Mark 10:38-40
New International Version
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.”
Tuesday - October 26
It sure does not seem like James and John understand what Jesus means by “baptism.” Maybe they thought the “baptism” of Jesus would be a battle or some kind of political and social conflict. Maybe they thought that they would participate in the glories of that battle. However, Jesus was talking about the baptism of his death and resurrection. When that event took place James and John, like the rest of the disciples, fled in fear that they would be next. It was not until the evening of that first Easter Sunday that Jesus came and gave them the peace of forgiveness, mercy, and grace that came from HIS baptism. We, too, have that same forgiveness, mercy and grace from the baptism of Jesus. We have been given His life.