Friday, March 30, 2012

To sit at your right

From today’s reading: James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." Mark 10:35-37

I commented in a recent sermon that the disciples really weren’t hearing what Jesus was saying. The passage above takes place as Jesus has just told them again that he is going to be arrested and tortured and crucified. And then James and John come up and ask to be at his right hand and his left hand. Something tells me that either they weren’t listening, or else they didn’t understand what he was saying. They were envisioning a military victory and an earthly throne. The other disciples are not uch further along in their understanding because they get mad at James and John for wanting to be the most important. These are human feelings and worldly actions being displayed by the disciples. So Jesus goes on to tell them:

". . . 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 a ransom for many." Mark 10:44-45

What Jesus is saying is instead of wanting to sit at his right hand or his left hand, that he wants us to serve him by serving those in need. Because it is in serving them that we find ourselves at the right or left hand of Jesus who is also serving them.

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