Scripture Daily

Context No. 4141 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 10:32-36: in context

32They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him. 33“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles. 34They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” 35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.” 36He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”

As Jesus walks resolutely toward Jerusalem, going ahead of his amazed and fearful disciples, he tells them plainly, for the third time, what awaits him there: the Son of Man will be handed over, condemned, mocked, spit upon, flogged, and killed, and after three days rise. He is walking with open eyes into suffering and death.

And immediately after this solemn word, two of his disciples, James and John, come to him, not with sympathy or awe, but with a self-serving request: Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask, wanting places of honor beside him in his glory. The contrast is jarring. Jesus is describing his coming humiliation and death; his disciples are angling for status and glory. They wanted the crown without the cross, revealing how little they yet understood his way. We too can follow Jesus while missing the heart of his way, wanting the benefits, the glory, the honor, without the cross, the self-denial, the suffering that following him entails.

Do I follow Jesus while still, like James and John, angling for status and glory, wanting the crown without the cross, or am I willing to walk his way of self-denial and the cross rather than grasping for honor?

Sources