Mark 10:35

And there came near unto him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saying unto him, Teacher, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall ask of thee.

THE REQUEST OF THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE

Matthew, as frequently, gave a fuller account, relating the part that the mother of James and John had in this incident. This was not to "spare the Twelve" as the Markan theorists allege; for Matthew did not spare the Twelve at all, even relating the indignation of the group against "the brethren," not against their mother (Matthew 20:24). Of course, this request was childish in that they supposed Jesus would agree to their request even before they had stated it. The request itself, stated immediately afterward, had all kinds of things wrong with it: (1) It showed a lack of faith in what Jesus had just said regarding his being raised "after three days." (2) It was founded in human vanity and conceit. (3) It represented an effort on their part to gain ascendancy over the other apostles. (4) It showed a fundamental misconception of what God's kingdom would be. (5) It was a selfish maneuver prompted by the Lord's repeated announcement of his forthcoming death and resurrection in which they appeared as desiring the chief places in the presumed absence of the Lord. (6) It was a request founded in ignorance (Mark 10:38).