25 Jul 26 | To Serve, Not to Be Served
The other ten got angry at James and John. Mostly because they didn't ask first.
The Gospel: Matthew 20:20-28
²⁰ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. ²¹ He said to her, "What do you wish?" She answered him, "Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom." ²² Jesus said in reply, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can." ²³ He replied, "My cup you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." ²⁴ When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus summoned them and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. ²⁶ But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; ²⁷ whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. ²⁸ Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Today’s Focus
A mother asks Jesus for the two highest seats in His kingdom, and she asks moments after He has described His own execution. Her theology is right — the kingdom is real — but her understanding of the road is not. Jesus responds by asking whether her sons can drink His cup, the prophetic cup of judgment they will in fact drink, though not the way they imagine. When the other ten grow indignant, Jesus redirects rather than condemns their ambition, redefining greatness as service that runs downward and offering His own life as the ransom that measures it.
In the Margins
This Gospel opens up immediately following the third passion prediction. In this account Jesus has just told His followers plainly that He’ll be handed over, mocked, scourged, and killed. The very next thing that happens is a request for thrones. Of note, Matthew’s account differs from Mark’s in that the mother is the one that asks. She kneels before Jesus and asks for the two highest places of honor for her sons. The request is actually coming from a place of faith. They all believe Jesus is real and that there will be a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. The theology is spot on – the path is just incorrect.
An interesting bit here is that Matthew names her only as the mother of the sons of Zebedee, but she’s likely Salome, listed among the women at the crucifixion in Mark 15:40. This tells us that she was still there at the cross after the request was refused.
The cup is a prophetic image pulling form Isaiah 51 and Jeremiah 25 and is a reference to God’s wrath. This cup is given to nations under judgement. To drink from this cup was to be judged and is reference the suffering absorbed on behalf of others. While they claim they can drink it with confidence, they likely did not grasp the totality of what this would mean. They are quickly volunteering for something that Jesus Himself will shortly agonize over. They did ultimately drink from this cup as James was the first of the twelve martyred and John was heavily persecuted and exiled.
We are told that the Gentiles make authority felt by ruling over others. This shapes Jesus’ response to the others who were mad in this passage, indignant at the request. Jesus summons the whole group, likely reading the situation as the ten were upset they didn’t ask first. The issue that was coming up here is a human one, the ambition. Jesus doesn’t kill the ambition – he redirects it. “Whoever wishes to be great” is left standing; the definition changes. Greatness for Gentiles was lording over others. In the Kingdom, greatness is service running downward. Jesus offers Himself as the ransom, which also ties to Isaiah 53. He is not just teaching servant greatness, He shows that He is the definition and its cost.
There is an irony here that the seats at his right and left were filled at His “enthronement” – His crucifixion. They were both criminals, and the mother was asking her sons be crucified along with Jesus without realizing it.
This passage teaches us several things. First, ambition alone is not something that is negative. We must understand our place as it relates to the will of the Father, but this doesn’t mean that we are not to have ambition. James and John also both showed a confidence that they did not fully understand, but would later come to live up to. Their mother was fully believing and understood that a “no” from what you desire doesn’t change the love and message of the Lord.
Reflection Question
Where in your life are you allowing your ambition to push toward your will instead of the will of the Lord? What would it look like for you to use your ambition to glorify God?