To The Right

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

TO THE RIGHT

Mark 10:35-40

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." 38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"  39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." 

NIV

Surely both James and John were put to death for their faith, which is what Jesus was referring to when he told them they would drink from the cup he drank from. They too were in fact Baptist with the same Spirit as Jesus was. But as far as the right and left sits next to Jesus we have to know it was not for James and John, but those places are for whom they have been prepared. Could that be the goats and the sheep spoken about in the narrative Matthew records for us? The sheep are at the right side of Jesus, which is the place of honor. All of us who believe on the name of Jesus, all of us who are born again, all of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior will be placed on the right side of Jesus. This place has been prepared for all of us. Solomon wrote that the heart of the wise is always inclined to the right. Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father, and so his right has been prepared for those who are his. But the left has also been prepared for those Matthew records, Jesus calls goats. Those who do not believe in Jesus, those who refuse to accept him as Lord and Savior, those who are not born again. His left side has been prepared for all of them who he will cast out and throw into the lake of eternal fire. Yet there is also the question which we must ask of ourselves. Can we drink from the cup Jesus did? Can we stand firm in our faith in the face of extreme opposition, even onto death? Surely we can be and should have been baptized with the same Spirit Jesus was. Surely we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, exhibiting the evidences of his presence. Surly we have both the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit at work in us. But we have not yet been tested in the face of death. The one thing we know for sure is that we will be sitting on the right hand of Jesus, if we come to him as little children, if we simply accept him as Lord and Savior, if we become born again. That is simply enough to do. That is all it takes. No lists of do’s and don’ts, no denominations rules and regulations, no religious practices, but just simply childlike faith. Left is a no-no, right is the place to be. We need to be to the right.