GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:41
I Heard
A frequent expression is, “I heard …” This phrase carries some additional implications. First, the person who heard was not a party to the incident, so the information is, at best, second-hand—or perhaps even further removed from the source. Second, the original incident is inevitably filtered through the interpretation of the person conveying the information.
A teacher once had her class form a circle and whispered some information into a student’s ear.
That student, in turn, whispered the information into the next student’s ear, and so on around the circle. The last student was to announce what they heard. In this case, the information was completely different from what the teacher had given. The teacher was illustrating the problem with information transfer. She then took the paper on which she had written her message and handed it to the first student; that student handed it to the next, and so on around the circle. The last student read the message, and it was precisely the message the first student had received. Of course, there is always the issue of interpreting the original message.
In Mark’s Gospel, two disciples and their mother came to Jesus, requesting to sit next to him in his glory. Both Matthew and Mark imply that this meeting took place in private. “And when they heard, the ten began to be indignant about James and John.” (Mark 10:41) So one question, then, concerns how the other ten heard about this meeting. Salome and her sons came to Jesus formally—“kneeling down” (Matthew 20:20). The other disciples may have observed this meeting and wondered about the nature of the interview. When it was explained to them, they became indignant. The word Mark used here for indignant (ἀγανακτέω. aganakteó) goes beyond angry or irritated to the point of bubbling with hostility—to be greatly angered. How they heard, or precisely what they heard, is unknown.
Responding to what one hears is natural, even if it is just an internal feeling. Perhaps there was resentment at not being included in the meeting, difficulty adjusting to the content, or frustration at having received it second-hand. Whatever the case may have been, the disciples became indignant with James and John. It is important to guard one’s response to what one “hears.”
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