THE PENNY WOULD DROP AT PENTECOST
41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:41-45
The disciples were so typically human. They were indignant with James and John for asking for the highest position in the kingdom, probably not because they thought the brothers had a cheek or because they understood that they (the brothers) did not qualify for those positions, but because they were annoyed that James and John got in first. There was childishness about their response that gave away their spiritual immaturity in spite of the years of closely following their Rabbi.
Like a patient and loving parent, Jesus got them together and began to explain how things work in the kingdom. He drew their attention to the way leaders in the world system function. They lead from position and by coercion. In the worldly order of things, those at the top tell those under them what to do and punish them if they don’t do it. Power is the ability to control people for their own purposes.
Jesus assured His disciples that, in God’s scheme of things, the effective way to lead is exactly the opposite. Power implies the ability to control one’s own choices and leadership means going ahead to show the way to produce the inner motivation to follow. Greatness involves being willing to get one’s hands dirty for the sake of others, doing the most menial thing to make the lives of others better.
This must really have jarred the minds of the disciples because it did not gel with their understanding of the kingdom. Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection, when He was spending His last few moments with them on earth, they were still asking Him about restoring the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1: 6). They could not understand why He was about to leave them but He had not yet done anything about completing what they thought He had come to do.
How did Jesus feel when He returned to the Father with the disciples’ words still ringing in His ears, knowing that His very last words to them were an attempt to get them to understand what He wanted them to do? All He asked of them was that they lived “Jesus” where they went.
It would take the earth-shaking experience of Pentecost to rip their old ideas from their minds and set them on the path to understanding and applying the kingdom of God to their own lives and the lives of others. In this was Jesus’ ultimate confidence!