GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:36
From the General to the Specific
Many parents have experienced the request of a child: “Will you do something for me?” The prudent parent asks for clarification before committing.
Mark wrote about an incident involving Jesus, the disciples, and a crowd as they traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. As they paused along the way, John, James, and their mother Salome approached Jesus with a request for him to do for them what they asked. Prudently cautious, “But he said to them, ‘What do you wish that I would do for you?’” (Mark 10:36)
Commentators often overlook this simple brief sentence, but there may be an important lesson in it. Jesus wanted them to be clear about what they were going to ask before he committed. The prayer, “Oh, God, bless the whole world and everyone in it” sounds profound, but it’s not very specific; it resembles the disciples’ vague request: “Teacher, we wish that you would do for us whatever we ask you.” It’s akin someone being told, “You take care of this,” “Have it done by the end of the week,” or “It’s now in your hands.”
In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, Israel suffered for decades under various incompetent leaders collectively known as “judges,” and at last the people wanted a king like those in other nations around them. This was a vague request, and Samuel told them what a king would do to them. (I Samuel 8:10-18) In 1776, the Founding Fathers issued the Declaration of Independence, declaring that “All men are created equal,” a magnanimous general statement that, on closer examination, excluded women and enslaved people.
One lesson from Jesus’ answer to the disciples, therefore, might be to be specific in the requests made to the Father.
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