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17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately on the road, and he said to them, 18 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. 19 They will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. Then, on the third day, he will rise.”

20 Then the wife of Zebedee came to him with her sons and knelt down to make a request. 21 He said to her, “What do you desire?” She said to him, “Promise me that in your kingdom, my two sons will sit on your right and on your left.” 22. Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask for. Are you able to drink the cup from which I am about to drink?” The two sons said to him, “We can.” 23 He said to them, “Then indeed you will drink of my cup, but to sit on my right and my left, that is not mine to give. That belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the other ten disciples heard of this, they were furious at the two brothers. 25 So Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that among the Gentiles, the leaders and powerful men lord their authority over the people. 26 It will not be so among you. Rather, if any of you wish to be great, he must be a servant. 27 If any of you wish to be first, you must become like a slave. 28 For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Comments

The theme of perception continues. Jesus has just told the disciples a parable about a prodigally generous landowner. Now he bluntly tells them for a third time that he will be rejected, suffer, and die as part of his vocation. He has been very open with the disciples that his values do not match the world’s values. And yet, the mother of James and John, apparently with her sons’ cooperation, comes to Jesus asking him to give them positions on his right and left in his “kingdom,” which she and they still seem to understand as an earthly political entity within which they can have positions of power and influence. The other ten apostles become angry at the two brothers’ power grab, and so once again Jesus has to disabuse them: He will not be building up worldly kingdom. Following him will not gain them power or wealth. The only kind of leadership they can aspire to is servant leadership, because Jesus himself did not come to be served but to serve.