Whatever We Ask

They do not lead with the request. They lead with the terms. “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”

Then the actual ask: the seat on the right and the seat on the left, in the glory.

Jesus does not call it wicked. He says they do not know what they are asking, and then asks whether they can drink what he is about to drink. The request was not too big. It was aimed at the wrong thing.

The detail that gives the scene away is what happens next. The other ten become indignant. Not because the request was unworthy, but because two of them got to it first.

So Jesus redefines the word they were all competing over. Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Ambition is not the problem in this passage. Everyone in it has plenty. The question is what it is pointed at.