Introduction
We all know of people, we may be the person, who ask for things that seem ridiculous. This is fine, except when the people expect to receive whatever it is they ask for. They have an entitlement mentality that drives them and expect exactly what they ask for regardless what it is.
Stories like this about someone who bought a condo without realizing that it was very near a train track. This Entitled person was outraged and called a major rail freight company and asked them to stop running trains at night.
and this, a guy got into graduate school across the country, away from his family for the first time. About a month later he is upset because he has to do his own laundry. He had a nanny until he was 18 and had never taken care of himself, even when he was doing his undergrad. He quit school and moved back home soon after.
or this, in a nursing course, after a lecture on how your socioeconomic status effects your health and life span, a girl says “rich people deserve to live longer because they work harder”. …Coming from the girl who’s parents pay for her …everything.
These are stories of very entitled people. This is a sad state of affairs for anyone to be in because the real world will eventually knock them down.
But in this text we see entitlement directed in a different direction. These two want to be with Christ but they want the rewards before the work to receive them. They want to rule before the serve.
I believe many of us have struggled with this concept before. Some may now.
We may think we deserve something but have not really put in the time but still want it.
It is understandable to want to advance, if we did not then nothing would ever get done. But we need to realize to get ahead and advance sometimes we need to examine ourselves and put in the time.
This is what we see in the text of Mark 10:35-45 today. In it we read:
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And 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, 40 but 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 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:35–45 ESV
Within this section we see many things that stand out. We see bold presumption, asking questions we may not really know what we are asking, frustration and anger, presumption of abilities, and that there is a better way to receive rewards.
First we see that sometimes we…
Ask for Things We Don’t Understand (35-37)
James and John were quite bold in their questioning.
It is interesting that they try and push this onto Jesus in how they ask the question.
They say, “we want you to do whatever we ask of you.” This is bold but Jesus does tell them in another area that anything they ask in His name He will do.
But, this is a bold and ambitious move by the two brothers.
They want to have this amazing placing with Jesus. They want Him to grant what they ask Him in His name. This is not necessarily bad or wrong to want to sit beside and rule with Jesus. It is a good thing to desire. To want to be with Him and rule in eternity with Him.
The problem comes that the disciples who asked this seem to be more consumed with their glory and lacked the understanding for Christ as He was coming closer to the cross.
Jesus was getting close to being crucified and the two disciples, well actually it seems all wanted this, were missing what He was doing because they were so focused on themselves and what they wanted.
They decided to ask for an amazing glory while He who belonged in glory was still walking the earth he created heading to a cross He did not deserve.
They shifted it back to Christ in verse 37 when they said “in your glory.” They were trying to be pious but we also need to remember that the disciples were promised positions of ruling in the kingdom with Christ (Matt. 19:28). Yet, these two were trying to put the cart before the horse.
One commentator believes that the two believed that Jesus was heading to Jerusalem to establish His kingdom and they did not want to miss out on this. “They wanted a prominent place in the messianic, earthly kingdom. Though they recognized Jesus as the Messiah, they completely misunderstood the nature of the kingdom Jesus came to establish” (James A. Brooks, Mark, vol. 23, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 168.)
Hence, them being consumed with their own glory while missing Jesus’ purposes of being here.
How often do we do this in our lives?
We see something we need and it may be something good, but we see it and we want it right now and we piously ask Jesus for it.
Maybe we even attach some form of promise with it.
Something like, “If you give me this I will serve the church more.”
Or, “If you give me this job I will give more of my income as an offering.”
Sometimes we ask for stuff when we do not even really know what it is we ask for.
Like the Garth Brooks song, Unanswered Prayers. In this song he sings about running into an old flame,
She was the one that I’d wanted for all times And each night I’d spend prayin’ that God would make her mine And if he’d only grant me this wish I wished back then I’d never ask for anything again
She wasn’t quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams And I could tell that time had changed me In her eyes too it seemed We tried to talk about the old days There wasn’t much we could recall I guess the Lord knows what he’s doin’ after all And as she walked away and I looked at my wife And then and there I thanked the good Lord For the gifts in my life
Sometimes we ask for stuff that can be good and make silly promises that we never keep.
We need to always see what we are asking in how it builds for the Lord more than us. When we make requests to Him we need to evaluate whether they are for just us and our selfish interests or for the Lord. Because if we do not we may have assumed too much and then lead into…
Assumptions of Our Abilities (38-40)
We may have over estimated abilities of ourselves. We may think we can handle something when we really know we cannot.
I know I have done this before. Back a few years ago I applied to a church when I was still green as a gourd in ministry. I really believed I could pastor that church with zero ministry experience. Thankfully somewhere in the process my over assumed abilities were revealed to me before it was too late and I withdrew my application from there.
I needed Jesus to do what He does here, and thankfully He did just not in the way He does it here.
Jesus did what He always did, asked a question in return to the questioners.
This is a really good way to get to what it is someone is really asking or after.
Jesus turned the discussion back to the disciples. He asked them if they were able to drink from the cup that He was to drink from and be baptized with the baptism he was to be baptized with.
They quickly respond, Yes we are, not even knowing what they are saying.
They assumed they knew without really knowing. They did not understand the role of suffering that leads to reward in the kingdom with Jesus.
They felt this was nothing more than following Jesus and asking Him for this glorious position. They wanted to have this glory without the work.
The cup is indicative of the wrath of God to come on Christ at the cross. It indicates His blood and the baptism is indicative of His complete and total identification with the will of God at His crucifixion. Basically, it is the suffering before the reward.
These two boldly and presumptuously state that they are able.
Much like what we do. We will say “Yes, I can do that. Let me at it. I can do anything I set my mind to. Nothing can hold me back. Just let me have this one thing and I will do whatever is required.”
Not to mention we will say we will suffer anything for the Lord if He will just do this that we ask, when we will not even suffer the minor trivialities of being under others and serving them.
One thing that is certain with this is that Jesus tells them they will drink from the cup and receive the baptism. They realized fully what this was after He was crucified, and they became even more committed.
But they did not know what they were assuming here. They wanted glory and fame rather than committed service to the Lord.
Only God will give the places, only God will give the rewards for service, it is not His choice but that of the Father.
As another commentator said, “Jesus showed by this statement that he was under the authority of the Father, who alone makes the decisions about leadership in heaven. Such rewards are not granted as favors. They are reserved for those who have maintained their commitment to Jesus despite severe trials.” (Bruce B. Barton, Mark, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1994), 303–304.)
We are His and as such we need to desire His glory above ours. We will ask for things that are not for us, but we need to always seek to ask what better serves the Lord.
This is what Jesus says when he sees the others getting upset.
He tells them that we need to serve rather than seek glory.
Which means we need to…
Serve Before Asking For Rewards (41-45)
Do we want authority, fame, the best of whatever it is we want and ask for so we can lord it over others? Or do we ask because we have a vanity we want satiated? Or do we ask to better serve the Lord and others?
This is what Jesus puts back on the disciples here.
He tells them the Gentiles use authority to rule over others. Many people do this. They take their authority and become tyrants who take more and more all the time.
Power corrupts even the best of people.
I have known many men who were great to work with as fellow laborers but once they received an authority position they became a jerk and were on a power trip.
Too many people today are like the stories from the beginning, they are entitled and desire power and what they want without ever seeking to understand other people and their needs.
Tony Evans has written that, “Jesus didn’t call his disciples to walk a path that he wouldn’t walk. To serve was the reason he came into the world. When Paul exhorts the Philippians to reject “selfish ambition,” live with “humility,” and be concerned for “the interests of others” (Phil 2:3–4), in fact, he puts Christ forward as the perfect example of selfless, loving, God-honoring service. As John put it, “The one who says he remains in [Christ] should walk just as he walked” (1 John 2:6). (Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Study Bible, 1162.)
For any of us to have true power with the Lord we must become servants. We must be willing to give everything for others because we love them because we know the love of God in us.
Jesus said He did not come to be served but to serve and give himself as a ransom for many.
This word ransom means that Jesus’ life was the means of release for other lives. He paid for the freedom of slaves by paying the debt we could not pay. He died as the substitute for all men.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who created this world and the people in it and He upholds it but He came and suffered rather that staying in glory. He came and He served.
Much like that meme I see floating around. It poses a question to us all.
It says “sometimes I ponder what I would do if I knew it was my last day. I would eat junk, go crazy, etc. Then it hit me, Jesus knew. And He washed feet.”
That is servant minded and love that is beyond wanting frivolous desires. This is what Jesus did and this is what He wanted His disciples to understand.
Those who become last, servants were the least of the people, will become first in the kingdom. This is a selfless sacrifice of personal desires to love and commit to others.
As another has put it, “By saying that the first will be last and the last first, Jesus changed the terms of winning and losing, as well as terms of leadership. In Jesus’ kingdom, leaders are those who work toward the best interests of others, not parading their authority or lording it over others.Servant leadership in Jesus’ kingdom has a lot of the “can do” spirit in it, a big portion of “follow me to the hard work,” and a huge helping of “your pile looks bigger than mine, let me help you.”(Barton, 178).
We need to ask how can we look out for the best interests of others?
Are we seeking to gain positions and authority because we want it or are we seeking to serve others in every position we are in?
Jesus asks us what we want Him to do for us?
I think we all should always ask Jesus how we can better serve Him in all we do. He is worth every minute of service we can give Him and if we seek to serve Him and glorify Him in all we do, the rewards will be amazing when we meet Him face to face.
Conclusion
In 1878, when William Booth’s Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. Samuel Brengle left a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Army. But at first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, “You’ve been your own boss too long.” And in order to instill humility in Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of other trainees. Discouraged, Brengle said to himself, “Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?” And then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fishermen. “Lord,” he whispered, “you washed their feet; I will black their shoes.”
Sometimes a good dose of humility will set us right in our service to the Lord.
I pray today that you will always ask the Lord to allow you to better serve Him in any capacity of whatever it is you petition Him with.
