Mark records James and John asking a favor of Jesus (Mark 10:35), but Matthew records their request came through their mother Salome, Jesus’ aunt and his mother’s sister. It is clear, however, from Jesus’ reply, “You don’t know what you ask…” (Matthew 20:22; Mark 10:36) that Jesus understood the request as coming directly from the two brothers, so Salome was merely doing what her sons asked her to do. Be that as it may, what can we determine from the request, itself? First of all, the request, “we want you to do for us whatsoever we ask,” seems to be trying to get Jesus to commit himself to them, before he even knows what James and John want him to do. That failing (Mark 10:36), they then told Jesus they wanted to sit one on his right and the other on his left, when he came into his Kingdom, that is, when he was declared to be the Messiah (Mark 10:37).
Clearly, both brothers failed to understand what Jesus had, recently, been trying to teach them. Less than a month earlier Peter asked what value it was that the Twelve had left all to follow Jesus (Mark 10:28). According to Matthew, Jesus’ reply to Peter (Mark 10:29-30) was prefaced by telling him the Apostles would sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). Undoubtedly, this is what James and John had in mind when they asked Jesus “…do for us whatsoever we ask” (Mark 10:35). Nevertheless, such a request, in the context of Jesus’ most recent teaching that when they arrived in Jerusalem the Jewish authorities would have him crucified (Mark 10:32-34), indicates the brothers had totally missed Jesus’ point.[1]
Jesus responded by asking James and John, if they were able to follow him wherever he went (Mark 10:38), an ambiguous question that met their original ambiguous question (Mark 10:35). Nevertheless, although Jesus wouldn’t answer such ambiguity, the two brothers naively thought they were able to do so (Mark 10:39). Their reply parallels that of the rich young ruler in Mark 10:20. Just as he had no idea of the complexity and gravity of the Law, which he claimed to obey, the two brothers simply had no idea what it would mean to follow Jesus wherever he would go.
Nevertheless, Jesus told them: indeed, they would follow him and partake of the sufferings that would come upon him (Mark 10:39-40), but their labor wouldn’t be in the flesh, for he made that clear earlier, showing that the rich young ruler had no ability to follow him and attain to eternal life through the power of the flesh. Rather, it wouldn’t be until the disciples were clothed with power from heaven (Luke 24:49), as opposed to the power of the flesh, that each of them would be enabled to follow Jesus wherever he went (Mark 16:20; cp. John 7:13; 19:38; 20:19).
On the other hand, what can we make of Jesus’ remark concerning who would have the authority to sit upon his right and left in the Kingdom (Mark 10:40)? If the Kingdom of God is within mankind, and this is the throne of God, no one but Jesus has the authority to sit with the Father on it, and there can be no right or left to it, as far as having authority over another man’s heart is concerned (cp. Revelation 22:1-3). To be sure, the Messianic throne is not the same as God’s throne (cp. Revelation 3:21), and, according to the same verse, any overcomer is granted the authority to sit with Jesus on this throne. But, what would that mean? According to Psalm 2, the Messiah (Jesus) is King over the nations. So, in the context of what Jesus says later in Mark 10:42, to sit on the right or left of Jesus on the Messianic throne means to serve, not rule, and the latter is implied in James’ and John’s request in Mark 10:37. To rule the nations (gentiles) involves preaching the Gospel, through which we are able to get those who are in rebellion against God to submit the thoughts and imaginations of their hearts to the authority of Christ (2Corinthians 10:5). This is done not through law or military force (2Corinthians 10:4), but, rather, through preaching the Gospel (2Corinthians 10:3, 14), something totally foreign to the request made by James and John.
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[1] Thus, we see the power of false doctrine, which continues to affect the worldview of modern Christianity, though who would admit to believing false doctrine? To admit to the idea that one believes a lie, implies one doesn’t believe the truth about a matter. The task of getting his disciples to understand the truth often proved to be difficult for Jesus during the first century AD. Why would it be any different today? To believe men instead of Jesus (2Corinthians 10:3-5) has proven itself to be just as difficult a task, today, as it had been in the first century AD.
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