Scripture:
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.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:35-45
Devotional Thought:
James and John come to Jesus with a request that is almost breathtaking in its audacity: “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” They want the best seats in the kingdom. They want to be the most important people in the room when Jesus finally wins.
Jesus doesn’t mock them or dismiss them. He takes the request seriously enough to respond to it at length. “You don’t know what you are asking,” He says. “Can you drink the cup I drink?” And when the other disciples hear what James and John have asked, they are indignant — not because they think the request is wrong, but because they wanted the same thing.
This is the nature of ambition-driven success: it is intensely competitive. It is always aware of who is ahead and who is behind. It turns colleagues into rivals and opportunities into zero-sum contests. The disciples weren’t unified by a shared mission — they were competing for position within it.
Jesus reframes the entire question. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” This is not the abolition of ambition. It is its transformation. Jesus doesn’t say stop wanting to be great. He says redefine greatness. In the kingdom of God, the ladder of significance is inverted. The greatest is the one who serves most freely.
Ambition becomes an idol when we want to be great more than we want to be good — when position matters more than character, when being known matters more than being faithful. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. Our ambitions are most alive when they look most like His.
Reflection Questions:
1. In what areas of your life is ambition making you more competitive, self-focused, or resentful of others’ success?
2. What would it look like to reorient your ambition toward service — to want to be great in the way Jesus defines greatness?
Application:
Do one act of significant service today that no one will know about. Let the invisibility be intentional — a practice in serving without the reward of recognition.