Mark 10:35-40

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit , one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Even the closest disciples still do not understand Jesus, so James and John make a bid for the highest office in his kingdom

However, after Yeshu has been crowned King, it is Father God who will give promotion to those whom he desires. Before then these two disciples will indeed experience the same hardships as Yeshu must.

And history tells us that James before long came to be executed for being a believer. In John’s case however, many think that the last book of the Bible was written by him at a great age, when he had been banished to a place of hard labour in the quarries because of his preaching of the gospel.

Mark 10:32-34

And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

Yeshu as Teacher strode firmly ahead, and the Twelve as disciples followed. And they talked with one another about Yeshu’s determined purpose. Some great event was about to happen. The Jewish rulers wanted him dead. So what would happen? Was there perhaps about to be some terrifying mighty act of God, giving him victory so that he entered Jerusalem in the glory of his Father with the holy angels? And if Yeshu were to become King, would the Twelve be his ministers of state?

So Yeshu stopped, beckoned the disciples aside from the other wondering and frightened people who walked with them. They had forgotten, so he told them for a third time, ‘I must die.’ And he described the degrading and violent manner in which it would happen. He the Messiah King of Israel would be betrayed, arrested by the religious leaders of Israel, rejected, and then hated foreigners given the task of executing him.

But his purpose was firm, for he knew God’s plan, which was that it would not be the end for him. He had told them about his rising from death twice before.