Mark 10:39-40

‘And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised. But to sit on my right hand or on my left hand is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” '

Fortunately for them Jesus knew their hearts. He knew that in spite of their dull apprehension and their desire for pre-eminence they would soon show their mettle. So He gently let them down. Now He would speak of a lesser cup and a lesser baptism of suffering which they too would be called on to share.

‘The cup that I drink, you will drink.' Not the cup of the wine of the wrath of God, for that was for Jesus only, but the cup of suffering. Both would drink it to the full.

‘The baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised.' They would not necessarily suffer the agonies of crucifixion, and certainly they would not die with the weight of sin on their shoulders, but in one way or another they would find themselves ‘partakers of Christ's sufferings' (1 Peter 4:13, compare Colossians 1:24), at times overwhelmed, by persecution, hatred, imprisonment and even possibly, but not necessarily, martyrdom. James would be dead fairly early on, having triumphed in the name of Christ, when he was executed by the sword under Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:2). Of John there are conflicting accounts. One refers to his martyrdom, others to his working in the mines on Patmos (see Revelation 1:9) and dying in Ephesus an old man, having undergone the travails which inevitably faced all the Apostles, as they had those before them (Hebrews 11:35 compare ) being afflicted for their sakes that they might be healed. Only God could so rise over uncleanness.

There are many examples in the Old Testament of God's promise that He would make men clean, although they are not specifically related to skin disease. ‘I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols will I cleanse you, a new heart I will give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you, and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone, and will give you a heart of flesh.' (Ezekiel 36:25, compare Leviticus 14:7 where sprinkling of blood is used with regard to skin diseases). ‘On that day there will be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness' (Zechariah 13:1). At least one member of the house of David had been stricken with skin disease (2 Kings 15:5).