“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” Mark 10:35
The conversation recorded in Mark’s Gospel takes place just before the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Jesus and the disciples were journeying up to Jerusalem. After this they will stop at Jericho before proceeding into Jerusalem itself. Jesus knew He was going to be crucified and has just told this to His disciples, but they were not listening. They were not paying attention. They were too engrossed in their own ideas and desires.
After what Jesus has said about his coming suffering and death, this prayer request was rather self-centered. James and John wanted to sit on thrones of power and glory. And they were making their request before anyone of the other disciples asked. They anticipated the mad scramble for the seats of power that they thought would be coming.
It so easy for us to criticize these disciples for it is obvious that they had too much pride and selfishness, an exalted sense of their own importance. But all too often we think and behave in the same way. All too often we believers exalt ourselves and our own ideas and live in conformity to the way of the world. The way of the world is the way of self, me first just like James and John. But the way of the Kingdom of God is the way of the cross, the way not of self, but of self-sacrifice.