Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
“What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Matthew 20:20-28
It is a story that has often been told where the servant who overthrows their cruel master ends up being just as cruel as the master that they have replaced. While they may vow to do things differently, they find that the same pressures which formed their former master also tend to shape them into the same type of person. The ones who they formerly classed as comrades in the great struggle to obtain freedom are re-cast as rivals or subordinates once that freedom has been obtained.
Why is that? I think it is because we actually don't know what to do with freedom. We've only seen power handled a certain way and, try as we might, we respond the same way when power is ours. The powerless are envious while those with power believe that it is rightly theirs.
But Jesus showed a different way. Power was within his easy grasp. But he chose instead to become a servant, putting his own interests after those of other people, even the other people who would not even appreciate what he did. Jesus recognized that having power also means having power to choose a different path. He did not feel diminished by what he gave away.
I find it difficult to follow in the same path. I reason to myself, "I am not Jesus. He could give it away, because after he gave power away, he was still God." But the truth is, that being one of God's children, I also am not diminished by what I give away--not because I am God, but because God has my back. Giving away control leaves me without power but still leaves me exactly where God said he would put me. I can't give that away because my future is not mine, it is his.
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