{Then} (	ote). Surely an inopportune time for such a
request just after the pointed prediction of Christ's
crucifixion. Perhaps their minds had been preoccupied with the
words of Jesus ( 19:28 ) about their sitting on twelve thrones
taking them in a literal sense. The mother of James and John,
probably Salome, possibly a sister of the Master's mother ( Joh
19:25 ), apparently prompted her two sons because of the family
relationship and now speaks for them. {Asking a certain thing}
(aitousa ti). "Asking something," "plotting perhaps when their
Master was predicting" (Bruce). The "something" put forward as a
small matter was simply the choice of the two chief thrones
promised by Jesus ( 19:28 ).