Whenever I travel by air, I fight a tinge of I-don’t-know-what while waiting to board the plane. The gate attendant announces for the “elite” travellers to board first. They march right past the rest of us second class travelers and board the plane at will, zipping through the “priority lane” while the rest of us wait in line, jocking for position until our number is finally called. I make fun of their aloofness, but I think it’s just a pitiful attempt to mask the envy.
How dare they be better than me. I wanna be elite. I wanna be first. And that, I think, is near the heart of the matter. Not just for me, but for most of the people on the planet.
10:35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 10:36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 10:37 They said to him, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.” 10:38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?” 10:39 They said to him, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I experience, 10:40 but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
10:41 Now when the other ten heard this, they became angry with James and John. 10:42 Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. 10:43 But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, 10:44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all. 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
— Mark 10:35-45 Netbible.org