At first read of our Gospel reading and figuring out where this reflection should go, my thought went to the boldness of John and James for asking or having the nerve to ask Jesus if they could sit on either side of him when he began to rule his kingdom. They were looking for a place of honour by Jesus. Instead of being like Jesus, they were focused on themselves.
When I read the Bible I sometimes look up the map that I have to get myself familiar with where the reading is happening. This time I decided to find out if there was such a thing as a timeline of the New Testament which would help me to figure out where we were in the life of Jesus and his disciples. I found one that I will now use along with my map.
The particular reading from Mark is on the final journey to Jerusalem and if I had of read a bit before this particular passage I could have saved myself some time and effort. Oh well, lesson learned (I hope).
Now looking at this from a different perspective, had me understanding that maybe they felt that since they had, by this time, been with Jesus long enough, that they could ask him anything. Along with Peter, James and John were 3 of the 12 disciples who were special or closer to Jesus. There was an extra bond between them.
The other disciples who stood near and heard the request were angry, but we can take this in one of two ways. We all interpret things differently. Were they disappointed that they did not think of this for themselves or did they understand that this is not the way Jesus does things. There are other times in the disciple’s journey with Jesus, that they had discussions about struggling for power so I would think that they too wanted this position to sit with Jesus.
A problem here is that John and James did not understand what they were asking for. They were under the assumption that to sit on either side of Jesus would mean to be here on earth helping to rule, with Jesus as the leader. Instead, Jesus would have to die before he would rule in his kingdom.
Jesus explains to John and James that although they were followers of his and yes they would drink the cup that he drank and could have the same baptism, he was not the one who would choose who sits to his left or right. Only God will choose and that place was already prepared.
Back to all of the disciples: Jesus needs to once again explain that they need to be less concerned about where they stand in relationship to others, to think less about who is the best, instead their focus should be on serving others. Not being first, but being last. I think there are times in our lives that we all need to focus more on this, but how can we all be servants or how can we all be last? Somebody has to be first and we need leaders. This reminds me of the school line, when nobody wants to be first in line and the kids keep moving to the end and pushing someone else to the front. This is usually not for the same outcome but I hope you understand what I mean here.
Of course there needs to be leaders, but it is how we lead that makes us better followers of Jesus. Even a good leader can be a servant like Jesus by respecting those he/she leads and be willing and able to get his/her hands dirty and pitch in where needed. Jesus was a great leader. He had many followers in his short time on earth and how many more follow him today. Jesus was a great leader but by being a servant to all.
The disciples still couldn’t see it, or maybe didn’t quite yet understand but maybe that was the plan after all. They needed to see the whole picture before they could truly ‘get it’ and be the disciples that Jesus was training them to be.
We as people who come to church, who read and possibly study the Bible, have a bird’s eye view of what Jesus was teaching his disciples. It took until his death before the disciples ‘got it’. When will we stop worrying about the car we drive, or the clothes we wear or how much money or ‘toys’ we have and be more focused on being servants. Last week we were told that we don’t need to give it all away and live poor,
But: What will it take for us as Christians to truly ‘get it’?