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What Is the Highest Position?
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the most honored place in the new kingdom. Together mother and
sons came to Jesus.
“What would ye that I should do for you?” He questioned.
“Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right
hand, and the other on the left, in Thy kingdom.”
Jesus read their hearts. He knew the depth of their attachment
to Him. Their love, though defiled by the earthliness of its human
channel, was an outflowing from the fountain of His own redeeming
love.
“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?” They recalled
His mysterious words, pointing to trial and suffering, yet answered
confidently, “We are able.”
“Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the
baptism that I am baptized with,” He said. John and James were to
share with their Master in suffering; the one, first of the brethren
to perish with the sword; the other, longest of all to endure toil and
persecution.
“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.”
In the kingdom of God, position is not gained through favoritism,
nor received through arbitrary bestowal. It is the result of character.
The crown and the throne are tokens of a condition attained through
our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who stands nearest to Christ will
be he who on earth has drunk most deeply of the spirit of His self-
sacrificing love—love that moves the disciple to give all, to live and
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labor and sacrifice, even unto death, for the saving of humanity.
The ten were much displeased. The highest place in the kingdom
was just what every one of them was seeking for himself, and they
were angry that the two disciples had gained a seeming advantage
over them.
Jesus said to the indignant disciples, “Ye know that they which
are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them;
and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not
be among you.”
In the kingdoms of the world, position meant self-
aggrandizement. The people existed for the benefit of the ruling
classes. Wealth and education were means of gaining control of