But Jesus said unto them,
You know not what you ask: can you drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
All Commentaries on Mark 10:38 Go To Mark 10
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Do you see? They did not understand what they were asking for when they were talking to him about crowns and rewards and the privilege of the first seats and honors even before the contest had begun. Christ was communicating with them on two levels when he said: “You do not know what you are asking for.” One was that they were talking about an earthly kingdom and he had said nothing about this. There had been no announcement or promise about a visible kingdom on earth. The other was that, when they sought at this time the privilege of the first seats and the honors of heaven, when they wished to be seen as more illustrious and splendid than the others, they were not asking for these things at the right time. The timing was precisely wrong. For this was not the right time for crowns or prizes. It was the time for struggles, contests, toils, sweat, wrestling rings and battles.
