Godly Ambition Series

Who Is This Man?

Godly Ambition

Mark 10:32-45

Ambition

We often talk about people going through “phases.” That’s especially true for those who are growing through adolescence or some other dynamic season of life. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” we tell ourselves, “it’s just a phase.” Grown adults have their phases, too. For the last two years or so, I’ve been scouring the library shelves for historical biographies, especially around the colonial and founding era of our country. Diane’s done some of that, too, though we don’t usually read the same books. The library shut-down has been a real bummer for us and especially in trying to support our “historical biography phase.”

So, in order to feed our need, we subscribed to Disney+ and watched Hamilton. Not once. Not twice. But three and four times. And we plan to watch it again before we cancel our subscription. It’s a little edgy, so I’m not recommending it for everyone. But I guess you could say we’ve become obsessed. Seems we now have a “historical musical biography phase,” too. Don’t worry. It’ll pass. It’s just a phase.

One of the things that I have noticed about many of the men during the Revolutionary War period was their burning ambition to establish a name for themselves. In fact, one of the books I read was entitled, Valiant Ambition, a comparison biography between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Fiery personal ambition was characteristic for many of the men of that era because, for the first time in history, a person could climb out of their social station through hard work and merit rather than through the privilege of their birth. Alexander Hamilton burned with this ambition, as did the Navy commander, John Paul Jones and, perhaps our greatest general of that era, Benedict Arnold.. All three of them started off in a relatively low social station and made it their life’s goal to prove that they were somebody. Hamilton’s story is extraordinary for his achievements and yet tragic for his personal failure and untimely death. John Paul Jones died in relative obscurity and bitterness in France, having never received the honor from his country that he thought was his due. Benedict Arnold, of course, became America’s most notorious traitor because his contributions and sacrifice were overlooked and he never received the promotion that he probably deserved.

Ambition is a common human motivation. We see it played out in the lives of countless men and women throughout history. There are stories of ambitious people in the Bible as well. In our text today, we observe two kinds of burning ambition. While the passion to achieve desired ends is similar, the motivation sets them worlds apart.

Text: Mark 10:32-45 (NLT)

They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.”

“What is your request?” he asked.

They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”

But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”

“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”