Right and Left Hand - Matt 20:20-24; Mark 10:35-41

Probably being prompted by Jesus’ foretelling of his death, either James and John or their mother asks Him, “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” I, of course, hadn’t made the connection between what Jesus was talking about and this request until I read up on it from a Christian Bible commentary article. When Jesus says that he will die and be resurrected, a natural progression of that conversation might be “ok, then I want to stand right next to you in the next life.” Reading the request from our perspective it might appear that James and John and simply asking to be reunified with Jesus in the next life, which is what we all want, like a “can I be with you in the next life?” That’s a reasonable and almost child-like way to view Christ’s death. But we have to look at the significance of the comment “on your right hand and the other on your left.”

We have often heard the statement in the scriptures “the right hand of God,” and we certainly hear it the context of Christ in relation to his Father. Wikipedia comments, “In the Bible, to be at the right side ‘is to be identified as being in the special place of honor.’” When we see a picture of the First Presidency, how are the 3 men positioned in that picture? The President of the Church is in the center, the First Counselor is positioned to the President’s right side and the Second Counselor is positioned to the President’s left hand. Is the First Counselor more important than the Second Counselor? No, they do different jobs and both are needed for the Church to function properly. With that in mind, when considering James and John’s request, would the right hand be more important than the left hand? No, I would imagine that it’s effectively the First and Second Counselor’s positions. So basically, either James and John or their mother are asking, “can we be in charge of everyone else?” or “can we be more important than everyone else?”

I don’t know if it’s because we have 2,000 years of perspective to analyze the account of Christ’s ministry in the Bible or if it’s because we have the restored gospel, but I don’t think that it would ever occur to me to ask that question. We know that this John is John the Beloved, so I wonder if the relationship that this family had with the Savior made the others jealous, because we can tell that the other 10 apostles are not pleased with this question. The “indignation” that was felt for James and John by the other 10 apostles wasn’t righteous indignation, but rather envy for that special relationship, so really all ten of them were wrong, James and John for asking and the others for wanting it for themselves. But isn’t that really a human reaction? We are so mindful about ourselves and where we stand and so anxious to not be left out that it’s really hard for us to focus on anything besides ourselves.

If I were Jesus I would be pretty irritated, “haven’t you learned anything? What do you think I’ve been teaching this whole time?!” But the Savior is perfect, even when faced with our deeply flaw human nature. If the boys want to stand on the side of Christ as equals, then they need to do what Jesus does and will do, but he doesn’t rebuke them in the harshness that many of us deserve at times, he’s gentle. He answers, “Ye know now what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” His question reminds me of his prayer while performing the atonement in Gethsemane, “let this cup pass from me,” or his description of the event as him drinking “the dregs of the bitter cup.” The apostles probably don’t know or understand what Jesus will do for all of us with the atonement, so they probably view this question as “will you be baptized the way that I was baptized?” probably took it at face value, but looking back from our perspective, I think Jesus is asking them in a round about way if they can perform the atonement the same way that He can, and the answer is of course, no, none of us can, he’s the only one.

James and John answer, “We are able.” They think they are able to be just as good as Jesus, but again, they don’t understand what all that entails. Jesus tells them that they will indeed drink his same cup and be baptized his same way, “but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” He’s saying, “it is indeed going to be difficult for you, but your reward will be determined by God, not me.” The IM says, “Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained that the phrase ‘drink of the cup’ “was “a metaphorical expression meaning, ‘To do the things which my lot in life requires of me.’ He explained that the phrase ‘be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with’ means ‘to follow my course, suffer persecution, be rejected of men, and finally be slain for the truth’s sake.’ By asking the questions, ‘Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? And be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ the Savior refocused the attention of James and John on carrying out the Father’s will, rather than on receiving glory and honor.”