Mark 10:35-45
The Cup They Said They Could Drink
35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and declared, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”
36“What do you want Me to do for you?” He inquired.
37They answered, “Grant that one of us may sit at Your right hand and the other at Your left in Your glory.”
38“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I will drink, or be baptized with the baptism I will undergo?”
39“We can,” the brothers answered. “You will drink the cup that I drink,” Jesus said, “and you will be baptized with the baptism that I undergo.
40But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.
42So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them.
43But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
44and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.
45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Berean Standard Bible
He has just finished describing his own execution, item by item, and this is what happens next.
Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.
James and John are asking him to agree to something before they tell him what it is. Jesus does not take offense. He answers with a question a patient parent would recognize, asking them what they actually want, and so they say it: one of us at your right hand and the other at your left, in your glory. Two seats, the two nearest the throne, and there is no arrangement of that request in which any of the other ten gets one.
You do not know what you are asking, Jesus replied. Can you drink the cup I will drink, or be baptized with the baptism I will undergo?
Both of those pictures carry a history. In the prophets a cup is what God gives to people who are under judgment, and Isaiah describes a city that has drunk the cup of God's fury down to the dregs and cannot stand up straight. A sentence being served, then, rather than a drink enjoyed.
We can, they answer, and they have no idea what they have agreed to.
He does not tell them they are wrong. He does not warn them off either. He tells them they will drink the cup he drinks and be baptized with the baptism he undergoes, and then he says the seats are not his to hand out.
The other ten find out and are furious, and Mark makes no attempt to make them look better. Their anger is not about thrones or about who deserves what. Two men moved first, and the rest of them wanted to.
So he gathers them and describes the way authority usually runs. The men counted as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over people, and their superiors throw their weight around, and everybody on that road had lived under Rome and knew precisely what he meant. It will not be like that among you, he tells them. Whoever wants to be great has to serve. Whoever wants to be first has to be the slave of everybody.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Isaiah had written about a servant who would pour out his life unto death and bear the sin of many, and the word many sits in both places. Jesus has been talking about who serves whom, and he finishes by putting his own death on the same list.
How We Know
Verse 45 has two halves and the second one reaches for a specific passage. Isaiah 53:11-12 speaks of a righteous servant who will justify many by bearing their iniquities, and who poured out his life unto death and bore the sin of many.
Many, poured out, and the servant language all sit in those two verses.
The correspondence supports Mark 10:45 being framed against Isaiah 53 rather than stated as a general principle.
Questions
1 James and John ask Jesus to agree before they say what they want. What are they after?
AnswerThe two seats closest to the throne, one on his right and one on his left. They want the agreement first and the request second, and there is no version of what they are asking in which any of the other ten gets anything at all.
2 In the older scriptures, what is a cup?
AnswerWhat God hands to people who are under judgment. Isaiah describes a city that has drunk the cup of God's fury to the dregs and cannot stand up. It is a sentence being served, not a drink being enjoyed.
3 Does Jesus tell them they will not drink it?
AnswerNo. He tells them they will. He does not warn them off and he does not talk them out of it. He tells them what they have just agreed to without knowing, and then says the seats are not his to give.
4 Where would you most like to be great at something? Now, what does Jesus say greatness is?
AnswerServing, and being the slave of everybody. He never tells them to stop wanting it. He tells them where it is kept, which turns out to be the bottom of the room rather than the top.
What This Means for Us
He never tells them to stop wanting to be great. In chapter nine he took the same ambition and pointed it at the bottom of the room, and here he does it again, in front of ten furious men, without once saying that the wanting is the problem.
Greatness in this kingdom exists. It is kept somewhere nobody was looking, in the work done for people who cannot promote you or thank you or remember it.
So aim it rather than kill it. Be great at something nobody will notice.
Prayer
Father, we want to matter, and you have never told us not to. Thank you for showing us where greatness actually is. Point our ambition at the bottom of the room. And thank you for a life given as a ransom, when you could have asked to be served. Amen.