THEY WERE ON their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Original Meaning
JESUS HAS BEEN going before his disciples on the road, and Mark now identifies their destination as Jerusalem.1 The disciples and Jesus are marching to Zion. Jesus goes there as the Messiah, who invites all Israel to come under God’s mysterious dominion, not just those living in Galilee. Marcus contends that Mark gives the victory procession pictured in Isaiah 35:10 (see also 42:13; 59:20; 62:11) an ironic twist: “The fearful trek of the befuddled, bedraggled little band of disciples is the return of Israel to Zion, and Jesus’ suffering and death there are the prophesied apocalyptic victory of the divine warrior.” Jesus goes to Jerusalem not to triumph in a military campaign but to die.2 He leads his disciples on the way to his Passion, as he will later lead the way to Galilee after the resurrection (14:28; 16:7, where the verb proago, “to lead the way,” appears again).
Jesus constructs the way of the Lord while the disciples, still worried about the order of procession behind him, trail behind. Mark tells us that they are amazed and afraid. Is it the fear of persecution and suffering that slows their step? If so, it was something that Mark’s first readers were well acquainted with. Or is it a sense of awe and amazement directed toward Jesus, who directs his own destiny and theirs?3 If so, the familiar words from the hymn “Amazing Grace” apply: “Grace has taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”
Jesus does not allay their fear, however, but predicts for the third time his impending death and subsequent resurrection. He gives more specific details. He will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law, who will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles, who in turn will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. The Messiah will suffer indignity and a shameful death. Then he will be handed over to God, who will resurrect him.
As Jesus draws nearer to his ordeal, the disciples do not draw nearer to understanding. Each time he speaks to them about his suffering, his words go in one ear and out the other. Immediately after his announcement, James and John come sidling up to him with a special request. The earlier dispute about status and rank among the disciples (9:34) was silenced but not buried. These two act like brazen fortune hunters when they ask Jesus to guarantee that one can sit on his right and the other on his left when he comes into his glory. Jesus responds that the teachers of the law bask in the recognition bestowed on them by others and want the first seats, making clear their honor ranking (12:38). But James and John want even more than that; they want to be crown princes sitting on co-thrones with Jesus. Psalm 110:1 states: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand,’” and they are lobbying their Lord for that right-hand seat.
These two are no different from Peter as they envision an earthly kingdom established and run according to human norms (8:33). They still misinterpret what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah and assume that when he ushers in the new age, they as his friends will receive special privileges. The new age they look forward to has all the earmarks of the old age; pork-barrel politics and nepotism still reign supreme. They foresee themselves as the elite of the elite, ruling over others in an earthly empire. Their fantasy differs little from that of the Romans as espoused by Vergil: “For these people I have set no limits, world or time, but make the gift of empire without end, Lords of the world, the toga-bearing Romans” (Aeneid I). The kingdom of God will also have no limits, but will be populated by cross-bearing Christians of every nation, who become the servants of the world.
Either Jesus’ words about his suffering whistle right by them or they must hope that his travail will only be a temporary setback, quickly reversed. Perhaps all they have heard are Jesus’ earlier comments on his coming in glory with the holy angels (8:38). Since they were two of the first called, they want to be first in glory.
What they do not realize is that Jesus’ glory will not become fully manifest to all until after great tribulation (13:24, 26). They also do not realize that two bandits will be crucified with Jesus, “one on his right and one on his left” (15:27, the only other place in Mark where these words occur), when he begins his reign from the cross.4 But the Zebedee brothers are not asking for the honor of being crucified with Jesus. What they really expect is a kingdom for themselves, where they can impose their own will on others. They hope to replace the self-serving oppressive power structure of the Romans with their own self-serving oppressive power structure. Nothing changes except the names of the rulers. Oppressive power gets recycled and new tyrants rise on the scene.5 The worldly ambition to be at the top and to beat down others still rules.
Jesus responds to their ill-timed and selfish request with grace: “You don’t know what you are asking.” He informs them that the Father has not placed him in charge of the seating arrangements in the kingdom (nor is he privy to the timing of the end, 13:32). He then asks whether they think they can drink the cup that he drinks and be baptized with the baptism with which he is baptized? The cup is a metaphor for suffering (Isa. 51:17, 22), and baptism is a metaphor for being plunged into calamity (see Pss. 42:7; 69:1). He will not be sprinkled with a bit of suffering; he will be submerged in it. He asks them if they are willing to share his fate (see 8:34) and be doused with the waters of hardship and trial. The point is clear to the reader, if not the disciples: To share his kingdom one has to share his Passion (see Rom. 8:17). No one who enthrones the old values of power without ethics and sacrifice can reign with Jesus.
James and John respond glibly, “We can.” They are as self-confident in their own abilities as the rich man was (10:17–22). They believe they can endure a little hardship if Jesus will grant them seats of power and corner offices. They understand faithful discipleship to Jesus as a means to a selfish end; it will help them achieve their goal of having power over others. When Jesus speaks of his cup, they may think in terms of drinking the cup of victory. Their attitude, which expects special favors and advantages, will hardly take up a cross happily. But obedience is learned through suffering, from which even God’s Son was not exempt (Heb. 5:8).6 Jesus cannot promise them cochairs, but he can promise them that they will suffer (see Acts 12:2).
The other disciples become indignant at the brothers’ audacity (10:41). They are not livid because James and John have been so insensitive to make such a request after Jesus has bared his heart about his coming suffering and death. They are angry because James and John beat them to the punch and may now have an edge over them for the power slots. Jealousy creates turmoil in the ranks. The disciples would rather bear a grudge than a cross.
The ambitious disciples’ misconception prompts Jesus to give final instructions on the nature of true discipleship and his role as Messiah (10:42–45). He tries to channel their desire to be great into humble service: Be great servants of others. Geddert points out that the disciples “are not consigned to ‘last’ place, they are shown how they can be first; they are not consigned to slavery status, they are shown how to become great.”7 Jesus labels the desire to dominate others as pagan—pagans want seats of power and want to lord it over others.8 The disciples have taken pagan rulers as their models, whereas they need to take Jesus as their model. The way of Jesus is self-giving service. They are not to be on the receiving end of service but on the giving end.
Jesus has told his disciples that he must die, but this is the only passage in Mark that tells us why he must die: He “gives his life as a ransom for many.” The term ransom (lytron) was used for compensation for personal injury (Ex. 21:30) or a crime (Num. 35:31–32), for purchasing the freedom of an enslaved relative (Lev. 25:51–52), and for the price paid as an equivalent for the sacrifice of the firstborn (Num. 18:15). In extrabiblical sources, it referred to the amount paid to free a slave or prisoner, redeem a pledge, or reclaim something pawned. Exodus 30:12 connects this word to the annual half-shekel tax that in the time of Jesus went to support the daily temple sacrifices for the people’s sins. Tosepta Seqalim 1:6 directly connects the half-shekel offering to sin atonement between Israel and God.
The concept of ransom, therefore, is connected to the idea of cost, substitution, and atonement. Isaiah 53:10–12 forms the most likely backdrop here:
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.9
Jesus thus provides the answer to the question that he asked his disciples earlier, “What can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (8:37). The psalmist asserts that no ransom avails for one’s life (Ps. 49:7–9). That is true if we think we can pay the ransom ourselves. But this text affirms that Jesus pays a price for others that they cannot pay themselves.
The word “many” suggests a select number of recipients of these benefits: many but not all. In Semitic idiom, however, the word “many” can have the inclusive meaning “all” (see 1 Cor. 10:17; 1 Tim. 2:6).10 The effects of Jesus’ sacrifice extend to all who will accept it. But the emphasis falls on the many who need ransoming and on the action of the one who offers his life as that ransom.
Bridging Contexts
MARK SHOWS THE disciples once again competing for first place, trying to outmatch and outmaneuver one another for power and advantage. They want to dominate, not serve. In the Gospel narrative the disciples never understand the significance of suffering and its relationship to vindication and victory. As a result, they fail miserably because the two are so interconnected.
The disciples have displayed a delight in power, glorious achievements, and personal ambition; they want a Messiah who is beyond suffering and death and will then offer them all of their heart’s desires. But according to Mark, one can never understand who Jesus is without understanding the necessity of his final destiny of suffering. Suffering distinguishes his role as Messiah and ours as disciples. To know and understand Jesus, therefore, requires us to accept his destiny as a Messiah who dies for others and accept that same destiny for ourselves. All followers must share his self-giving love and service and his fate of suffering before they can share his glory (see Rom. 8:17). The images of baptism and cup recall baptism and the Lord’s Supper. All disciples who accept baptism and drink Jesus’ cup also pledge themselves to live and die by the pattern of the cross.
Jesus did not choose his disciples because they were brainier or nicer than other people, for they were not. Human nature has not changed over the years, and the influence of the gospel has not eliminated pride and spiritual competition from our midst. We still find people in the church who put meeting their ego needs before meeting their obligations as disciples. The cross is central to discipleship, but many soft sell or neglect that aspect in favor of a more popular brand of discipleship—one that offers fulfillment and satisfies our material needs. That can only feed selfishness and breed competition. This text bridges easily into our culture because it allows us to see our own pettiness mirrored in the pettiness of these disciples. While Jesus is talking about all that he is about to give, the disciples come with a shopping list of all they want to get. The absurdity of this scene brings the judgment of the cross on our selfish ambitions and our maneuvering for position and power.
Mark describes Jesus’ going before his disciples as he marches to his fateful death in Jerusalem. While the issue of atonement in 10:45 is vitally important, one should not neglect that Jesus holds himself up as an example to be followed. He does not explain atonement theories so much as show his disciples a way of life. The only way that disciples can possibly live up to Jesus’ demands is to realize that he has gone before them, broken through, and cleared the way for others to follow. He is like the man who cut the path through the jungle for days in order to lead a group of prisoners back to freedom and life and then died of exhaustion upon arrival. Such a person would have died “for many,” although this would not mean that the many simply had to acknowledge this theoretically or symbolically. They were with him on this march; yet he was the only one who was strong enough to open the way, and he died in doing so.11
Contemporary Significance
THIS PASSAGE FORCES Christians to reflect on what it means to have a servant for a Lord. Can they shamelessly seek after glory and honor when our Lord has given his life in a shameful death? It also forces us to reflect on how one defines greatness and to examine how to attain it. Clearly worldly notions of rank, honor, and privilege are out of place in the church that names Jesus as Lord. Self-seeking has no place in a church founded on the ultimate self-giving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The road to the cross leads in a different direction from the road to success. If one follows Jesus along his road, seeking glory for oneself is out of place.
The passage brings out the danger of overweening ambition. Stott remarks that our world “(and even the church) is full of Jameses and Johns, go-getters and status-seekers, hungry for honour and prestige, measuring life by achievements, and everlastingly dreaming of success.”12 One need not look far to see preachers who do not preach to reach people but preach to reach the top, to become ecclesiastical superstars. They see discipleship to Jesus in terms of rank and privilege. They assume that Jesus is someone who will achieve things for them and give them the status of lords. Thomas à Kempis wrote that “the devil is continually tempting thee to seek high things, to go after honors” (Little Alphabet of Monks). Bernard of Clairvaux warned against ambition as “a secret poison, the father of livor [spite], and mother of hypocrisy, the moth of holiness, and cause of madness, crucifying and disquieting all that it take hold of” (Epistle, 126).
Despite all the warnings in Scripture, pagan values continue to seep into the church and govern its actions. Many ministers still dream of the big church, of the presidency of an institution or of a denomination, or of being acclaimed in national magazines as a mover and a shaker. All too frequently, these people achieve their dreams because of their single-minded purpose to attain them at all costs, regardless of how much suffering they cause others along the way and how much they cause the work of Christ to suffer. The church has had to endure power struggles that make it look no different from the pagan corporate world.
But the church cannot thrive if its leaders are competing with one another for positions of power. That pattern can only lead to anger and hatred. Jotham’s scathing parable protesting Abimelech’s coronation as king is apt (Judg. 9:7–15). The trees want to anoint a king over themselves, but the productive trees, such as the olive, fig, and vine, all refuse, content in being of service to humankind. The fruitless bramble that catches fire and brings destruction to the other trees is the only one that aspires to power. The church must be cautious of those who hunger for power over others. Such proud ambition usually leads to devastating results. Perhaps it derives from an inferiority complex. The desire to rule over and control others may veil the hidden recognition of an inability to produce anything.
A saying attributed to Genghis Khan maintains that “a man’s greatest work is to break his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all the things that have been theirs, to hear the weeping of those who cherished them, to take their horses between his knees and to press in his arms the most desirable of their women.” This warlike attitude continues to plague our world. It attracts many because it seems to win. Eugene O’Neill aptly describes in the first scene of The Emperor Jones how this style of life gets rewarded:
For de little stealin’ dey gits you in jail soon or late. For de big stealin’ dey makes you emperor and puts you in de Hall o’ Fame when you croaks. If dey’s one thing I learns in ten years on de Pullman cars listenin’ to de white quality talk, it’s dat same fact.
Jesus’ life and teaching turns the worldly understanding of greatness and great works on its head. The greatest work ever done was accomplished by one who gave his life for others. Self-giving service is the only greatness recognized by God, and only those who give of themselves for others will be the big winners with God. They are willing “to let life go hang for the sake of another,” as Peter de Vries states it.13 Jesus invites followers to join him in becoming great and doing great things, not the way the world judges “great,” but the way God judges it.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that everybody can be great because anybody can serve.
You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know Plato and Aristotle. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.14
This attitude is illustrated in the character Nancy Mannigoe in William Faulkner’s “Requiem for a Nun.” She says at the end of her life, “It’s all right. I can get low for Jesus too. I can get low for him too.” We can check on our own attitude on this score by examining how we respond when given a menial task to perform that we might judge to be beneath our dignity. God truly reigns when Jesus’ way of viewing life overthrows this world’s destructive ways of living.
This scene with the disciples should also make us reexamine our requests to God. I have heard of people in a prayer group who computerized their entreaties to God, listing the request, the date when it was made, and the date when it was answered. The list of requests included promotions at work, new jobs, fancy new cars, bigger homes, and dates with persons they secretly liked. Would we look like shameless gold diggers if our prayer requests were made public?
Geddes MacGregor describes a typical Sunday morning service in a church following the rites of “Orthodox pretend Christianity.” The pastor prays:
O dear, wonderful Father of our incredibly unbelievable experience, we like to feel assured that we may always come to thee when we feel like it.… And now, dear Lord, we want quite naturally and simply and just in a word to ask thee very frankly, to give us our heart’s desire. Thou art the Comforter, as the old story puts it, and so thou art our friend, for we are very fond of comfort.15
Looking at James and John is like looking in the mirror. We can see our own selfishness, and Mark hopes that we can see how foolish we look.
Jesus’ “ransom” statement uses a metaphor to describe our predicament and his sacrifice. It implies that we are enslaved and that it is impossible for us ever to pay for our own freedom. Someone else must pay. Jesus’ death is not a tragic accident or a courageous martyrdom, but a supreme act of sacrifice for all humankind. This image does not exhaust the plight of the human situation and how Jesus’ death puts right that situation with God, but it does make clear that atonement is not something we can attain for ourselves. It comes as a gift from God. Jesus has paid with his life the infinite debt owed by humankind. He has delivered us from our captivity to sin.
There is a catch, however. Demosthenes cites the law that the one who was ransomed became the property of the one who freed him.16 Paul assumes this principle in his admonition to the Corinthians: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:19b–20a). Having been ransomed by Christ, we belong entirely to him.