When Jesus told his disciples, “The Son of Man came to serve,” he wasn’t talking to just anybody. He was speaking to his disciples in a conversation that reveals a lot about who Jesus is and who he calls his followers to be.
Alongside Peter, James and John were two of Jesus’s closest disciples—and like Peter, they had their blunders. Jesus nicknamed them the “Sons of Thunder.” While we don’t know what prompted that nickname, it seems to fit the brothers’ passionate, impulsive, and ambitious natures. The conversation found in Mark 10:35-45 and Matthew 20:20-28 is a prime example of that.
One day, James and John came to Jesus with a request: “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left” (Mark 10:37, NLT).
To James and John, this request was merely political. They expected Jesus to become an earthly king and free Israel from Roman rule. Even after Jesus’s resurrection, the disciples assumed he would begin an earthly conquest (Acts 1:6).
High government positions seemed like a reasonable expectation for two of Jesus’s closest disciples. James and John thought that requesting those positions ahead of time could ensure a glorious and successful future for themselves.
Jesus’s response was clear: “You don’t know what you are asking!” (Mark 10:38, NLT). At that point, the disciples didn’t understand Jesus’s full glory or the grandeur of God’s eternal plan. Those seats were the highest honor any human could receive for all eternity! Jesus wasn’t going to hand those seats out to the first request casually—God had already decided who would sit there.
Somehow, the other disciples learned about James and John’s request, and they weren’t too happy about it. We don’t get the details of what was said at this point, but from numerous other passages throughout the gospels, it’s clear that there was a rivalry among the disciples. Mark 9 (only one chapter earlier) describes the disciples vying for who would be the greatest in Jesus’s Kingdom. Luke 9:46, Luke 22:24, and Matthew 18:1 all describe similar conversations.
In this context of jealousy and ambition, Jesus called his disciples together and told them that “even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, NLT).
In his statement, Jesus’ use of the title “Son of Man” is easily overlooked but adds significant context to his message.
Jesus was very careful with his words during his earthly ministry. He didn’t go around shouting, “I’m the Messiah!” because political turmoil with Rome would have derailed his ministry. While Jesus confirmed he was the Messiah in private (Matthew 16:13-16; John 4:25-26), he was less direct in public, so his enemies couldn’t accuse him of threatening Rome.
In the book of Ezekiel, the phrase “son of man” is often used as a general term for a human. It’s an inherently humble term in that sense. Yet Jesus calls himself “THE Son of Man,” as though it is a title specific to himself rather than a generic description.
One passage in the Old Testament uses “son of man” more as a title: Daniel 7:13-14.
“As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed” (NLT).
In short, when Jesus called himself the Son of Man, he was saying quietly, subtly, that he was fully human—yet so much more. In this passage, where he tells the disciples to serve others, he is referencing how he, the King of all creation, had become a humble human to serve his subjects better (see Philippians 2:1-11).
So, here the disciples were, oblivious to the contrast between the humble Son of Man and their own inflated egos. Jesus had every right to take his disciples down a peg. But that’s not the route Jesus took. Instead, he pointed them to a holier ambition and a more selfless goal.
“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45, NLT)
The leaders the disciples had seen all around them—both Roman rulers and Jewish teachers—used their power positions for personal glory and gain. The disciples wanted that kind of power. They wanted to overthrow the oppressive Romans. They wanted to be like the Pharisees and have the respect of their fellow Jews. These motives were understandable, even reasonable, yet they were not the motives Jesus called them to.
Jesus’s motivation as a leader was to help those he led. Power and popularity were peripheral. When we’re leading like Jesus, truly loving others, and focusing on meeting their needs, we won’t be thinking about ourselves and our own glory.
Jesus wasn’t the sort of teacher who taught just through abstract concepts. He lived out his teaching and used illustrations to drive his message home. One of his most famous sermon illustrations came at the Last Supper, mere hours before his crucifixion.
The disciples were sweaty and dirty from a day on the road. Their feet were caked with dirt, dust, and even animal droppings from the city streets. Normally, a servant would wash guests’ feet, not just any servant. The task was so disgusting and demeaning that only a gentile servant, the lowest of the low, could be required to do it.
But there was no servant. So Jesus knelt down and began washing his disciples’ feet one by one.
Peter was offended and embarrassed. Jesus was his rabbi! More than that—Jesus was the Messiah! It was far beneath Jesus’s dignity to do such a task. At first, Peter refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet. But Jesus told Peter, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”
Peter was still clinging to his old understanding of leadership and honor. And until he was willing to accept Jesus’s humble act of service, he would never become a servant leader himself.
The disciples didn’t learn this lesson the first time, the second time, or even the third time. Later that night, at the Last Supper, the disciples argued again about which of them was greater, and Jesus had to explain to them—again—that leadership was service (Luke 22:24-27).
Sometimes we, like Peter, have learned the concept of servant leadership without taking it to heart. We know humility is good, but we see that as window dressing rather than the heart of being a leader. To truly serve like Jesus served will take more than knowing, saying, and doing the right things. It will take a changed heart.
The concept of servant leadership is more than a bit of life advice Jesus was tossing out. Jesus talked about it multiple times during his final hours before his crucifixion (John 13, Luke 22:24-27). Perhaps that’s because if the disciples couldn’t understand servant leadership, they would never understand the cross.
Jesus didn’t look like a glorious, powerful leader when he hung on that cross. He was suffering the greatest shame, helplessness, and pain anyone could imagine. How could a conquering Messiah be stripped naked, nailed to wooden beams, and mocked by the masses? That was the fate of criminals and political failures, not a king.
If Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, why didn’t he prove his power and come down from the cross? What was the purpose of such weakness?
It was for us.
The same Jesus whose hands wiped sweat and grime from his followers’ feet was the same Jesus who bore the humiliation and pain of the cross. Nothing was too humiliating—nothing was too terrible to endure—to save us and bring us to himself.
Because the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Further Reading:
Why Is Jesus "The Son Of Man"?
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This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.
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