Lange Commentary - Mark 10:35 - 10:45

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Lange Commentary - Mark 10:35 - 10:45


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PART FOURTH

The Conflicts and Triumphs of the Lord in Judæa. Christ the Founder of the New Church.

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FIRST SECTION

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSAEM

Mar_10:35 to Mar_11:26

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1. The Request of the Sons of Zebedee. Mar_10:35-45

(Parallel: Mat_20:20-28)

35     And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.36And he said unto 37 them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. 38But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? 39And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: 40But to sit on my right hand andon my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. 41And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. 42But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43But so shall it not be 44 among you: but whosoever will be great among you,shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

See on the parallel of Matthew, especially Critical Note on Mar_10:20.—Christ has prepared the Twelve for His final festival journey, and for its significance as a time of crisis. He has come forth from the wilderness of Ephraim; the first band of the Galilæan pilgrims to the feast—consisting probably of the most intimate friends and dependants of Jesus, who had come from Galilee through Samaria to Ephraim—had joined Him, purposing to go on with Him through Jericho to Jerusalem. This seems to be confirmed by the fact of the presence of Salome, and her participation in the request of her two sons. This request itself shows us how mighty had once more grown the joyful excitement of the disciples, hopes: in this respect, it makes the present section a perfect contrast to the previous one. Matthew alone accompanies Mark here; and he makes Salome prominent, putting the request into her lips. According to Mark, her sons present the petition to the Lord; but the records are evidently complementary to each other. Matthew’s account makes Salome only the intercessor, and with marked accommodation to the spirit of Oriental court ceremony. Hence, even according to Matthew, Christ speaks immediately,—after the mother had proffered that request which, according to Mark, is the supplication of the sons,—to these sons themselves. Mark adds to the word concerning drinking of the cup, the word concerning the baptismal bath. Matthew says, “The sitting on My right hand and on My left is not mine to give, but for whom it is prepared of My Father;” Mark says briefly, “For whom it is prepared.” He also says, in his manner, “The ten began to be displeased.” The princes of the earth also he describes in his own peculiar way. For the rest, he agrees here with Matthew very closely; and down to trifling variations, such as between Matthew’s “your servant,” and Mark’s “servant of all.”

Mar_10:35. We would that Thou shouldst do for us.—Strong importunity, èÝëïìåí , ἵíá .

Mar_10:37. In Thy glory. According to Matthew, in Thy kingdom.—These are essentially the same. But we must reject the explanation, “in that glory which will surround us when we sit by Thee.”

Mar_10:38. And with the baptism.—Peculiar to Mark. On the double meaning of the expression, see Mat_20:22.

Mar_10:40. For whom it is prepared—Matthew adds, “of My Father.” In Mark the emphasis lies upon the fact that the matter of the honor was already decided.

Mar_10:41. They began.—Here again follows at once a counter feeling: the appeasing word of our Lord.

Mar_10:42. Which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, ïἱ äïêïῦôåò ἄñ÷åéí .—Meyer: The essence of Gentile government, the ruling ambition, is signified; not simply ïἱ ἄñ÷ïíôåò (Gataker and others) but qui censentur imperare; i.e., quos gentes habent et agnoscunt, quorum imperio pareant (Beza). He justly sets aside Fritzsche’s exposition: “those who think they rule.” But in Wetstein’s interpretation,—qui sibi regnare videntur, revera autem affectuum suorum servi sunt,—there is an element worth noticing.

Mar_10:43. Whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister.—Properly the “he will be” has the meaning of ἔóôù , he should be, let him be; yet also with a hint of the thought that he will be such, either in the most internal sense or in the most external. Christ is the servant of all in the centre of the Church; the Pope, in the periphery of the Church, is the involuntary result of, and protest against, a too hasty development of the kingdom of God.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See on Matthew, especially the Critical Notes.

2. The last known instance of the Lord’s apostolical training of the sons of Zebedee. The two preceding periods were Luk_9:54, and Mar_9:38. Thus there is an analogy and a contrast with the apostolical education of Peter. Our history throws light in many directions: 1. As the beginning of that enthusiastic Hosanna, which found its climax in the acclamations of the palm-entry into Jesusalem. Christ had predicted His sufferings on the cross. The sons of Zebedee declare, with glowing heroism, that they are willing to connect their fate with His in the strictest manner, and that they are fully resolved to go forward: they rather, however, hope for glory with Him, than fear the shame of His cross. 2. As the last outbreak of the high-toned, noble, natural pride of the sons of Zebedee. The mother and the sons are one. But John seems to interpose especially in favor of his brother James: he might, according to antecedents, have had some sort of claim to the right hand place; but he now (as the younger) will take his place on the left hand. 3. As an unconscious request for martyrdom with Christ. 4. As a keen test of the heroism of Peter. 5. As an illustration of the stage of transition, through which the disciples were then passing. 6. As giving the Lord occasion to characterize the nature of earthly government, and to utter His protest against all ideas of a Christian hierarchy; as well as to distinguish expressly the economy of the Father, and the creation and preordination, from the economy of the Son and redemption; and still more expressly to mark out the royal road of humility as the appointed and only way to true and abiding Christian exaltation. Php_2:6 seq.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See on Matthew.—What was noble and what was evil in the request of the sons of Zebedee.—The bold petition of these disciples: 1. As a fault: with regard to the error and the sin in it,—a. they prayed for something which, in the sense in which they prayed for it, did not exist in the kingdom of Christ; b. for something which was not yet existing (not before the cross); c. for something about which decision had already been made: possibly in their favor, so that their request was superfluous; possibly not, and then their request was vain. 2. As a pious impulse of the Spirit, which was sanctified and abundantly gratified: it was an impulse, a. to remain always near Him; b. to share His lot and serve Him; 3. to work with self-devotement for His kingdom. One was the friend of Jesus, the other the first martyr.—The cup of Christ and His baptism: a. the tasting of all the bitternesses of the Messianic suffering; b. the experience of all the external trials, or the being baptized into the shame of the cross, the death, the sepulchre, the underworld. Or, a. His drinking (Gethsemane); b. His sinking (Calvary).—Cup and baptism in the kingdom of Christ: 1. The cup and the baptism; 2. the baptism and the cup.—As the Lord corrected Peter by rebuking lessons, so He corrects the sons of Zebedee by humbling lessons: 1. By making an express distinction between the suffering of Christ and His glory; 2. between martyrfidelity with its reward, and the divine gift and its blessedness; 3. between the economy and work of the Father, and the economy and work of the Song of Solomon 4. between the eternal fundamental principles of the kingdom of God, and their realization in the work of man’s free will; 5. between the earthly State and the spiritual Church.—The displeasure of the disciples at the error of the sons of Zebedee: 1. Probably a feeling on behalf of Peter’s rights; 2. not free from envy and strife; 3. but at the same time springing from a presentiment of a higher order of things.—Above and below in the Church of Christ: 1. An above which is below; 2. a below which is above (as oft-times the first is the last, and the last first).—Contrast between the appointments of the State and those of the Church: 1. Those are legal; these rest upon the fundamental principles of pure and free love. 2. Those are symbolical; these are actual powers in life.—The repeated testimonies of Christ against a primacy.—Christ servant of all and Lord of all, Php_2:6 seq. Real and essential dignities in the kingdom of heaven: 1. Its names or titles are powers of life; 2. its powers of life are divine fruits; 3. its divine fruits are God’s gifts.—Christ the Prince of peace among His people.

Starke:—Osiander:—Ministers in the Church have their own failings.—Take good heed how thou prayest.—We should never look at anything high for ourselves.—Quesnel:—Ambition is blind, and often knows not what it wants.—Osiander:—The cup of affliction is bitter enough to the flesh, but it is exceeding salutary. Take it in full confidence, and it will serve to the healing of the soul.—Christ does not say that He could not give the heavenly glory, but that He could not give it to any but those for whom it was prepared, 2Ti_2:11-12.—We must not trouble ourselves as to the place which we shall occupy in heaven, but see to it that we get there.—Hedinger:—Christ does not disparage or overturn dignities, but their pride and vanity.—Variety of gifts in the Church: these should not exalt themselves, those should not envy, Rom_12:3; 1Co_12:15; Jam_1:10.—In the kingdoms of the world, a man is called great when he rules; in the kingdom of grace, when he serves many.—Luther:—There is nothing which more adorns and dignifies the office of a true servant of Christ than genuine humility and simplicity.—Braune:—There is ever a widening interval between seeking the applause of others and the cause itself (at first, he remarks, they coalesce, or are much more concurrent).—In the result, the ambitious man forgets the cause itself, and displays his own gifts and powers; from one false step he then proceeds to another.—If in their (Zebedee’s sons’) love to the Lord there was an admixture of ambition, this would tend to make their love impure: the kingdom of love could not and must not tolerate such a blending.—The displeasure of the ten was a proof that they were affected by the same fault.—The promises of Christ, Rev_2:10; Rev_2:28; Rev_3:21.

Schleiermacher:—Love to Christ is the measure for all the actions of men in His Church.—Brieger:—The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of the cross.—Love teaches us to serve.—His serving should endear our service.—Bauer:—The whole life of the Son of Man was humble service.

Footnotes:

Mar_10:35.—Lachmann, Tischendorf, [after A., B., C., D., Versions,] supply óå after áἰôÞóùìåí .

Mar_10:38 .—According to B., C.*, D., L., Ä ., [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer,] instead of êáß read ἤ .

Mar_10:40.—Instead of the êáß here, also read ἤ , [after B., D., L., Ä ., Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer.]

Mar_10:42.—See the order in Tischendorf and Lachmann, [who read êáὶ ðñïóêáëåóÜìåíïò áὐôïὺò ὸ ’ Éçóïῦò , after B., C., D., L., Syriac, Coptic.]

Mar_10:43.—Instead of ἔóôáé here, ἔóôéí is the reading of B., C.*, D., L., Ä ., So Lachmann, Tischendorf.

Mar_10:44.—Lachmann, after B., C., ἐí ὑìῖí åἶíáé , instead of ὑìῶí ãåíÝóèáé .

[The author here travels out of the record. There is not the slightest allusion to Peter in the narrative.—Ed.]