And there come to him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saying [to him], Teacher, we would that whatsoever we may ask thee, thou wouldst do it for us.
Jesus had just told His twelve disciples that He would be condemned and killed. At that moment two of His closest followers step forward with a request of their own. It opens one of the sharpest contrasts in Mark's Gospel: a Master walking toward a cross, and disciples asking for a throne.
The Lord had just set His coming death before them in plain words. One writer points to who it was that asked:
Then we have the persecution unto death — and what a death! — fully laid before us. James and John at this critical time show how little the flesh, even in the servants of God, ever enters into His thoughts. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," no matter in whom. Again, the ugliness of the flesh showed itself most, not in unknown people, but in those who seemed to be somebody. Their mother appears in another Gospel — the Gospel where we would expect such a family tie to show up. But here, sadly, it is the servants themselves, who ought to have known better.
Another writer looks at the same moment from the Lord's side:
At that time not one of the twelve could enter into His mind, feel with Him, or understand the need of His sufferings. Their minds were full of a kingdom on earth. So James and John come forward, wanting a high position in the kingdom, close to the Lord Himself.
They do not say what they want at first. They ask for a blank promise, and only afterwards name it. One writer is blunt about what that shows:
What unashamed self-seeking, in the presence of His complete surrender of self to do His Father's will! How terrible to see the flesh cropping up in such a scene! And what was their desire? To be nearest to Christ in His kingdom. This was what suited man — not the cross, but the ease and peace and prosperity of the kingdom. Yet the cross was the necessary path to it.
The request was not unbelief. They were sure the kingdom was coming — that was the point of asking. What went wrong was who stood at the centre of the picture:
James and John had faith. They saw the dangers on the road to Jerusalem. Even so, they believed that Jesus would have the glory and the kingdom, and they said, "At all events, give us a good place." But about whom were they thinking? About James and John.
The same commentary elsewhere describes it as faith being used to carry a very different cargo — they "use their faith in the royalty of Christ to present the carnal desires of their heart."
He does not scold them and walk on. He takes the question and makes it a lesson for all twelve:
The Lord is always full of goodness for His own. His answer turns the fleshly question into a lesson for His disciples. He was not the only one who was to bear the cross. He alone could carry out redemption by offering Himself: the Son of God who gave Himself in His love to be the Lamb of God. But as to the path, the disciples had to walk the same path He walked, if they wished to be with Him.
So He grants what they never asked for — suffering for His Name. And He holds back what they did ask, because of the place He Himself had taken:
He could promise them the privilege of suffering for His Name's sake. But He could not give them a place at His right hand in the kingdom. He had taken the place of the Servant. He leaves it to the Father to say who will have a place of special privilege in the day of glory.
Commentators differ on how much blame the two deserve. Most read it as plain self-seeking. One is gentler: the reader who condemns them may want the same thing:
We might say at once — "presumption"! But do we not want a place in that glory? … We do want a place in the glory and in the kingdom; we should not be following the Lord today if we did not have that in view. If the motive is pride of heart, that would be another matter. Their request was quite all right in itself, but the Lord applied the test. John was one of the few who stood by the cross. Did he think about this desire of his when he saw a criminal on the right hand and another on the left of the Lord?
- Cross first. They ask right after the Lord foretold His death. Their hearts were far from the road He was walking.
- Faith misused. They truly believed the kingdom was coming. But their thoughts were on themselves, not on Him.
- Suffering shared. What the Lord could give them, He gave — the privilege of suffering for His Name.
- Throne reserved. The seats beside Him were not His to hand out; as the Servant, He left that to the Father.
- Test applied. Wanting a place in glory is not wrong in itself. The Lord tests the motive, and the cross is where the test falls.
And he said to them, What would ye that I should do for you?
Jesus had just told His twelve disciples what would happen to Him in Jerusalem. Two of them answered by asking for a blank promise, and His question here makes them say out loud what they want.
Instead of granting an unnamed favour, He asks them to state it. One writer sees here the difference between a prayer shaped by God's will and one shaped by our own.
Where the asking flows from our own will, it cannot be the prayer of faith. It only bends God and His purposes to our fallen wills. So, "We know that whatever we ask according to His will, He hears us." … The "What do you want" is God's part. The "We will" comes wrongly from us. It marks a lack of trust, or a failure to own our need of mercy first. And then we often "do not know what" we ask.
Their answer was not unbelief. They were sure the kingdom was coming. The problem lay in what they wanted from it.
There was true faith that the kingdom would be set up. But, as so often with ourselves, a good deal of unjudged flesh pushed its way into the realm of faith. They saw the kingdom as a chance to advance themselves, not as the place where the glory of Christ would shine. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," whether in unknown believers or leading apostles.
Commentators differ here. Some see nothing in it but ambition. The reaction of the other ten, they say, shows the rest wanted the same thing.
This shameless hunt for position by James and John might make us blame them more than the rest. But verse 41 shows that all of them held the same selfish desires. The ten objected not to what the two had asked, but to the fact that the two had got in ahead of them.
Another writer is slower to condemn, and turns the Lord's question back on the reader.
We might say at once — "presumption"! But do we not want a place in that glory? … The Lord tested these men, but He did not tell them they would not be in the place they sought. Equally, He did not tell them that they would. … Their request was quite all right in itself, but the Lord applied the test. John was one of the few who stood by the cross. Did he think about this desire of his when he saw a criminal on the right hand and another on the left of the Lord?
A few verses later a blind man cries to Him for mercy, and He puts the same question to him.
When the blind man cried, "Have mercy," Jesus stopped at once. To that cry of need He offered the very thing He had reproved and set aside in the two brothers: "What do you want me to do for you?" The same words mean one thing in the mouth of unbelief — a selfish, grasping claim of the flesh — and quite another in grace. This man knew what he asked for, and the sense of our need is true knowledge in asking.
They claimed they were able for His cup. He did not accept the claim, but He did give them a promise.
They put themselves on a level with Him and say: "We are able." The Lord, in His wondrous grace, puts them on a level with Himself by grace. He does not say: "You are indeed able," but "You shall indeed drink." As we might put it, "You shall indeed suffer with me." The reward of glory I leave to the Father to appoint. It is not mine to give, but belongs to those for whom it is prepared.
He could have settled the seating and did not. The reason lies in the place He had taken.
Places of honour in the coming kingdom will go to those who have served this wonderful Servant. Each will receive according to the measure in which he accepted suffering and death on His behalf. Yet even so, the Lord does not assign these places of distinction. That rests with the Father, for He remains true to the place of Servant which He has taken. We are set in the place of identification with our rejected Lord. Unless we stay true to it, we cannot expect any special recognition in the glory of the kingdom.
- Asked — The Lord will not act on a blank promise. His question makes the two men name what they want, and naming it exposes it.
- Exposed — Faith and flesh come out together. They believed the kingdom was coming, but saw it as room to advance themselves.
- Weighed — Commentators differ on the request itself. Some call it plain place-hunting shared by all twelve. Another says the wish for a place in glory was fair, and the Lord tested it.
- Granted — He gives them His cup instead of the seats they named: "You shall indeed drink" — not because they were able, but by grace.
- Deferred — The seats stay with the Father, because the Son keeps the Servant's place. Honour in the kingdom follows those who stay with a rejected Lord.