This week, we hear in Mark an intriguing story of paradox featuring James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus and the twelve disciples are on their way to Jerusalem, and Jesus has just told them -- for the third time -- that he will be betrayed and killed when they reach the city.
Upon hearing this undoubtedly unsettling prediction again, James and John immediately approach Jesus. They don't mince words, asking boldly, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you" (10:35).
When Jesus asks them what they desire, they reply, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory" (10:37). (One wonders if James and John both preferred the right hand, which was viewed as more honorable.) Their request indicates that they have been giving a lot of thought to Jesus's previous foreshadowings of his death and resurrection, and pondering how they might fit in to the events of the days to come. After all, James and John were two of Jesus's closest disciples; along with Peter, they were the only witnesses to Jesus's transfiguration (9:2-13). Jesus even had a special name for them, calling them "the Sons of Thunder" (3:17).
Jesus, for his part, replies somewhat cryptically. "You do not know what you are asking," he tells them (3:38). Jesus then asks James and John if they are "able to drink the cup that I drink [presumably the cup of God's wrath, according to The Harper Collins Study Bible] or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with [presumably a reference to death, also according to the Harper Collins Study Bible]" (10:38).
James and John put on a brave face: "We are able," they say (Mark 10:39). But Jesus offers a response that is likely different from the one they are expecting, stating that the brothers will indeed share in Jesus's cup and baptism, but that he himself cannot select the people who will sit at his left and right hands: "It is for those for whom it has been prepared" (10:40).
The author of the gospel does not tell us the reaction of James and John, but does note that the other disciples are not happy with the Sons of Thunder. Bringing the twelve back together, Jesus then offer a fascinating and paradoxical reflection on service:
"You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:42-45).
Narry Santos, a professor of New Testament, writes that this seemingly paradoxical statement is one of three similar passages in Mark found "within the context of Jesus' three Passion predictions," the others being Mark 8:35 ("whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it" and "whoever loses his life shall save it") and Mark 9:35 ("If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all") (15).
So what is Jesus doing? At first glance, paradox can be a frustrating rhetorical device; sometimes readers are tempted to throw up our hand in confusion. But a closer look at Mark 10:42-45 offers an intriguing vision of an upending of traditional notions of power, and a stirring charge to rethink our notions of service.
James and John were impressively bold in asking Jesus for the honor of sitting at his left and right hands, and brave in expressing their willingness to share in his suffering. But Jesus's teaching to the twelve disciples places the emphasis not on what might happen in the future, but on what people ought to be doing in the present.
It's understandable that John and James wanted assurance of future reward: it seems only human. Yet this week's text from Mark drives home the point that future glory means nothing if we don't take time now, this very day, to serve one another. Children are hungry now. Violence is destroying lives now. With a seemingly paradoxical statement, Jesus draws the attention of his disciples to the importance of focusing on what we can do for others, and not what others can do for us.
Similar sentiments are expressed in a prayer commonly attributed to Saint Francis, also characterized by apparent paradoxes that resolve into a vision of loving care for others:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
Oh divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Sources:
Harper Collins Study Bible, Revised Edition (New York: HarperOne, 2006).
Santos, Narry. "Jesus' Paradoxical Teaching in Mark 8:35, 9:35, and 10:43-44." Bibliotheca Sacra 157 (January-March 2000), 15-25.
Photo credit here.
No comments:
Post a Comment