The Greatest Ones

They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”
But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
They said to Him, “We are able.”
-- Mark 10:37-39

James and John, the sons of thunder, did not know what they were asking, but they knew with that confidence born of ignorance that they could do it. They wanted to be the greatest ones among the disciples, and they asked first. I have enjoyed a similar confidence once or twice in my life, and we'll just say that ignorance can be a tough and humiliating teacher. And asking first makes no difference to ignorance, it will roll over the first with its full weight as well as it will the last to ask. James and John are granted what they ask. Oh, not the places that Jesus will admit He cannot give, but that cup and baptism they know nothing about. As always with this story, I have to wonder if James and John recalled their request as they saw Jesus crucified with two criminals, one on the right and the other on the left of Him.

The Independence Day holiday begins tomorrow for most of us. May the Lord God bless the United States and redeem us from our sins.

Bucky