"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
No doubt James and John had been shaken enough by Jesus predicting his imminent suffering and death that they were driven to ask this question. It was as though they didn't like the line Jesus was following but were willing to go along with it as long as they could still ensure they themselves got what they wanted. This was not the response of good friends upon learning that their friend would suffer. It was, however, a very human response.
They answered him, "Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."
We read that the disciples didn't really understand the predictions of the Passion. They would, however, put up with the uncertainty they implied as long as they could secure their own positions. Although they probably hadn't thought it through, it was as though they told Jesus to go ahead and suffer if he must as long as they still received the power and honor they sought. But the power and honor at the right and the left hand of Jesus were otherwise than they imagined.
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the cup that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
They said to him, "We can."
The glory of Jesus was the glory of his cross before it was the glory of the new age. Hence, at the Last Supper, preparing for the hour of his Passion, Jesus prayed "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son". This was not an egotistical or prideful desire. Jesus sought glory only so "that your son may glorify you" (see John 17:1). This was the true paradigm of glory. Indeed, the glory of his cross was inseparable from the glory with which he would reign in the new age and with which he would judge the living and the dead. It was precisely this act of self-offering the proved that he was worthy of glory. It demonstrated that he would not misuse power, that honor given him would not mislead, but would rather point toward love as the truly central fact of existence. Only in this context can the following promise of Jesus be understood.
Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (see Matthew 19:28).
Only those who followed Jesus would be able to sit on the thrones of his Kingdom. This was not a matter or worldly accomplishment or conquest but rather than path of service and self-giving.
The LORD was pleased
to crush him in infirmity.
If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.
The thrones themselves were not the thrones of this world's perverted idea of power, which is always involved domination and self-exaltation. True thrones could not be otherwise than the throne of Jesus himself, which was a "throne of grace".
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
James and John had no real sense for what they really asked when they asked to sit at the right and the left of Jesus. But there was yet some legitimate core desire in that request which Jesus chose to use, and to purify, to draw them onward in following him.
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the cup that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
They said to him, "We can."
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;
They asked for thrones according to the paradigm of this world, and the other disciples responded with the jealousy that such wordly paradigms of power always inherently inspire. But Jesus was able to redirect their zeal and enthusiasm for worldly honor to seek instead the glory and honor of God. Over time they would learn to do this the same way that their master did.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
We too are called to reign with Jesus, for he said, "I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne" (see Revelation 3:20-22). But this is it not something that can be given by an arbitrary fiat. Neither is it a victory we have the strength to win ourselves. Apart from him the cross is only death and not resurrection. It must be the cup and the baptism of Jesus himself, manifested in our own lives, by which we receive the victory. It is only drinking together with him the cup that he did not reject for our sakes that we too we see the will of the LORD accomplished through us, and see the light in fullness of days. United to his cross we too become instantiations of the throne of grace, helping to spread his salvation to the ends of the earth.
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