So, James and John make a
bid for the top seats in the Kingdom. How, we ask, could they have so misunderstood
the priorities that Jesus sets? They are looking to push themselves forward,
and need to learn that this is not the way of the Kingdom. Jesus challenges
them on that by asking two rhetorical questions, one as to whether they can
drink the same cup as him and the other as to whether they can be baptised with
the same baptism. As Ched Myers (Binding the Strong Man) comments – “having just completed teaching on the renunciation of
social power, we can almost feel Jesus’ weariness and exasperation as he listens
to the request of the Zebedees.”
In a sense it is irrelevant
as the seats that they request are not available anyway, but it is worth their
hearing the challenge as that will, hopefully, contribute to their understanding
of what they are mistakenly asking. Maybe they will finally see something of
the true values of the Kingdom.
Certainly, they are not
courting popularity within the group as the others are clearly annoyed by the
request from the brothers. This could have initiated a season of squabbling.
Was it that James and John were trying to beat the others to the question? However,
Jesus intervenes and points out where the path of true greatness lies. The person
in search of greatness needs to take on the role of a servant. The person who
wants to be number one must self-identify as a slave. This all goes against
conventional expectation, then as now, but is an important reminder of the very
different standards of the Kingdom, which, quite simply, turn things upside
down.
Leadership is important,
but the style of Kingdom leadership does not conform with conventional
expectation. As Myers says – “Jesus here does not repudiate the vocation of
leadership, but rather insists that it is not transferred executively.
Leadership belongs only to those who learn and follow the way of nonviolence –
who are “prepared” not to dominate but to serve and to suffer at Jesus’ side.”
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