Matthew 20:20-28--A Mother's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.20.20-Matt.20.28
A Mother's Request
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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We have been talking a lot about the last being first and the first being last in the kingdom of God/heaven (Matthew uses these phrases interchangeably).  You would think that after Jesus saying it to them so many times directly and using so many parables to tell the story that they finally got it, and maybe they did, but the mother of two of the disciples definitely did not get it.  Her boys were special--so special that Jesus needed to recognize it and promise them the thrones on His right hand and left hand in the coming kingdom.  We've already seen the disciples argue among themselves on several other occasions as recently as the Mount of Transfiguration about who would be the greatest in the kingdom and Jesus had to stop them and ask them if they remember He was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He came down in the form of a man to die for the world--and He was on His way to that death right then. 

It is clear from the passage that James and John are right there not only because says "These two sons of mine" indicating they are at her side, but because Jesus replies to James and John, not to their mother when He said, "You don't know what you're asking.  Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink?" (meaning death).  They quickly answered, "We are able."  They knew He was talking to them because they answered.

Jesus then promises them that they will indeed drink of the same cup as him (suffer and die for their faith).  As a side note, one will be the first of the 12 to die early in the book of Acts by beheading and the other would be the last to die as the apostle John is exiled to the Isle of Patmos to die a natural death.  We have the book of the Revelation written by him when he was in exile there.

Jesus said that only the Father would get to choose who sits at the right-hand and the left-hand of the Son.  At this point everyone else heard what had been going on--it seems as if their mother had pulled them far enough way from the other 10 to talk to Jesus privately but either their voices got loud enough or the other 10 got close enough that they finally heard what was going on.  They were indignant--possibly because they would ask to be first and second in the kingdom, but also possibly because many of them thought they deserved those positions more.  It doesn't seem like any of them said, "Don't you get what He's been trying to teach us?."  So Jesus had to get them all together and remind them that they were acting like a bunch of heathen Gentiles that fight for power and position and lord their privilege, power, and position over each other.

He continued with the lesson that He would visually demonstrate that the Last Supper, "It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,"

Then Jesus once again reminded them of His mission, not to be King of the Jews here and now (all the people are about to get this wrong in the next chapter when we read about the Triumphal Entry--what we call Palm Sunday), but that He came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.

Why are you hanging around Jesus?  Do you expect power and position and extra privilege like those who showed up first to work in the Lord's vineyard, or are you just happy to get your hands dirty with everyone else to get the job done no matter what power, prestige or privilege you had before?  Imagine the crown prince working alongside you in the king's vineyard because the work was so important and the laborers were so few and it was so important to His father that he took on the role of a peasant for even just one day to get the job done, then someone has the audacity to stand there and claim privilege.  That's how silly this sounds, but it's not unimaginable.  Some that appear to be the "wheat" in the harvest that bow low before God as He causes them to bear good fruit and others appear to be the darnel weeds sown by the enemy that stand tall as the time of harvest comes in their pride because they have no real fruit and it is easy to spot the difference.  (I went back to reference Matthew 13 again because we just talked about it in my church service yesterday).  James and John (and in some respect all the other disciples, especially Judas) are looking more like darnel weeds than stalks of grain right now and it must be upsetting to Jesus that He's worked so hard to tell them and they still don't get it.  Are we that different?  We don't want to be told that we must become a slave or be willing to die.  We want to be told that blessing and honor and glory and power will be ours now and forevermore--but only the Ancient of Days is worthy to hear those words.