The Monday after Quinquagesima Sunday (Esto mihi)
Posted on February 16, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. Mark 10:35-45 (NKJV)
10:35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
37 They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”
38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
39 They said to Him, “We are able.”
So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; 40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”
41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Devotion
With just under 50 days until Easter, knowing that 40 of those 50 will be of the great season of repentance, Lent, today’s reading makes sure we know why. Even those who desire to be with Him in His resurrection are prone to self-exaltation and thoughts of their own abilities. When we see it in others we become angry and indignant, not realizing that such a reaction is tinged with committing the same sin as they do. While our New Man in Christ may truly be rightly offended at such pretense as seeks favors and diminishes the proclamation of His glory, our flesh is also active in bristling at the audacity of those who make such presumptuous requests and who think they excel at Christian living in comparison to us.
Jesus makes it perfectly clear, though, that where we sit in the Kingdom is by the Father’s gracious choice. The best thing we can do is not to concern ourselves with such things, but only to be concerned with living as true sons of our Father in Heaven—to live as Jesus Himself lived. As “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” the highest position we can have in this life is in serving all. Our greatest concern must be that we are given to such works as glorify Jesus’ working to save us—and that, as with salvation, comes only through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.
Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully hear our prayers, and, having set us free from the bonds of sin, defend us from all evil; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
