In Luke 22:24-27 we find a common tension among the disciples which was the question of; who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. Based on the common understanding of the Jews of that time, placement in the kingdom was of high priority. Since they were expecting a physical Divine Lordship of Jesus on earth, some of the disciples wanted to make sure they were not left out from the leadership in such kingdom. James and John understood the importance of placement in the kingdom and asked their mother to go to Jesus and advocate on their behalf for their placement on the right and left side of Jesus; when the Kingdom was to be fully realized. It is possible the inclusions of these verses are nothing else but a brief exposure of internal tension that the disciples had. They like just about everyone else wanted to feel important, special and popular. They wanted to rule, to be in charge, delegate. Since they have always been oppressed as people, a change was greatly desired.
Jesus once again messes everything up. He does not provide the answer they were looking for and instead treats them like they are ignorant. To Jesus the importance is not on ruling, on being the important on, but to him the best position available in the Kingdom is that of service. Exposing that reality to the disciples probably caused a feeling of displeasure for after all they have always served. Archeology has exposed on that period very few people owned their houses and land. They usually belonged to someone else. They had to serve so they could eat, they had to serve so they could pay taxes, and they had to serve so they would not be punished. (The Roman soldiers had the authority to request free service for certain tasks from the common citizens, such as carrying certain loads for one mile.) So they were very familiar with service, yet their type of service was always for the sake of receiving some kind of benefit, such as living in a house, providing food, paying taxes, avoiding tension with the authorities. Jesus is requesting a different type of service, a service that will make them great in the Kingdom of God and give them the position they desire, a service that will establish a legacy of a different kind. That service is performed in exchange for nothing. Jesus wanted his disciples to serve and receive nothing in exchange. That defied everything the disciples knew, everything that made sense. Even Paul said that the worker deserved his wages. Yet Jesus is encouraging the service for nothing and the questions is; why is He doing that? Because service is the only way which produces the type of relationship that God wants to see realized, and it is one important tool that helps the believer become what God wants him to be.
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