up to the truth. Things aren’t going to go the way we want. No matter how much creative thinking and interpretation we apply the truth always triumphs. We are held accountable for our actions. The question is: do we live with this world’s top-down power structure or Jesus’ bottom-up power structure?
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