{"id":3894,"date":"2025-03-05T09:38:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=3894"},"modified":"2025-03-05T09:38:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:38:58","slug":"same-question-different-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=3894","title":{"rendered":"Same Question; Different Outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Jesus marched toward Jerusalem, where His sufferings and death awaited, He fielded the prayers of two different parties. Following the submission of their request, He asked them each the same question.<\/p>\n

James and John, two of His closest disciples, submitted their request to Him.\u00a0 \u201cAnd [Jesus] said to them, \u2018What do you want me to do for you?\u2019 And they said to him, \u2018Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.\u2019 Jesus said to them, \u2018You do not know what you are asking\u2019\u201d (Mark 10:36-38a).<\/p>\n

Then, a short time later, a blind man made his request. \u201cJesus said to him, \u2018What do you want me to do for you?\u2019 And the blind man said to him, \u2018Rabbi, let me recover my sight.\u2019 And Jesus said to him, \u2018Go your way; your faith has made you well\u2019\u201d (vv.51-52a).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Notice the similarities and the differences in these two obviously parallel encounters. Twice Jesus was asked to do something. Once by James and John; once by a blind man. To both He asked: \u201cWhat do you want me to do for you?\u201d<\/em> James and John requested greatness and honor. The blind man asked for his sight to be restored. Jesus denied James and John their request. He granted the blind man\u2019s request. James and John\u2019s request created a divide among Jesus\u2019 followers (v.41) and drew out a repetition of Jesus\u2019 previous teaching on greatness and servanthood (vv.42-45; cf. 9:33-35; 10:31). The blind man\u2019s request resulted in his joining Jesus\u2019 disciples in walking with Jesus (v.52b).<\/p>\n

What point was the Holy Spirit, through Mark, making? At least this:\u00a0It is infinitely better to see than to be seen!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is my prayer:\u00a0Lord Jesus, I do not ask you to make me great but that you give me eyes to see and ears to hear. I ask that you give me the grace to know you and to walk with you and your people. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Jesus marched toward Jerusalem, where His sufferings and death awaited, He fielded the prayers of two different parties. Following the submission of their request, He asked them each the same question. James and John, two of His closest disciples, submitted their request to Him.\u00a0 \u201cAnd [Jesus] said to them, \u2018What do you want me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[107,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mark","category-prayer","post-preview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-10O","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3896,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions\/3896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}