Title: Unbefitting Questions
Text: Mark 10:35-45,   October 19, 1997
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and 
the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our message is 
taken from the text of Mark 10:35-45 to which 
you just listened.  This is the Word.  You may 
be seated.
(1)  James and John concerned about position.
In our text, the two disciples, James and John, 
come to Jesus with a request.  They had a favor 
to ask of Him.  They start with a desire for a 
wide-open favor.  "Jesus, give us whatever we 
ask."  They want Jesus to promise that He will 
give them their heart's desire.
This type of introductory request seems like 
one a small child might make.  "Do you promise 
you will give me what I ask?" they might be 
heard saying to us.  I don't know why small 
children ask these sort of questions.  Perhaps 
it is because they don't want the answer to be 
"no."  They are trying to "prime the pump."  
They think that if they can get a promise out 
of the adult to give them whatever they want, 
then they can be sure to get whatever they 
want.
Can you imagine the arrogance of James and 
John?  To make such a request of the one who is 
God seems to be presuming great privilege.  In 
fact, I cannot even imagine that James and John 
really understood of who they were making the 
request.
Put yourself in their place.  Can you imagine 
approaching God and asking Him to give you 
whatever you want?  Knowing who He is and what 
power He has.  Knowing He is the creator of the 
whole world.  Knowing He could save or punish 
you.  I just can't imagine the arrogance to ask 
such a thing of God.
Perhaps the only logical conclusion is that 
James and John did not know who they were 
asking.  They did not recognize Jesus as very 
God.  If you accept this conclusion, then their 
second request makes more sense.
Jesus politely responds to the first request of 
the disciples.  They were obviously asking for 
too much.  Instead of giving a reply to the 
question, Jesus asks them to narrow down what 
they want. "What do you want me to do for you?" He 
says.
Their narrowed request is to occupy the 
positions closest to Jesus in His kingdom.  
They wanted to be up near the top.  Not any 
back row seat will do, but they wanted to be up 
where the action is going on.
If we assume James and John's ignorance about 
who Jesus really was, then this request makes 
more sense.  They may have thought of Him as an 
up-and-coming earthly ruler.  Someone who was 
going to get in a powerful position someday.  
They wanted to be appointed to chief cabinet 
positions.
Jesus' response seems to confirm James and 
John's ignorance.  "You don't know what you are 
asking," He says.  They didn't know what it meant 
to sit at Jesus' sides in His kingdom.  
Probably they didn't even understand the 
kingdom properly.
Now Jesus explores with the disciples what they 
felt was the basis for making such a request.  
What justifies them asking such a thing of the 
Lord?  He puts it in terms of metaphors.  "Can 
you drink the cup I drink?"  Here the cup refers to 
the sorrows which He was and would continue to 
endure.  Did the disciples think they could 
face such a heavy load as Jesus?
Further, Jesus uses the metaphor of the 
baptism.  "Can you be baptized with the baptism I am 
baptized with?"  The baptism here is not the one 
Jesus had in the Jordan River, but rather 
baptism as a metaphor for a spiritual washing 
or cleaning.  This baptism comes on the cross, 
where Jesus died for the sins of the world.  
Jesus' questions of James and John are intended 
to have them think about whether they qualify 
to be seated next to Him.  They seem to miss 
the point, though, as they smugly reply, "We 
can."  They are told by the Lord then, that, 
they will face some sorrow and persecution.  
They will have trials.  James was matyred early 
on.  This may have been what Jesus meant when 
He said, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with 
the baptism I am baptized with."
Then returning to their request, Jesus gives 
the odd reply that He can't do it.  It "is not for 
me to grant."  This is odd because Jesus seems to 
be suggesting that there is something which He 
is not capable of doing.  This is not really 
the case, however.
It may be that Jesus was suggesting that the 
choice was left up to the Father.  God, in the 
person of the Son, deliberately chose to not 
always use His divine power while on His 
earthly mission.  This is part of Jesus' "state 
of humility."  This is reported in Philippians 
2, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality 
with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing..."  
Then, Jesus might be saying that He has chosen 
to be unable to grant the disciple's wish, 
because He has turned those matters over to the 
Father.  The question of Jesus' ability here is 
not the important point, however.
The important part is the next sentence, "These 
places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."  
This is "grace language."  The places were 
prepared with someone already in mind.  Grace 
means God gives something as a gift.  It is not 
based on some quality in the receiver, but 
God's free choice of whom to give the gift.  
The positions of sitting at Jesus' right and 
left are to be given by grace.  They are not 
something which can be earned.  They are not 
something given as a result of someone asking 
for them.  God decides who gets them and that 
is His grace.
(2)  Our concerns over heaven.
Some of our concerns are similar to James and 
John's.  We may have concerns over what our 
heavenly life will be like.  We may want to 
know what kind of bodies we will have, how old 
we will be, and what we will be doing.  Will we 
be able to partake in our favorite pastimes and 
hobbies?  Many wonder if they will have the 
same pleasures as in their earthly life.  They 
want to know if their pets will be in heaven 
with them.  And so on.
Then there are those questions about degrees of 
glory.  These questions deal with our rank in 
heaven.  Are we able to do something in our 
earthly life which will bring us out ahead when 
we get to heaven?  These questions are very 
similar to James and John's questions.
These concerns tend to be mixed in with 
concerns over one getting to heaven in the 
first place.  We may wonder if God is really 
going to save us.  We may wonder if we have 
done the right things to keep God happy.  
I also hear people say that we must ask God to 
forgive our sins and ask God to let us into 
heaven.  Then, with these ideas, they will sit 
back and wonder if they have asked God the 
right way or asked Him with enough sincerity.  
(3)  We do not take our position as something of 
grace.
God's response to all our questions is the same 
as it was for James and John.  First, "You don't 
know what you are asking."  Our questions are 
unbefitting questions, just as are the 
disciples' questions.  They don't fit our 
position.  God is God and we are His creatures.  
It is not befitting of us to ask these 
questions, because creatures of God only 
receive by grace.  God doesn't take us to 
heaven because we ask Him to do it.  Rather, 
God takes us to heaven by grace.  He does it 
because He decides to do it, based on His own 
goodness and mercy.  Likewise, God doesn't 
forgive our sins because we ask Him to forgive 
our sins, but because He decides to do it by 
grace.
God's response to all our unbefitting questions 
would also be, "These places belong to those for whom 
they have been prepared."  These places are given by 
grace, by God's choice.  Heaven is given by 
grace.  Therefore it is not befitting for us to 
ask all sorts of details about what heaven will 
be like.  It is a gift, so we accept the gift 
graciously.  It is unbefitting of us to be 
concerned about what rank we will occupy in 
heaven, because that is up to God to decide.  
He decides it based on His own will and not on 
what we do.
(4)  Taking salvation as grace means no worries.
Likewise, the questions over whether we have 
done enough to get into heaven are unbefitting.  
They don't fit the situation, because heaven is 
a place which "belongs to those for whom it has been 
prepared."  Heaven was prepared for all people, 
through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  Since 
heaven comes by grace and not works, it is 
yours.  No questions need to be asked about 
whether you qualify for heaven.  Some reject 
God's grace and they turn down the gift.  The 
gift remains for those who do not reject it.  
It is unbefitting then to ask for the gift.  We 
don't ask for forgiveness or ask to go to 
heaven.  Since these gifts are made available 
by grace, we just believe that they are ours.  
The gifts were prepared for us, and God's will 
is to give the gifts to us.  As you receive the 
gifts, it is not up to you to do anything.  You 
sit back and relax, because God give the gifts 
of forgiveness and salvation for free.  You 
have entered grace which is God's rest.  This 
means you don't work to earn these gifts.  As 
our reading from Hebrews said, "for anyone who 
enters God's rest also rests from his own work."  Our 
salvation does not come by our work, but by 
God's grace.
(5)  Grace by Jesus' ransom.
What sort of assurance do you have that the 
forgiveness of sins and salvation are given by 
grace.  You have our text, which says, "The Son 
of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life 
as a ransom for many."  God took the form of man to 
serve us.  Then He gave up His life for us.  He 
ransomed us.  The ransom paid the price for our 
sins.  The death of one, led to life for the 
many.
Our reading from Isaiah says it too: "He poured 
out His life unto death, and was numbered with the 
transgressors, for He bore the sin of many and made 
intercession for the transgressors."  Jesus bore our 
sins, carrying our burden of sins to the cross 
where He poured out His life.  This sacrifice 
interceded for we who are the transgressors.
The Psalm speaks of us too, as ones who are 
believers in the gift Jesus gives.  Talking of 
us, it says, "'Because he loves me,' says the Lord, 'I will 
rescue him;  I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. ... 
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.'"  
By believing that Jesus was our ransom, we show 
our love for the Lord and we acknowledge His 
name.  
Rather than asking unbefitting questions, let 
us trust in God's grace, promised to us.  As 
Hebrews says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace 
with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to 
help us in our time of need."  Go with confidence 
knowing that your ransom was paid by Jesus 
Christ.  Amen.