Right after Jesus gives the third and last prediction about the fate he was going to undergo in Jerusalem, Mark tells us that John and James, probably anticipating a Messianic coup d'etat in Judaism's capital, wanted to be assured of special places beside Jesus "in his glory" (cf. Mark 10:37). There is a pattern in the section that goes from Mark 9:31-10:45 in which each time Jesus predicts his passion, the issue of "glory" comes out.
A Pattern
After the first prediction of the Passion in Mark 9:31, Peter rises up and rebukes Jesus for saying that he -- the Messiah (cf. v. 29) -- should suffer. Peter had been thinking of the political Messiah long awaited by the Jews. Jesus however understood his Messiahship in a different way. He was to be a Suffering Messiah. This section is then followed by Jesus' teaching about the way of the disciple (vv. 34-38); it is to be a way that will be like His own.
The second prediction of the Passion in Mark 9:30-31 is followed by the issue of who is the greatest among the Twelve (Mark 9:33-37). Here, Jesus states for the first time the principle of "greatness" in his community: whoever wants to be the first must be the last and the servant of all. In Mark 9:34-38, Jesus had said that discipleship will involve "renouncing oneself". Here, he defines what that renunciation means: to be like a child who had no pretense to any right, a child who had no honor of its own.
Finally, after Jesus predicts his Passion for the third and last time (Mark 10:32-34), James and John approach him for the favor to sit at his left and at his right. These brothers were among the first disciples to be called. Mark also informs that they not only left their nets but also their boat, their father and the men who worked with them (their business). Were they anticipating the "hundredfold" reward that Jesus was talking about in vv. 29-30?
What Were They Asking For? Mark tells us that they were already on the way to Jerusalem when Jesus makes his last prediction. They were therefore on the way to its fulfillment. Jesus was thinking of the death and glory he was to undergo. James and John were thinking of the opportunity that Jesus' crowning as king would give them: to have their special place of honor at his side
Compared to the question of greatness in Mark 9:33-37, the expressed ambition to be at the left and right side of Jesus was something that the other disciples could not take (cf. v. 41). They were actually asking for a place of honor and influence near Jesus and above the rest. We can gather from the response of Jesus what the implications of this was: they wanted political power.
A Politics of Self-Giving. Jesus' response to them can be divided into two parts. First, he asks them whether they were ready to undergo the same fate he had. When James and John affirm that they intended drink "his cup" and undergo "his baptism" Jesus tells them that it is not his to decide who would be given those places of honor. He is after all The Servant. He is going to Jerusalem in an act of obedience to Him who wills it. This idea of servanthood is tied up with the second statement he makes:
42You know that those who are recognized as rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones make their authority felt over them. 43But it shall not be so among you.
Rather whoever wishes to be great among
you will be your servant;
44whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. 45For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many.
It is to be noted that v. 44 is a direct echo of Mark 9:35, an indication that even here the same principle of greatness is to be followed. Vv. 43 and 45 add a particular coloring to this principle, a political coloring. Politics in Jesus' community of faith is to be a politics of service and self-giving. It is not to be a politics where leaders step on their subjects and make them bear the burden of their authority. Rather, it is a politics that flows from the same attitude that Jesus has: a politics of servanthood in obedience to the will of Him who is to be all in all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28) .
