St Mark 10:35-45
Warnings to ambitious disciples
10:35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
10:36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?”
10:37And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
10:38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
10:39 They replied, “We are able.” Then 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,
10:40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
10:41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.
10:42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.
10:43 But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,
10:44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
10:45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”
[35] Καὶ προσπορεύονται αὐτῷ ᾿Ιάκωβος καὶ ᾿Ιωάννης υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου λέγοντες· διδάσκαλε, θέλομεν ἵνα ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσωμεν ποιήσῃς ἡμῖν.
[36]ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· τί θέλετε ποιῆσαί με ὑμῖν;
[37]οἱ δὲ εἶπον αὐτῷ· δὸς ἡμῖν ἵνα εἷς ἐκ δεξιῶν σου καὶ εἷς ἐξ εὐωνύμων σου καθίσωμεν ἐν τῇ δόξῃ σου.
[38]ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· οὐκ οἴδατε τί αἰτεῖσθε. δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθῆναι;
[39]οἱ δὲ εἶπον αὐτῷ· δυνάμεθα. ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· τὸ μὲν ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω πίεσθε, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθήσεσθε·
[40] τὸ δὲ καθίσαι ἐκ δεξιῶν μου καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι, ἀλλ᾿ οἷς ἡτοίμασται.
[41] Καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ δέκα ἤρξαντο ἀγανακτεῖν περὶ ᾿Ιακώβου καὶ ᾿Ιωάννου.
[42]ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτοὺς λέγει αὐτοῖς· οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν κατακυριεύουσιν αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ μεγάλοι αὐτῶν κατεξουσιάζουσιν αὐτῶν·
[43]οὐχ οὕτω δὲ ἔσται ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ γενέσθαι μέγας ἐν ὑμῖν, ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος,
[44]καὶ ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ ὑμῶν γενέσθαι πρῶτος, ἔσται πάντων δοῦλος·
[45]καὶ γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθε διακονηθῆναι, ἀλλὰ διακονῆσαι, καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν.
Comments
[38] δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθῆναι;: lit., ‘to drink the cup… and to be baptised the baptism…’ sounds un-classical Greek. One would drink from or of a cup (ἐκ or ἀπό τοῦ ποτηρίου) or with a cup (τῷ ποτηρίῳ), unless we take ‘cup’ as a metonym for ‘a drink’ and hence a kind of cognate (or internal) acc., ‘drink the drink’. This construction suits the fig. sense of ‘cup’ in the OT as ‘fate of death’ (see EDNT s.v. ποτήριον 2). The expression ‘to be baptised the baptism’ likewise sounds strange. On its own the pass. vc. βαπτίζομαι can be used metaphorically, as in Plato, ‘he is in deep waters’ (Euthd. 277d); in the LXX the act. βαπτίζω can mean figuratively ‘I overwhelm’ (Is 21.4, cited in Muraoka). The meaning in Mk is ‘to be overwhelmed thoroughly’, ‘to be flooded’ (with afflictions).
Here and in v. 39 the order is chiastic (inf. [A] +obj. +rel. clause [B] ~ Obj. + rel. cl. [b] + inf. [a]).
[42] προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτοὺς: προσκαλέομαι, mid. vc, ‘I call to myself’, ‘invite’ (cl Gk: LSJ s.v II.1), with a positive connotation. Jesus does not upbraid or dismiss them, but invites them.
οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν: ‘those who are thought to rule over the Gentiles’.
[43] διάκονος: ‘servant’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. 1), also in LXX (Muraoka s.v.); in NT = ‘waiter‘ (on table: EDNT s.v.2). Cf. Engl. deacon.
[45] λύτρον: λύτρον, sg. for ‘ransom’, a monetary notion, is late Gk; cl. Gk and LXX prefer the pl. λύτρα in this sense. The meaning here is fig., ‘deliverance’, ‘rescue’, ‘redemption’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 