Mark 10:38-40 38Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Jesus uses the request of James and John as another opportunity for teaching and correcting the disciples wrong thinking. The brothers were still thinking on the earthly level and did not understand the spiritually transformative power of God’s kingdom. They did not understand that the path to glory necessitates walking the way of suffering and full commitment. Their confusion was evident in even asking the type of question they did. They had heard the call to carry their cross but did not understand what this required of them in changing their thinking and calling them to sanctified faith.
Jesus asks them a two-part question to help them process all that they had seen and to prepare them for what lay ahead. First, he asks them about the cup he drinks. The idea of drinking a cup is connected in the Old Testament to God’s will for a person. The cup could be a positive thing (Psalm 16:5; 23:5; 116:13) or express God’s wrath (Psalm 11:6; 16:5; 75:8; Isaiah 51:17, 22; Jeremiah 25:15–28; 49:12). In the context of verses 33-34, the cup implies Jesus suffering and death on the cross. The symbolism of a cup appears two times during Jesus’ week of suffering. In the olive garden, Jesus prayed for the cup to be removed if it was God’s will (14:23). This reference refers to the suffering he was about to experience. The second was during the last supper when the cup represents the sacrifice of his life’s blood (14:36). Together, these suggest that the cup refers to his commitment to follow the Father’s will and go to the cross to make atonement for the sins of the world. Did James and John have that level of commitment?
Baptism likely refers to Jesus’ experience in the Jordan river briefly mentioned in 1:9-13. The verb have been baptized is a historical aorist pointing back to this event. Jesus’ baptism was symbolic of his identification with sinful humanity. It was a powerful expression of the incarnation at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It preceded the infilling of the Holy Spirit and the Father’s voice of confirmation. Jesus’ baptism represented his full surrender to the Father’s plan for him demonstrated by his victory of the devil’s temptations in the wilderness. Were James and John ready to make that level of commitment? Were they willing to surrender their lives to God’s prerogative and purpose for them?
Their positive response shows their willingness, but Jesus’ two-part response shows that their thinking needed to change. Did they really understand what Jesus was calling them to do? Could they follow the same path of doing the Father’s will, even if it cost them their lives? Jesus’ affirmative answer indicates that they would follow him on this path “with persecution” (verse 30). They would come to understand what he taught them about commitment, and their faith would grow to the point of full consecration.
Verse 40 answers their specific request with the implied idea that God is the only one who can determine such places of honor. If James and John really wanted to experience such reward, they would need to follow Jesus to the spiritual cross of entire sanctification, and this might mean for them the path of suffering. This discussion with Jesus must have made a deep impression on them the rest of their lives. We may come to Jesus with a similar request for glory. We are tempted to see this glory in terms of earthly recognition, prestige, and position. Or, we may think that to get to heaven just takes a short verbal confession of faith. Our shallow faith will evaporate when trials and temptations come. Jesus calls us to a deeper faith that transforms us into his image, which will require us to follow the path to the cross where we crucify our old selves influenced by worldly thinking.
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