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Gospel Reading - Not to be served but to serve

³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him in a low voice.^a “Master,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.”

³⁶“What is it?” he asked.

³⁷“We want to sit on the thrones next to yours in your Kingdom,” they said, “one at your right and the other at your left!

³⁸But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I must drink from? Or to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”

³⁹“Oh, yes,” they said, “we are!”

And Jesus said, “You shall indeed drink from my cup and be baptized with my baptism, ⁴⁰but I do not have the right to place you on thrones next to mine. Those appointments have already been made.”

⁴¹When the other disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were very indignant. ⁴²So Jesus called them to him and said, “As you know, the kings and great men of the earth lord it over the people; ⁴³but among you it is different. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. ⁴⁴And whoever wants to be greatest of all must be the slave of all. ⁴⁵For even I, the Messiah,^b am not here to be served, but to help others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

1. Literally, “came up to him.”
2. Literally, “the Son of Man.”