The Assignment

23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

She took up a respectful, even reverent, posture and indicated that she had a request to make. At this point she did not say what she wanted but made a request.35 This action appears to mean that, in humble submission and respect to the position of a great person, she was seeking Jesus’ permission before presenting her petition.

21. Jesus accordingly asked what she wanted; his verb is singular, so at this point he is confining the request to the lady and not associating her sons with her. She asks for an assurance that her two sons would sit at Jesus’ right hand and at his left in the kingdom. Next to the ruler, these were the two places of highest honor.[1]

Luke tells us that at about this time the members of the little band were expecting that the kingdom was about to be set up (); perhaps they thought that that was why Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. It would seem that the Zebedees wanted to be ready when that kingdom came into being. There is faith in their request. The kingdom had not yet been established in the way the Zebedees looked for it, and there was no sign of such a kingdom. But despite the lowliness of Jesus and of the entire little band the Zebedee family were so sure that the kingdom would eventuate that they were already putting in their claims for the best places when it came. We must deplore the self-seeking implicit in their desire to get the chief places for themselves, but at the same time we should appreciate their deep conviction that in the end Jesus would certainly establish the kingdom.

22. But for all their confidence in Jesus they were on the wrong track.

The mother had asked the question, but the sons were more nearly concerned, and it is to them that he addresses his answer. He goes on to say, “You do not know what you are asking.” They were clearly viewing the kingdom in terms of the contemporary understanding of splendor; Jesus would reign, they thought, over a realm much like that of the Romans, only more glorious. Despite all the teaching Jesus had given, they had still not realized that the kingdom meant lowliness, sacrifice, and rejection in this world. Who would ask for places of honor in such a kingdom? Who could ask for places of honor in it? To ask the question is to show that one has not understood what the kingdom is; it is impossible to seek greatness for oneself in it.

Jesus goes on to ask, “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” He does not explain what this means, but the cup is used in the Old Testament with associations of suffering and sometimes of the wrath of God [2]

All four Gospels use the term when they are recording what Jesus said of his sufferings in Gethsemane and at the time of his arrest[3]

Jeremiah 75:8

In the hand of the Lord is a cup

full of foaming wine mixed with spices;

he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth

drink it down to its very dregs. [4]

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn, a curse x—as they are today[5]

Mark 26:39

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” [6]

Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.[7]

Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. [8]

It is clear that the term was often used for suffering and the like, but it is not so clear why the sons of Zebedee were so ready to express their willingness and their capacity to endure it. “We can,” they said, without hesitation, without understanding, and without seeking clarification of exactly what the cup involved. That they claimed too much was made plain when they ran away in Gethsemane (26:56). And yet—in due course they did drink the cup, James by martyrdom () and John by exile to Patmos (if, as seems probable, he was the John who wrote ).[9]

Matthew 25:55-56

55 In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled[10]

And yet—in due course they did drink the cup, James by martyrdom () and John by exile to Patmos (if, as seems probable, he was the John who wrote [11]

That’s the qu

Jesus agrees that they will drink his cup, even though they do not understand what it implies. Their knowledge of the kingdom and of what following Jesus meant would be considerably enlarged, and that in the not-too-distant future. In the end they would be ready to eschew self-seeking and be ready to endure whatever suffering was required of them as humble members of the kingdom. That would happen, although at this time they did not understand it. But the chief places in the kingdom are another matter. Jesus says that gift “is not mine to give.” That is the prerogative of the Father, and Jesus says that it has already been prepared for them. If it has already been

then obviously Jesus could not now give it to others, no matter how worthy. We should notice again “my Father.” Jesus has just announced that he will be crucified and, in the context of a request for the highest places in the kingdom from people who ought to have known better, he still speaks of God in terms of the closest intimacy. He knew that he would undergo agonizing sufferings, but he faced them with trust in his loving Father.[11]

Not unnaturally the action of the Zebedee brothers did not please the rest of the apostolic band. They were indignant. The two were stealing a march on the others, some of whom doubtless had their eye on the same positions. It was a source of indignation that the Zebedees had tried to get in first.

25. Jesus approved of neither the actions of the two nor those of the ten; thus he called them all to him to teach them yet once more that it is lowliness, not self-assertion, that is important in the kingdom. The two were wrong, but then so were the ten. “You know,” he says, appealing to what is common knowledge and something that does not require demonstration. He refers to rulers of the nations, where his word is that commonly used for “the Gentiles” (as indeed a number of translations render it here). But it seems that Jesus is speaking about what happens in nations generally (NEB has “in the world”); he is not contrasting Jews with Gentiles. And in the nations rulers commonly exercise lordship over them. The world is apt to reason: “What is the point of being a ruler if you can’t act like one?” So rulers all too easily come to tyrannize over their subjects. And great men who are not quite in the positions of being rulers are still quite ready to make use of whatever authority they can exercise. It is the way of the world to look for the highest possible place and to take delight in making full use of the authority that that place gives. In political life the world over and the centuries through humility is seen as a handicap, not a virtue. Jesus draws attention to a well-known fact of life. It scarcely needs adding that he is not objecting to constituted authority as such; there must be people in authority if here is to be ordered government. He is objecting to the misuse of power that so easily comes about[11]

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