How to Think about Status and Power

In Mark 10, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee” (v. 35a; Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης οἱ υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου) ask Jesus to sign a blank check.¹ “We wish that you would do for us whatever we might ask you” (Mark 10:35b; θέλομεν ἵνα ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσωμέν σε ποιήσῃς ἡμῖν), they say.

Of course, Jesus knows better than to underwrite such a desire. So, he cautions James and John that they don’t truly know what they’re asking. They don’t fully recognize what what it means to sit “at [his] right hand and at [his] left in [his] glory” (Mark 10:37; σου ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ … ἐξ ἀριστερῶν καθίσωμεν ἐν τῇ δόξῃ σου; see Mark 10:38–40).

On hearing this exchange, the other ten disciples become angry with James and John (Mark 10:41). But why? Do they see how wrong James and John’s request was in principle? Or are they offended that James and John have been the first to vie for places of honor beside Jesus?²

Jesus’s Response to the Twelve

Jesus’s response to the whole group suggests the latter.³ He calls together the twelve,⁴ and he says to them,

You know that those who seem to rule the nations are domineering over them, and their great men act like authoritarians over them.⁵ And it is not this way among you, but whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:42b–45; οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν κατακυριεύουσιν αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ μεγάλοι αὐτῶν κατεξουσιάζουσιν αὐτῶν. οὐχ οὕτως δέ ἐστιν ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀλλʼ ὃς ἂν θέλῃ μέγας γενέσθαι ἐν ὑμῖν ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος, καὶ ὃς ἂν θέλῃ ἐν ὑμῖν εἶναι πρῶτος ἔσται πάντων δοῦλος· καὶ γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθεν διακονηθῆναι ἀλλὰ διακονῆσαι καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν).

The Son of Man in Mark and Daniel

When Mark (or Jesus in Mark’s Gospel) refers to the “Son of Man” (ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου), the reference is to Dan 7. In Dan 7, “thrones”—plural—appear in heaven, “and the Ancient of Days took his seat” (Dan 7:9 ο′; θρόνοι ἐτέθησαν, καὶ παλαιὸς ἡμερῶν ἐκάθητο).⁶

Then, Daniel sees how there comes “on the clouds of heaven” (ἐπὶ τῶν νεγελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ) someone “like a Son of Man” (ὡς υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου; Dan 7:13). This person is present with the “Ancient of Days” (παλαιὸς ἡμερῶν) and his attendants (Dan 7:13 ο′; καὶ ἕως παλαιοῦ ἡμερῶν παρῆν, καὶ οἱ παρεστηκότες παρῆσαν αὐτῷ). And to this “Son of Man” comes

kingly authority and all the nations of the earth …, and his authority is an eternal authority that will certainly not be taken away, and his kingdom is one that will certainly not be destroyed (Dan 7:14 ο′; ἐξουσία βασιλική, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς …· καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ ἐξουσία αἰώνιος, ἥτις οὐ μὴ ἀρθῇ, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ, ἥτις οὐ μὴ φθαρῇ).

According to Jesus, it is this almost unimaginably exalted “Son of Man” who “did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom” (Mark 10:45; οὐκ ἦλθεν διακονηθῆναι ἀλλὰ διακονῆσαι καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον).⁷

To be sure, the “Son of Man” does come into the kingly authority that Daniel foresees (Mark 13:24–27; cf. Rev 3:21). But the Son’s accession to the throne does not alter either his posture of service or the total break and irreconcilable between this posture and the one adopted by “those who seem to rule” and “domineer” (οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν … κατακυριεύουσιν) or by the “great men” who “act like authoritarians” (οἱ μεγάλοι … κατεξουσιάζουσιν; Mark 10:42).

The Way of the Graspers

Like the disciples, those who “domineer” and “act like authoritarians” grasp for status and power (cf. Mark 10:41–43). They want to make something of themselves, and that something is, in particular, a good bit more than their neighbors. And they want others to make much of them too—or at least not to stand in the way of their efforts to do so.

Grasping for status or power might be piously cloaked. It might say that it seeks only the greatest nearness to Jesus (e.g., in the places immediately to his right or left hand), only the greatest experience of the grace that comes through him. But, Jesus cautions, this is not the way of the Son of Man, nor of those who would follow him as individuals, nor of those who follow him as they relate to each other.

The Way of Jesus

Instead, the Son’s way is the way of non-grasping, of faithful obedience in the things that he suffered both through the years of his life and finally in his self-giving death to ransom others through his cross (Phil 2:5–8; Heb 5:7–10; cf. Heb 12:3–11). And even now in his majestic session at the Father’s right hand, the Son has still rejected the ways of “those who seem to rule” and of the “great men.”

He has not found his way by grasping for status and power like they do. Instead, he reigns by grant from another. “Kingly authority was given to him,” as Daniel says (7:14; ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἐξουσία βασιλική; italics added). Or as Paul describes, the Son has died, risen, and ascended to the throne (1 Cor 15), and from there he

must rule until [the Father] puts all [the Son’s] enemies under his feet…. And when [the Father] subjects all things to [the Son], then the Son himself will also be subject to [his Father] who subjected all things to him so that God [the Father] might be all in all (1 Cor 15:25, 28; δεῖ … βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος· πάντα γὰρ ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ ὅτι πάντα ὑποτέτακται, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκτὸς τοῦ ὑποτάξαντος αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν; cf. 1 Cor 15:23–24).⁸

1. Greek NT quotations accord with NA²⁸; translations are mine. ↩︎
2. R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 418. ↩︎
3. M. Eugene Boring, Mark: A Commentary, ed. M. Eugene Boring, NTL, ed. C. Clifton Black and John T. Carroll (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2012), 301–2; France, Mark, 418; Morna D. Hooker, The Gospel According to Saint Mark, Black’s New Testament Commentaries (London: Continuum, 1991), 247. ↩︎
4. Adela Yarbro Collins, Mark: A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, ed. Harold W. Attridge, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2007), 498. ↩︎
5. Sometimes, a κατα- prefix heightens the negative connotations of a chosen word. Such does not always happen but seems likely here for four reasons. First, in the context, James, John, and the other ten disciples seem to want higher statuses relative to their compatriots. Second, Jesus is rebuking this desire. Third, Mark’s Jesus is quite prepared to exercise or approve of lordship (5:19; 11:3; 12:9; 13:35; cf. 7:13) and authority (1:22, 27; 2:10; 3:14–15; 6:7–9; 11:28–33; cf. 13:34) that do not take oppressive forms. And fourth, as noted above, Jesus’s following comments do not distinguish between Jews and gentiles—as though domineering and acting like authoritarians were uniquely gentile problems. Consequently, the translation attempts to clearly articulate the negative connotation that κατα- implies while maintaining connections with cognates for lordship (e.g., dominus, dominion) and authority respectively.In this context, it is noteworthy that the parallel saying in Luke 22:25 omits Mark’s κατα- prefixes. But precisely what this datum suggests is unclear. Assuming that Luke knew and used something like Mark’s Gospel, this change may (1) result from a stylistic preference of Luke’s, (2) show Luke’s desire to represent this critique less strongly (e.g., for his own aristocratic, gentile audience; see Luke 1:1), or (3) show that Luke saw no real difference between these terms with or without κατα- prefixes. Given these various options and the difficulty of deciding among them, therefore, Luke 22:25 does not prove particularly helpful in clarifying the nuance of Mark 10:42. ↩︎
6. France, Mark, 127–28. Quotations of Israel’s Greek Scriptures accord with Robert Hanhart et al., eds., Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, “1931–”); translations are mine. ↩︎
7. The image below is Tintoretto’s “La lavanda dei piedi” (The washing of the feet; oil on canvas; public domain). ↩︎
8. See J. David Stark, “Understanding Scripture Through Apostolic Proclamation,” in Scripture First: Biblical Interpretation That Fosters Christian Unity, ed. Daniel B. Oden and J. David Stark (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2020), 51–76. ↩︎