Do you really understand what all of that entails, all the grief and the sorrow and the pain, the agony of what He was going through? Do you really, really understand what it takes to sit on the right and the left side of Jesus? How do you get to that position?
This is another one of those very clear statements about His purpose. It may be the most direct statement of His redemptive purpose in the Gospels. What He does here in this passage, and that is why I read all of that from verse 20 on, is He connects high position, or leadership we might say, with service and sacrifice, using His own example of giving His life for a ransom of many as the prime illustration of what that looks like. It is far more than kneeling down and washing your brothers' feet. Jesus served and sacrificed, showing His leadership by dying the most despicable, bloody, agonizing death that you can imagine.
Do you really understand what all of that entails, all the grief and the sorrow and the pain, the agony of what He was going through? Do you really, really understand what it takes to sit on the right and the left side of Jesus? How do you get to that position?
This is why He asked John and James, can you do this? If you want to be a true leader in the church or in the Kingdom of God, are you willing to take it this far? "Oh yeah, we can do it. Let's go." Stupid men. Jesus is the ultimate example in each category: leadership or high position, service, and sacrifice. It does not get any better than Him in all three of those categories. And the instruction for His disciples is that godly leadership is shown in sacrificial service to others. I think we understand that general principle.
