35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."
I think the general consensus was something like "Really? Whoa James and John, back it up for a second and think about what you're saying. Do you really want to demand that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world and God of the universe, do what you want him to? Not only that, but the request you're following it up with is one of power-hungry selfishness? You sure you want to do that?" We had a good laugh at their naivete and the fact that they just don't get Jesus and his purpose even though he's been trying to hammer home the point to them for a couple years at this point. But really, do we get it? Granted, we have scripture right in front of us to study, the knowledge of what happened to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit living in us. But despite all this, I still think we lose sight of the big picture a lot. As Eugene pointed out, don't we ask in that way too? "Please God, could you help me with this... oh, and here's how I want you to fix it." It's not that far removed from the way James and John were posing their request.
So my point here is really just that the 12 were regular guys. Human beings. Yes, they got to walk along side Christ and be a part of his ministry on earth, but they were still human. We can see the absurdity of some of their choices and actions (Peter, dude, what were you thinking trying to rebuke Jesus?!), but I'm going to argue that some of my choices and actions are just as naive and ridiculous. I think if we put ourselves in their shoes we'd probably have a little more compassion for them and try to see how we're pretty similar. Just trying to follow Christ and make sense of it all. Our thoughts are just too human... :)
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