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Gospel Reading - True leadership

²⁰Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, brought them to Jesus and respectfully asked a favor.

²¹“What is your request?” he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, will you let my two sons sit on two thrones^a next to yours?”

²²But Jesus told her, “You don’t know what you are asking!” Then he turned to James and John and asked them, “Are you able to drink from the terrible cup I am about to drink from?”

“Yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

²³“You shall indeed drink from it,” he told them. “But I have no right to say who will sit on the thrones next to mine. Those places are reserved for the persons my Father selects.”

²⁴The other ten disciples were indignant when they heard what James and John had asked for.

²⁵But Jesus called them together and said, “Among the heathen, kings are tyrants and each minor official lords it over those beneath him. ²⁶But among you it is quite different. Anyone wanting to be a leader among you must be your servant. ²⁷And if you want to be right at the top, you must serve like a slave. ²⁸Your attitude^b must be like my own, for I, the Messiah,* did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

1. Implied
2. Your attitude, implied. the Messiah, Literally, “the Son of Man.”