DAY TWENTY-NINE | Mark 10:35-45

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”

And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

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.”

So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”

And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus, the Servant-Giver

It had been three years since Jesus stepped out His into earthly ministry. Can you imagine how many miles that He would have walked with the twelve disciples? I wonder how many nights they had slept out under the open stars, or crashed on the dirt floor of a friends house?

Yet, as He begins His final approach to Jerusalem for Passover, and ultimately, to lay His life down for all humanity, two of His closest friends ask Him a question that is hard for me to grasp.

“Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

Every time I read this line, I find myself shaking my head in disbelief. Even before I read their request, I feel a little flustered with James and John for telling the Savior of the world, Hey, we want you to do what we want. But then I realize how often my prayers have probably sounded exactly the same way.

Full of grace, Jesus asks the two brothers what they would like Him to do.

“Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

This question did not go over very well with the other ten who had also shared in the three year journey with Jesus. In fact, Mark tells us that they were greatly displeased with James and John when they heard it. But I love the way that Jesus responds to James and John, and to the others.

To the two brothers he asks, Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?

“We are able” they said. To their credit, the sons of Zebedee seemed confident that would follow Jesus wherever and to whatever end was necessary. Jesus, indeed, affirms that they will share in His cup and be baptized with the same baptism – but that their request is still one that even He cannot grant.

Jesus then calls the twelve close to Himself and gives one of the most beautiful leadership lessons of His life and ministry. He asks His disciples if they could recognize the way that those who are considered rulers in the worlds system lord it over those that they lead. Then in no uncertain terms, He simply tells His followers: it will not be so among you.

In yet another example of how the Kingdom of God is upside down from the ways of this worlds system, Jesus clearly lays out that His operating system for leadership flowed from a place of love, humility and servanthood. He goes on to tell His friends that if they wanted greatness, they would access it by servanthood. I love the way that The Passion Translation communicates this.

You are to lead by a different model. If you want to be the greatest one, then live as one called to serve others. The path to promotion and prominence comes by having the heart of a bond-slave who serves everyone.

If it seems like what Jesus told the twelve is exactly the opposite of what most leadership experts say in their seminars and books – you are not wrong!. Google and YouTube are packed with articles and videos about shortcuts to climb the corporate ladder and crush your competition. Even in the church, leaders are taught that it is their job to cast a vision for their ministry and then recruit people to serve their vision.

But Jesus insists that this is not the kingdom way to lead and steward authority.

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Leadership, as defined by the words, attitudes and actions of Jesus, looks like serving and giving. He modeled a consistent, patient approach to leading the simple fisherman that He had called to follow Him. This leadership style was in direct contract to effective leadership looked like to the nations of the world during His day.

I remember feeling confused about this contrast when I was a young pastor. I had been given some leadership books as a Christmas gift one year, and was excited to read them. I definitely had plenty of ambition of become a great leader in the body of Christ. I thought that I had to do something great so that I could have influence and make a real impact for God.

But what I was reading in my Christian leadership books about how to grow influence, didn’t match up with what I was reading about in the life of Christ. The leadership books were full of strategies to grow and protect my reputation, while Paul told the Philippians that Jesus made Himself of no reputation and became a bond-servant.

Ministry leaders seemed to constantly warn me about the dangers of getting too close to our congregation. That they would only respect me as a leader if I remained distant from them. Meanwhile, John 13:1 tells us that having loved His disciples, He loved them until the end.

I wrestled with this contradiction for years. Over time, I learned not to discount everything that the leadership gurus were saying, but to filter all of their expertise through what leadership looked like in the life of Christ. He is the One that I was called to follow.

I won’t lie, sometimes following Jesus will be painful. I remember waking up early one Wednesday morning to get ready for my day. I had an early appointment with one of the guys that I was discipling and was talking to the Lord about what my time with him should look like. As I was grabbing the shirt that I needed, I sensed the Holy Spirit changing the subject on me.

Do you really want to follow me in the way that you lead?

I felt pretty caught off guard. Why was God bringing this up now? I knew that I wanted my answer to be “yes”, but I wanted to hear more about what was in His heart.

As I listened that morning, the Lord led me to Scriptures where Jesus led in a way that defied what sound leadership looks like to the world. In one of the most tender moments I ever remember having with the Him, the Holy Spirit showed me that if I really followed Jesus in the way that I led in our church and in my family, that some of the people that I loved the most woud l think that I was a bad leader.

I remember asking the Lord why this had to be true. Immediately, I sensed Him reminding me that the worlds system doesn’t measure leadership and servanthood as the same currency. If I was going to follow Jesus, leading by serving, some of my closest friends would identify this as weak leadership.

This was really hard. It helped me realize that I cared about what others thought of me. I wanted to be known as a faithful, effective leader. But sometimes, there is an undeniable tension between leading like Jesus, and leading like the world.

In this world, decisive action is so valued that impatience can be mistaken for good leadership. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard experts encourage people to do something, even if it is wrong.

In contrast, Jesus modeled patience as a lifestyle, loving and leading His disciples through their fumbling, and failings. He served them and modeled humility to them, calling them to follow His example and serve one another. Then He left them, empowering them with His Spirit and entrusting them to carry out His mission to disciple the nations.

And you know what?

They did.

The same crew that that spent most of the gospels looking quite unimpressive, would turn the world upside down in just a few short years. They became fathers to the early church, serving the body of Christ in its formative years. And according to John Foxe (Foxes Book of Martyrs), all of the apostles were martyred except for Judas Iscariot, and John the Revelator who died of old age while imprisoned for the gospel.

But this shouldn’t surprise us. These ordinary, untrained men who had walked with Jesus were just following His example. Jesus came to serve and to give His life for us. It is a massive part of the way that He lived and called those who follow Him to live.

That call extends through the centuries and is still living and breathing today. If we are going to follow Him in the areas of making disciples and leadership, it will mean choosing the operating system of His kingdom over the ones of this world. It will mean that our leadership probably won’t measure up to the broken rulers of the culture around us.

I pray that as you continue to look at the life of Jesus, that a burning hunger will grow to impact others for Him. I pray that you would see how leading like Jesus looks like humility, serving and giving. And I pray that you will make many disciples that follow Jesus into His upside down kingdom.

JOURNALING QUESTIONS // LINK TO PLAYLIST

Examine – How would you describe what this passage reveals about the life of Jesus?

MindShift – Is there anything about what you read in this passage that challenges the way you think about what it means to follow Jesus?

Prayer Focus – Is there any prayer that you can pray to co-operate with Holy Spirit to see your mind renewed to become more like Jesus?