For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

We’re just a few months past the Olympic Games, a quadrennial display of athletic excellence and national pride. The high-pressure competition always gives rise to dramatic stories that can be inspirational or heartbreaking, but sometimes embarrassing.

At the 2004 games in Athens, sprinter Maurice Greene hoped to repeat his gold medal performance in the 100-meter sprint in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Nearing the end of his career at age 30, Greene had adorned the upper part of his right arm with the tattoo of a roaring lion and the letters G-O-A-T, for “Greatest Of All Time.”

In the finals, Greene clocked the same time that had won him the gold medal at Sydney four years before – but he had to settle for bronze behind young Justin Gatlin of the USA and Portugal’s Francis Obikwelu. Pundits immediately posted alternate acronyms for his boastful tattoo: “Good Only As Third,” “Golden Once, Ancient Today.”

            Greene was not the first to call himself the greatest. Muhammad Ali was famous for making similar remarks, but he was not the first, either. Today’s text describes an effort by two of Jesus’ disciples to have themselves appointed by Jesus as the greatest among humans.

A hard prediction

(vv. 32-34)

First time readers of Mark’s gospel might conclude that the twelve disciples were incredibly dense. Mark frequently describes a clear teaching from Jesus that is immediately followed by the disciples showing their failure to understand. [DD]

            The story begins with Jesus and the twelve on the road to Jerusalem. They had left behind the high country of Galilee and traveled south through the Transjordan and into Judea. During the journey, Mark keeps the focus on Jesus and the disciples. Others enter the picture – an unusual exorcist, Pharisees and children, a wealthy man in search of eternal life – but the stories always culminate in a lesson for the disciples.

            Jesus’ teaching had been hard for the Twelve to take. He had criticized their arrogance, turned their theology upside down, and told them that first is last and last is first. How could they begin to understand such instruction? As they headed toward Jerusalem, Mark says, Jesus walked alone at the head of the group, while the others “were amazed, and those who followed were afraid” (v. 32).

            Trying to help his closest friends understand his mission, Jesus took the Twelve aside for a private conversation. For the third time, and in the greatest detail yet, he explained to them what was about to happen.

            “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again” (vv. 33-34).

            Imagine what it would have been like to hear one’s beloved teacher predict with great confidence that he was about to be arrested, tortured, held up to public ridicule, and killed? Not knowing the end of the story, even the promise of resurrection brings little comfort. If the leader should fall, his supporters would be likely to follow.

            Jesus made it clear that he knew what lay ahead but would follow through. His disciples had responded with disbelief, anger, and confusion to the first two predictions of Jesus’ passion (cf. Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32). In this instance, however, they seemed to make no response at all. Perhaps they had given up on understanding him, or more likely, refused to believe that such a thing could happen. Instead, they clung to their lifelong belief that God’s messiah would come as a conquering hero and return Israel to a preeminent place among the nations. Surely Jesus was that messiah.

A brazen request

(vv. 35-40)

Thus, as Mark tells the story, when James and John came to Jesus with their bold request for positions of honor in his kingdom, they were not only concerned with personal glory, but were seeking affirmation that Jesus would indeed win a victory and rule over a kingdom. Their request shows how much they had to learn about what Jesus’ kingdom would be like.

            But they had a right to ask, didn’t they? After all, they were the first two disciples Jesus called – except for pushy Peter and his quiet brother Andrew. And they (along with Peter) were clearly closer to Jesus than any of the others.

            When Jesus came into his kingdom – surely he would! – the Romans would be defeated, and Jesus would be king. Jesus would need a couple of strong and loyal viceroys to depend on. Who could fill that role better than James and John, the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17)? [DD]

            Jesus snapped: “You do not know what you are asking.” Jesus went on to question their abilities: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (v. 38). They had yet to understand that the real issue for Jesus was not whether they could rule with him, but whether they were willing to suffer with him.

            How could they take leadership roles in a kingdom whose values they had yet to accept? The “cup” Jesus would drink and the “baptism” he would endure spoke of the intense suffering and ignominious death that lay ahead. Later, in Gethsemane, an agonized Jesus would pray “remove this cup from me” (Mark 14:36), but the same disciples who sought to be his chief officers first slept and later fled rather than share his pain.

            The disciples responded to Jesus’ challenge with a brassy “We are able” (v. 39), making it clear that they had no idea what they were talking about. Confident that they would ultimately come through, however, Jesus predicted that they would indeed experience the cup of suffering, the baptism of death. [DD]

A puzzling perspective

(vv. 41-45)

Still, those acts of valor came only after Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit – after the disciples witnessed incomprehensible demonstrations of divine power and gained enough perspective to accept Jesus’ teaching.

            In the meantime, the brothers’ bold power play could not remain secret in a group as close as the Twelve. The others soon heard about it, and they were understandably vexed. Who did James and John think they were? Struggles for power inevitably lead to anger, frustration, and hurt.

            Jesus used the stressful moment to teach a vital lesson to all the disciples, confronting their failure to comprehend Jesus’ notion of the kingdom of God as opposed to an earthly empire. In Jesus’ kingdom, human concepts of greatness would be inverted. “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” (vv. 42-44).

            The disciples had been so influenced by their culture and by Judaism’s traditional hopes for a messiah-led renewal of their fortunes that they had accepted worldly models of ambition and power as the proper norm. In God’s kingdom, however, the weak become strong and servants take the lead. The same driving hunger for power that gets someone to the top of the heap in secular society will send them to the back of the line in God’s kingdom.

            In contrast, those who would advance in the family of Christ must become servants to one another. The word for servant is diakonos, the source of our word “deacon.” The call to servanthood is further emphasized by the addition of doulos, the word for “slave” – people who lived only to serve others. [DD]

            Modern Christians rightly decry the concept of slavery, but this does not diminish the point Jesus makes. Those who would follow Christ offer their very lives to him, and they demonstrate this surrender to Christ through service to one another. We note that Jesus speaks in the present tense. The kingdom is a present reality in the lives of believers. Lifestyle servanthood is not a prediction of what life will be like in heaven, but a pattern for Jesus’ followers to live on earth.

            Our model for such service is Jesus himself. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (v. 45). Jesus often referred to himself as the “Son of Man,” emphasizing his humanity and humility. One of his last earthly acts was a graphic demonstration of servanthood. When he gathered with his disciples for the last supper, no servant was present to wash their dusty feet, and no disciple volunteered to do it. Jesus took a basin and towel, got on his knees, and showed his embarrassed followers what greatness should look like.

            We also remember Christ’s ultimate act of service – his willingness to die on a horrid cross for the sake of a sinful world. Jesus saw all people as slaves to the power of evil embodied in their own sin. In some way beyond our comprehension, Jesus’ life and death would set us free. Fortunately, we don’t have to understand the atonement in order to accept God’s amazing grace.