Ambition for Leadership

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come to Him, saying, Master we would that you should do for us whatever we shall desire.

And He said to them, "What would you that I should do for you"?

They said to Him, "Grant to us that we may sit, one on Your right hand, and the other on Your left hand, in Your glory."

But Jesus said to them, "You know not what you ask: can you drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

(Mark 10:35-38)

Just before this passage Jesus had been telling his disciples how he was going to suffer, be mocked, scourged and spat upon, and how he would be killed and yet rise again - see Mark 10:34. You might think that the disciples would be interested in this, or feel some sympathy for the Lord. Perhaps they should enquire about the meaning of His word - that He would rise from the dead. But no, none of this. With a real lack of sensitivity they bring up the issue that is really important to them - namely, achieving rank in the Kingdom of God. They want to be glorified, they want to be closer to Jesus than anyone else. They want to sit on His right and on His left, in glory.

How very like us. We don't feel much for the sufferings of the Lord. We are thinking about how we can be great in the Kingdom of God. Perhaps James and John felt that with all this talk of Jesus' death they had better be quick to secure their place in the future hierarchy. I don't know.

See how gentle Jesus is. He doesn't rebuke them harshly. He simply tells them that they don't know what they are asking. They think they are merely asking for glory. Jesus is telling them - in asking for this glory you are also asking for a great measure of suffering. Can you suffer like I will suffer - asks Jesus?

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "but though our outer man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen."

There is a direct relationship between suffering now and future glory. If we aspire to share in the future glory of which Paul speaks, there must be suffering now. And the more glory there, the more suffering must work now. That is why Jesus asked James and John if they could be baptized with the baptism with which He Jesus would be baptized. Jesus was referring to His suffering on the cross. Notice how Jesus keeps coming back to this theme, while the disciples are thinking about how they can be great.

For Paul, these sufferings, even the "perishing of the outer man" was considered light affliction. Paul saw it as light because he had revelation of eternity. Anything we suffer here is light in etern

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