The desire for heavenly glory

The desire for heavenly glory is what the brothers Zebedee, James and John, bring to Jesus in Mark 10:35-45. The story seems to sit as a counterpoint to the promise of eternal life as an affirmation of the disciples in 10:29-31. The approach of the brothers in the first place is crass in its attempt to elicit a blank cheque from the Messiah: (‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask’ 10:35). Their request is not a small thing either, as it turns out: to be seated in the places of honour next to the exalted Son in his heavenly session (10:37). They wish to usurp the highest positions in order that they might bask in the glory of the Christ. The abruptness of the request should not prevent us from seeing it as a genuine desire for closer proximity to holiness and a desire to be seen as pleasing in the sight of God. They are willing to take their discipleship of Christ to the very throne-room of heaven.

Jesus’ reply reminds them of the true demands of that discipleship if it is to be true discipleship of the true Christ. Their request betrays in fact their ignorance of the path he is about to tread (‘you do not know what you are asking’ 10:38). The real proposition for the follower of Jesus Christ is the one he next puts to them: ‘Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?’ (10:38). The ‘cup’, in Mark’s symbolic world the cup of divine judgment from Isaiah 51:17, 22, returns as a recognizable image in Gethsemane when Jesus cries out ‘[T]ake this cup from me’ (14:36). Can the brothers join with Jesus in the God-forsakenness of the execution of the Christ? Likewise, the baptismal image points forward to the bloody conclusion of Jesus’ earthly career. Origen for one reads both images as referring to martyrdom: his reading is confirmed by Jesus’ prophecy about the brothers (10:39). However, Origen curiously seems to imply that a promise is hear given to those who would pursue martyrdom of a greater reward, as if Jesus’ question (‘can you…?’) is a condition that the brothers can chose to meet. He overlooks the brothers inability to realize the full meaning of their own question; and the rebuff strongly implied in ‘to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant’ (10:40). The request for the seats of privilege is not denied outright: the brothers will learn the real meaning of following Jesus in due course. God’s hand will not be forced in the name of serving him. ‘The first shall be last, the last first’ does not mean that being the last ought to be pursued as a way of coming first - as if this were the point of Jesus’ reversal. Rather, it is a promise of vindication given to those who would follow him in the giving of life in service (10:45).

Too neat?