Bible Study series: Mark 10:35-45. They had the wrong outlook. Be a servant, not the lord.
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Scripture: Mark 10:35-45
35 James and John, sons of Zebedee, came up to him, saying to him: “Teacher, we want you to do for us what we ask of you.” 36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit one on your right and one on your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You don’t understand what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup which I will drink and to be baptized with the baptism with which I will be baptized?” 39 They said to him, “We are able.” But Jesus said to them, “You shall drink the cup which I drink and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 40 But to sit on my right or on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.
41 When the ten heard, they began to be indignant with James and John. 42 Then Jesus, after he summoned them, said to them, “You know that those recognized as ruling over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones dominate them. 43 But it must not be like this for you. Instead, whoever wants to be greatest among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever among you wants to be first must be the slave of everyone. 45 For not even the Son of Man came to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:35-45)
Comments:
In Matthew’s version he remembered that the mother of James and John asked (Matt. 20:20), while Peter remembered it as just James and John, without the maternal intermediary. It is likely that Peter may not have noticed that their mother intervened; after all, women followed him from Galilee (Luke 8:2-3 and Mark 15:41). James and John’s mother was one of a large crowd. No doubt James and John stood close by, and Jesus looked right at both of them, while their mother stood next to them. Or Mark simply trimmed her out of the story. Writer’s choice.
Don’t miss the foolish irony John and James exhibited. Jesus talks about his death and suffering, and the two brothers ask for places of prominence.
35-37:
The right and the left indicate positions of prominence.
“in your glory”: Normally, this term would refer to the Parousia or Appearing or Coming of the Lord. Normally, this is a time when everything is wrapped up and the New Messianic Age breaks forth. However, we must consider James and John’s limited perspective. Here they are heading for Jerusalem, and they believe that Jesus will win the Great Miraculous, Military Showdown against the Romans. When that happens, James and John want to shove everyone else aside and sit next to Jesus on his right and left.
However, if you interpret the phrase as the Parousia and the establishment of a glorious kingdom, then see vv. 29-30 for further comments.
38-39:
Ignorance pursues power and glory, without going through suffering first. One day an older student in my class said to me as I was teaching: “I’m going to be where you are!” She meant my leading the class and teaching. To her it seemed so glorious and privileged. I replied, “Great! I hope so too! But are you willing to go through what I had to go through to get here?” The meaning was clear. I worked hard and sometimes suffered. Don’t expect leadership unless you are prepared to work for it and sometimes suffer for it. The head that wears the crown is uneasy, as the saying goes.
The cup refers to the OT imagery to judgment and retribution (Ps. 75:8; Is. 51:17-18; Jer. 25:15-28). Jesus was about to rise from the dead in power and glory and exact judgment on the Jerusalem religious establishment (Matt. 24:2; cf. Luke 21:22). But first he had to be crucified by the same establishment. James and John overlooked the suffering part, before the glory.
Baptism refers to immersion, in this case immersion into suffering. It is a “figurative expression that refers to ‘the power of calamity to overwhelm. Can you, he asks be immersed in that which has overwhelmed me’?” “The sufferer is regarded as plunged and half-drowned in his grief and loss.” (Decker, pp. 66-67, quoting two commentators). The metaphor of baptism describing an overwhelming deluge references Pss. 42:7; 69:1-2; Is. 43:2.
Their confident response that they can—“we are able”—to drink the cup was about to be tested. James suffered martyrdom (Acts 12:2), and John suffered exile (Rev. 1:9).
Jesus’s authority came only from the Father. Soon, all authority in heaven and on earth will be given to him (Matt. 28:18). Even in that case, it was derivative for the Son of God.
40:
God is the one who gives and prepares these positions. He is behind the scenes, orchestrating these events and the lives who are surrendered to him. Matt. 20:23 adds, “prepared by my Father.” This clarifies Mark’s verse here.
In vv. 38-40, the passive voice is used: “to be baptized.” In this context, it is called the divine passive, which is an understated way of saying that God is behind the scenes orchestrating the “baptism.”
41:
Their indignation shows they were concerned more about their missing a throne of prominence next to the Messiah than they were about the two brothers’ horning in. Maybe they were upset that they did not get there first.
42:
Jesus uses two power words; they signify dominating and exercising authority over others. This is what the pagans or Gentiles do. Of course, what would spring instantly to mind in their minds is the Romans. Over all, with some flareups, the Romans let the Jews follow their religious customs, provided they pay taxes. They also let the Jews have some authority, as long as they submitted to Roman law. If those two things happened, peace would break out everywhere, but it chaffed the nation of Israel to be ruled by pagans. The extra-pious saw the infiltration of pagan Roman religion, here and there. Here in Mark the words are rare and extra-strong, indicating a negative rule of dominance.
Another translation of the first clause: “those who appear to rule,” meaning that man’s control and dominance is almost illusory, contrasted to the kingdom of God and his rule (Strauss).
43-44:
In the kingdom community, the opposite was supposed to happen. Those who want preeminence and be a leader must be a servant. The Greek noun diakonos (pronounced dee-ah-koh-noss) does not means a formal title, like deacon or minister, but it means a servant. The deacon and minister come later, and even then caution is needed. It is ironic that those two titles came to mean bosses in the church, at least for the more hierarchical denominations. Further, Jesus uses the synonym in this context: slave doulos (pronounced doo-loss). So clearly he did not means an official position of power.
The bottom line is not to wipe away structure and authority in the later church (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim. 3; and Heb. 13:17), but to show what attitude leaders should have. Humble yourself first, and then let God raise you up and give you his authority (1 Pet. 5:6).
Let’s briefly explore slave / servant:
The noun is doulos (pronounced doo-loss; the Greek is plural douloi, pronounced doo-loi) and could be translated as slave, because in Jewish culture a Hebrew man who sold himself into servitude to his fellow Jew was like an indentured servant whose term of service had a limit; he was freed in the seventh year. But then the indentured servant could stay with his family, if he liked his owner (Exod. 21:2-6; Lev. 25:38-46; Deut. 15:12-18). So there was a lot of liberty even in servitude, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).
Slavery and Freedom in the Bible
It is a sure thing, however, that Mark’s Greek-speaking audience, knowledgeable about Greek culture, would have heard “slave” in the word doulos. So if you wish to interpret it like that, then that’s your decision. But culturally at that time slavery had nothing to do with colonial or modern slavery.
In this context, the two words function as synonyms, but slavery raises the stakes and intensified the servant role.
45:
The Son of Man could have demanded, justly, that others serve him, but instead he came to serve others. Dan. 7:13-14 is in the background here, which says that the son of Man has all dominion and authority and glory and power.
How will the Son of Man serve? He came to give his life as a ransom for many. The Greek noun is lutron (pronounced loo-tron), and in Greek writings at the time, it most often referred to the purchase price for freeing slaves. It is their emancipation from slavery and into freedom. Jesus was the price that was paid to free his people and many others from their enslavement. Yes, it is true that there is never any mention in the NT of the person who was paid, but maybe we can say that it refers to our sin nature. He paid the price by becoming vicariously a sin offering and thereby paying the penalty for our sin, which was death. So the price and penalty merged, and it was death, and he paid that price by becoming a ransom. Remember: Jesus had just spoken of his death (vv. 32-34).
The background to this verse is Is. 53. There the Suffering Servant would suffer for his people. Is. 53:10, 12 talk about paying and suffering for the nation. He was the offering for guilt.
… Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt, (Is. 53:10, ESV)
For more discussion about the Suffering Servant being a guilt offering, see this post about Leviticus:
The Guilt Offering from a NT Perspective
And Is. 53:12 says that he bore the sins of “many”:
… he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Is. 53:12, ESV)
See my posts:
What Is Redemption in the Bible?
“for” is the preposition “anti” (pronounced an-tee), and it typically means “in place of” or “instead of.” It means a substitution. So here we have a basic verse about the substitutionary theory of the atonement.
The rest of the commentary on v. 45 has been moved to this post:
Is the Atonement for ‘Many’ or ‘All’ People?
The cross changes everything. Now the question is: Is healing guaranteed in every case? I have attempted to answer the question in v. 3, though no ultimate answer is available to us on the earthly side of eternity. For a fuller discussion, see this post:
Why Doesn’t Divine Healing Happen One Hundred Percent of the Time?
As I read things, the call of the gospel goes to all, but some won’t respond in faith, but many will. Grace is resistible.
GrowApp for Mark 10:35-45
1. Study 1 Pet. 5:6 and combine it with this pericope. How do you humble yourself? What happens when you do?
RELATED
10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel
2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
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