“You don’t know what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup of suffering that I must drink? Can you be baptized in the way I must be baptized?” (Mark 10:38)

What James and John asked was to bask in the glory of God, with one of each side.

Jesus did talk about His (glorious) resurrection on the third day, but He also said, “We are going up to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him.”

We can see these two disciples selectively listened to what Jesus said.

Jesus did not really blame these disciples but reminded them in a friendly way, “You don’t know what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup of suffering that I must drink? Can you be baptized in the way I must be baptized?”

Then Jesus made a supplementary comment, “You will indeed drink the cup I must drink and be baptized in the way I must be baptized. But I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. It is God who will give these places to those for whom he has prepared them.”

What these two disciples asked was to be close to the Lord. Their request was not blameworthy. However, Jesus reminded them the reality, “You will indeed drink the cup I must drink and be baptized in the way I must be baptized. But I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. It is God who will give these places to those for whom he has prepared them.”

We of course do not dare to hope to sit on the right side or the left side of the Lord, but we can be sure that Jesus wants us to drink the cup of suffering and be baptized in the way he was baptized.