Mark 10:35-45            Let it go

When the disciples fail to understand something, it is usually something that Mark wants the readers to understand.  We are in the central section of Mark’s Gospel (8:22 – 10:52), which features Passion predictions, teachings by Jesus, and a series of misunderstandings by the disciples.  The misunderstandings we hear about today is pretty catastrophic – James and John approach Jesus to request to be first in his ‘glory’, sitting at his right and left hand.  Jesus responds with what appears to be a rhetorical question, asking them ‘Are you able to drink the cup that I drink …?’ and their affirmative answer is iconic – they are sure that they are up for the task of following Jesus, yet the question they have just asked shows that they are completely clueless!  They certainly are enthusiastic, but their focus is all wrong.

This exchange sets the stage for a clear lesson on discipleship and worldly power.  Unlike human rulers, who ‘lord it over’ people and can act as ‘tyrants’, Jesus’ vision is one of service: ‘whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant’.  The ways of the world are different from the ways of God.  This passage is central to Mark’s theology: Jesus serves to the point of giving his life, and we too are called to radical service.  There is no room for ego or complacency.  The message of Jesus is countercultural, then and now.  We have seen the damage done in recent years by authoritarian world leader and tyrants who are obsessed with their own power and status, and who don’t care whom they cause to suffer along the way.  In the entertainment and online world, there is an increasing obsession with fame and with social media approval and influence.  The way of Jesus challenges us to metanoia, a change of heart – to let go of the pursuit of worldly power and prestige, to transform our way of seeing the world and to walk a different path, the path of service.

© Triona Doherty & Jane Mellet, 2023.  The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Mark.  (Dublin: Messenger Publications 2023).

“Jesus’ whole life is a protest against self-complacency; he preaches metanoia, repentance; a complete transformation, not in the devotional sense confined to religious sentiment, but as metanoia, conversion, meaning at the same time a new relationship with God and with our neighbour.            – Bernard Haring