WE HAVE ALL been constrained against our will, defenseless against the knotted cords of minutia binding us to unwanted outcomes at the hands of the *Lilliputians. We were bound to our families of birth, bound to our place of birth, bound to the financial circumstances of first our family and later our own opportunities, taken or not. We have been held firmly in place in our strata in society, and any attempt to rise above where we found ourselves when we woke up, much like Gulliver, is hampered by myriad tenuous threads, much like the proverbial fly in a spider’s gossamer web. Our circumstances are not unique; they describe a common human journey that affects not only individuals, but nations.
The beliefs and cultural practices of Israel had not been formed in a vacuum, isolated from all other ethnos and kingdoms. Indeed, they had always been a sub-culture since the time of Abraham, before they were known as Israel. Only three generations past Abraham did Jacob become Israel, and did Israel—only some 70 strong—enter the powerful kingdom of Egypt, where they would encounter the monotheistic religion of the sun-god Aten, a god only worshiped in a unique generation of Egyptians. Israel’s familiarity with this god began with Joseph, who, favored by Pharaoh, was given “Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife.” (Gen. 41:45) But generations later, a new pharaoh “to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.” (Ex. 1:8) As the people were reduced to slavery in that land over time, they found themselves bound up in the influences of the caste system that flowed out of India. Freed under Moses, the true God “I AM” (cf. Ex. 3:13-17) revealed himself to them as Yahweh, and in the desert time he purged them of various threads of religious belief and cultural practices belonging to the gods of Egypt, especially the aberrant Egyptian theology of monotheism in the god Aten.
The caste issues birthed in India that influenced the Israelites, a more ancient culture than Egypt, were more pernicious. After leaving the slavery of Egypt, when Israel entered the Promised Land, over a period of four hundred years they rose to become the most powerful kingdom in the A.N.E. In addition to their own Hebrew language, they adopted Aramaic from the Persians, and the language of commerce from Greece, this as a result of the merchant trades that mixed the cultures of those areas and beyond. Their culture, therefore, was an amalgamation of all that they had experienced from all that was around them. And their culture still included a class system that had at its heart the ancient prejudices of India.
James and John, and all the disciples, existed within that caste system. They were not of the poorest class, for their father Zebedee was a businessman and merchant who owned some fishing boats and probably made a very good living. (cf. Mark 1:19:20) Amongst the disciples also was Levi, who as a tax collector for Rome was probably wealthiest of them all, yet would have been lower in the social order because of the despise in which the toadies of Roman government were held by all the Jewish social classes. But none of the disciples were anywhere near the upper privileged classes.
Jesus stirred the minds and hearts of all the disciples to discover new thoughts, new beliefs, new possibilities, and new identities. Suddenly, the world around them changed, and they were no longer bound to the cultural norms—they could reach for their greatest desires. Freed from the realm of earth by the vision of heaven given by Jesus, there was now no limit, or so they thought, on their possibilities and aspirations. And so James and John, these two “Sons of Thunder” —so renamed by Jesus (Mark 3:17)—sought for the glory of heaven, not understanding what that truly meant. Mark records their astounding conversation with Jesus. “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. They replied, ‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.’” (Mark 10:35-37)
As they walk towards Jerusalem, it is a developing situation amongst Jesus’ disciples, somewhat akin in hubris to the ancient Greek legend of Daedalus and Icarus, and what happens to the wax in your wings when you fly too close to the sun. Jesus responds, “You don’t know what you are asking.” (Mark 10:38a) He does not speak in anger, nor in disappointment; more so, perhaps, in a soft tone of compassionate wisdom. He loves them, and he wants the best for them. He asks, “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” (Mark10:38b) He already knows what their answer will be, and sure enough, they respond “We can.” (Mark 10:39) He knows that what they were asking was something that would never be theirs, and also knows what the true path of life was that lay before them. He was patient with them. They would understand in due time.
And, so it is for all of us. The lover of our souls knows our inner desires and the things that will motivate us to strive for them and not give up. He knows how desperately—and usually errantly—we want to break free of our internal and external limitations. He also knows the difficulty of the pathway to the immediate future on our way towards the eternity of heaven, and how much preparation it takes to walk through some of the most dangerous stretches on our way. And so to us, as to James and John, he says softly words we will only truly hear later. “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.” (John 16:12) He is wise in not explaining this to us fully before we can understand and accept and act in the required manner. This is something impossible until we have tasted from the cup, perhaps even to the very dregs.
Each of us has a place in life, and it is best for us to find that place. Everyone in every level of society is bound by limitations outside our control. We are all surrounded by the boundaries of our culture and our experiences. Most of us want something different than what we have—or, expressed as a greater truth, who we are. But ambition and desire can propel us into worlds we should never have entered, and hold us there, in a life that we find we don’t want but can’t escape. *“Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true!”
The God who created you has set different boundaries for you. Jesus tells us, “If the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36) May you listen to the Lord Jesus, and be guided into your own place. The Psalmist knew of this, and so also should we. “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely, I have a delightful inheritance.” (Psa. 16:5-6)
Q. Am I in the boundaries set for me and blessed by my Father?
*cf. Johnathan Swift, “Gulliver’s Travels” – 10-28-1726.
**Aesop’s Fables.
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