Read Mark 10:32–45. How do these verses reveal the continued ignorance of the disciples regarding not only Jesus’ mission but what it means to follow Him?
As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, He reveals to His disciples what will happen there. It is not a scenario they believe in or want to hear. Jesus’ specificity as to the outline of His death and resurrection is striking. But when it is not what you want to hear, it is all too easy to dismiss.
This is apparently what James and John do as they come to Jesus with a private request. Jesus rightly asks for more specifics, and they respond that they want to sit on His right and left in His glory. It is easy to criticize their request as rank egocentrism. But these two men have dedicated themselves to Jesus’ ministry, and their desires were probably not wholly selfish in nature.
Jesus seeks to deepen their understanding of just what they are requesting. He asks if they can drink His cup or be baptized with His baptism. His cup will be the cup of suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross (compare with Mark 14:36), and His baptism will be His death and burial (Mark 15:33–47), where events there parallel His baptism recorded in Mark 1.
But James and John do not see it. They glibly reply that they are able. Jesus then prophesies that indeed they will drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism. James was the first of the apostles to die a martyr’s death (Acts 12:2). John lived the longest of all the apostles and was exiled to Patmos (Rev. 1:9). But Jesus indicates that places in glory are set by God.
How did the other disciples respond to Jesus’ answer? Not too well. The same Greek word, aganakteō, “to be angry, indignant,” is used in Mark 10:41 as in Mark 10:14, regarding Jesus’ anger over keeping the children away from Him.
Jesus then calls the group together to give one of His most profound teachings. He indicates that Gentile rulers use power for personal advantage. But in the kingdom of God, power must always be used to uplift and bless others. Jesus leads the way as the King of the kingdom of God. How? By giving His own life as a ransom—not quite what His followers expected to hear.
What does it mean as a Christian to be a “servant” to others? That is, how do you manifest this principle in your daily interaction with people?
Supplemental EGW Notes
In His life and lessons Christ has given a perfect exemplification of the unselfish ministry which has its origin in God. God does not live for Himself. By creating the world, and by upholding all things, He is constantly ministering to others. “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:45. This ideal of ministry the Father committed to His Son. Jesus was given to stand at the head of humanity, by His example to teach what it means to minister. His whole life was under a law of service. He served all, ministered to all.
Again and again Jesus tried to establish his principle among His disciples. When James and John made their request for pre-eminence, He said, “Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26–28.—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 359.
James and John presented by their mother a petition requesting that they might be permitted to occupy the highest positions of honor in Christ’s kingdom. The Saviour answered, “Ye know not what ye ask” (Mark 10:38). . . . Jesus knew the infinite sacrifice at which that glory must be purchased, when He, “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). That joy was to see souls saved by His humiliation, His agony, and the shedding of His blood. . . .
Jesus asked them, “Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We can” (Mark 10:38, 39).
How little did they comprehend what that baptism signified! “Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give” (verses 39, 40).—The Sanctified Life, pp. 56, 57.
[The Lord] makes the humble, trustful servant His representative—the one who will not lift himself up and think of himself more highly than he ought to think. The life of such a one will be dedicated to God as a living sacrifice, and that life He will accept and use and sustain. He longs to make men wise with His own wisdom, that that wisdom may be exercised in His own behalf. He manifests Himself through the consecrated humble worker. . . .
Carry every entrusted capability as a sacred treasure, to be used in imparting to others the knowledge and grace received. In this you will answer the purpose for which God gave them. The Lord requires us to sink self in Jesus Christ, and let the glory be all of God.—That I May Know Him, p. 88.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.