Who is the Greatest (Matthew 20:17-28)

Jesus a Third Time Predicts His Death and Resurrection

Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”   (Matthew 20: 17-19)

This is the third time that Jesus warned his disciples that he was on the way to the Cross, previously in Matthew 16:21, and again in Matthew 17:22-23. Both Mark and Luke add their own touches to the story, to show that on this occasion there was in a slight atmosphere within the apostolic group, a certain tension probably brought about by a sense of the foreboding tragedy to come. Mark says that Jesus was walking ahead by himself, and that the disciples were both amazed and afraid (Mark 10:32-34). They did not understand what was happening, but they could hear increasingly in the words of Jesus the emerging struggle that lay ahead.

Here the first big step towards the last act of the inescapable tragedy of the cross that awaits him. Jesus here is seen to deliberately and decisively sets out towards Jerusalem and the Cross. The suffering which Jesus will face will be both physical and emotional. He will be seen to be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and Scribes; we will witness the emotional suffering caused by what would turn out to be the abandonment of some of friends. He was to be condemned to death. There was also the suffering of injustice, which is very hard to bear. He was to be mocked by the Romans; there we see the suffering of humiliation and of deliberate insults. He was to be whipped; few tortures in the world compared with the Roman scourge designed with barbs to rip skin, and in that we see the suffering of physical pain. Finally, he was to be crucified; there we see the ultimate suffering unto death itself. 

It is as if Jesus was going to gather in upon himself every possible kind of physical and emotional and mental suffering that the world could inflict. But beyond the journey of suffering we can take encouragement in the knowledge of the future glory; beyond the Cross; beyond death, defeat is defeated; and beyond death lies life.

False and True Ambition

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  (Matthew 20: 20-28)

In this account, James and Johns mother come and ask Jesus if her two sons can sit, on each side of his thrown in the coming kingdom. There may have been a very natural reason for this request. It is probable that James and John were closely related to Jesus. Matthew, Mark and John all give lists of the women who were at the Cross when Jesus was crucified. 

Matthew's list is Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 27:56).

Mark's list is: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Younger and of Joses, and Salome (Mark 15:40).

John's list is Jesus' mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene is named in all the lists. Bible experts say that Mary the mother of James and Joses are the same person as Mary the wife of Clopas; therefore this third mystery woman is described in three different ways. Matthew calls her the mother of the sons of Zebedee; Mark calls her Salome; and John calls her Jesus' mother's sister. So, from that information experts have concluded that the mother of James and John was named Salome, and that she was the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. That means that James and John were full cousins of Jesus; and it may well have been that they felt that being this close in relationship to Jesus entitled them to a special place in his Kingdom.

This is one of the most revealing passages in the New Testament and it sheds light in three ways.

First, it sheds a light on the disciples. It tells us several things about them. It tells us of their ambition. They were still to some degree thinking in terms of personal reward and personal accolades. They were thinking of achieving a degree of personal success without the need for personal sacrifice. They wanted Jesus with a Messianic command to ensure for them an important and influential life. But like every Christian believer they need to learn that true greatness lies, not in supremacy, but in service and a price must be paid in order to achieve the true future rewards of God. On a more positive note, this passage also sheds light on the disciple’s unshakeable faith in Jesus. Think about the context into which this request is made. It was made after a series of announcements by Jesus that what lay ahead for him was death and the cross. It was made at a moment when the atmosphere was heavy with tragedy and the sense of foreboding. Yet in spite of that the disciples are thinking of the coming Kingdom.  It is of immense significance to see that, even in their world in which a darkness was descending, the disciples would not abandon the conviction that the victory ultimately belonged to Jesus. In Christianity there must always be this sense of optimism in the moment when things are conspiring to drive us to despair. Yet even in death, we will have the victory because our future is secure in Christ and His salvation. 

Still further, this passage demonstrated the unshakable loyalty of the disciples to each other and to Jesus. Even when they were bluntly told that they too would have to drink from “the bitter cup” that he had to drink from, it never struck them once to turn their back on Him. If to conquer with Christ really meant to suffer with Christ, it seems they were perfectly willing to face that suffering. It is easy to condemn the disciples, for this act of ambition but their faith and their loyalty and faith which lay behind their misplaced ambition must never be forgotten.

Secondly, this passage sheds a light upon the Christian life. Jesus said that those of us who would share in his triumph must also drink his cup. Life treated James and John very differently. James was the first of the apostolic band to die a martyr, that event is described for us in Acts 12:2. For him the cup meant martyrdom. On the other hand, there is significant evidence to show that John lived to a great old age in Ephesus and died a natural death when he must have been close on a hundred years old. For him the cup was the constant discipline of living the Christian life throughout the years.

It is quite wrong to think that for the Christian the cup must always mean just a bitter agonizing struggle, or martyrdom; the cup may well be the long challenging journey of maintaining a Christian faith with all its it’s routine daily sacrifices. Life’s heartaches, struggle, and its heart-breaks, its disappointments and its tears. There is no one same cup for every Christian to drink. Our cup may have to be drunk in one great moment; or our cup may be drunk throughout a lifetime of Christian living. To drink the cup simply means to sacrificially follow Christ wherever he may lead, and to be like him in any situation life may bring.

Thirdly, this passage sheds a light on Jesus. It shows us his kindness. In spite of all he had said, here were these followers and their mother still arguing about posts in an earthly government in the future kingdom. However, Christ does not get angry or dismayed at their unwillingness to learn. In gentleness, in sympathy, and in love, he seeks to lead them to the truth. He was quite clear that there is a bitter cup to be drunk and did not hesitate to say so. No one can ever claim that he began to follow Jesus under false pretences. He never failed to tell us that, even though life ends in victory and the wearing of a crown, so to speak, it continues in cross-bearing. I think it also demonstrates how much he trusts those of us who choose to follow him. He never doubted that James and John would maintain their loyalty. Granted ,they had mistaken ambitions; they had their blind spots; they had their wrong ideas; but he never wrote them off as his beloved disciples. One of the great fundamental facts to which we must hold on, even when we feel we have fallen short is that Jesus believes in us and will help us repent and recover in order to finish our journey home.

The Christian Revolution.

The Servanthood of The Cross

What Jesus calls upon his followers to do, he himself did. He came not to be served, but to serve. He did not come to occupy a throne, but a cross. It was because of this that the religious people of his time could not understand him.  All through their history the Jews had dreamed of the Messiah; but the Messiah of whom they had dreamed was always a conquering king, a mighty leader, one who would smash the enemies of Israel and reign in power over the kingdoms of the earth. They looked for a Messiah who was a conqueror; yet the one they received was a Messiah who was broken on a cross. They looked only for Lion of Judah; but they received the gentle Lamb of God. Ground-breaking German Lutheran theologian, Rudolf Bultmann writes:

"In the Cross of Christ Jewish standards of judgment and human notions of the splendour of the Messiah are shattered. Here is demonstrated the new glory and the new greatness of suffering love and sacrificial service. Here is royalty and kingship restated and remade”.

(History of the Synoptic Tradition. 1976 San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins)

Jesus summed up his whole life in the one sentence: "The Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many." It means quite simply that men and women are in the grip of a power of evil from which they cannot break free; their sins drag them down; their sins separate them from God; their sins wreck their lives and the lives of those around them. But God himself paid the price to liberate us from this situation, one which it was impossible for us to free ourselves from.  Therefore, what this saying means is quite simply it cost the life and the death of Jesus Christ to bring men back to God.

There is simply the great, tremendous truth that without Jesus Christ and his life of service and the depth of his love, we could never have found our way back to the love of God. Jesus gave up everything to bring us back to God; and we must walk in the steps of him who loved us in order to follow him. Jesus is talking about becoming a servant which is an attitude before it’s an action. Jesus is talking about becoming a slave, Jesus is talking about sacrificing yourself with no need or even desire to be thanked praised or given credit. One who is great in the eyes of God is the one who becomes a slave a servant and a sacrifice to other people for Christ’s sake without desiring praise from others.

Years ago, there was a famous preacher named Overhaud who he lived in the 18th century in Germany. He was once traveling on foot in winter when he was caught in a severe snowstorm, he soon lost his way the blowing snow clear that he would freeze to death. At one point on the verge of giving up he sat down not knowing what to do or where to turn just. Just then a man came along in a wagon and rescued took him to the next village and he made sure that he was cared for, when was about to leave our Pastor/Preacher said to him, tell me your name that I may at least hold you in grateful remembrance before God. The man said to him, tell me the name of the Good Samaritan and the man replied, I cannot do that for it is not given in the scriptures. Neither then shall I tell you, my name.

As Jesus himself said.

Even in as much as you did something for somebody else in my name , you did it for me.

(Matthew 25: 40)