Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons, doing homage, and asking something of him.
The Lord has just told His twelve disciples plainly what waits for Him in Jerusalem: betrayal, condemnation, mockery, a cross. The next thing that happens is a mother kneeling before Him to ask for the best two seats in His kingdom for her sons.
Matthew names her only by her family. One commentator pieces together who she was, and why she was the one who spoke.
Comparing Mark 15:40 with John 19:25, we conclude that she was the sister of Mary, the Lord's mother. Her two sons, therefore, were first cousins to the Lord... Because she was the Lord's aunt, her request, seen in natural terms, was not as strange as it would otherwise seem, and it explains how she came to be the speaker. She certainly lacked spiritual insight in asking it; but a mother's desire for her children prompted it.
Mark records the same request coming from James and John themselves. One writer answers the charge that the two accounts clash.
The mother of Zebedee's sons leads here; from Mark's Gospel we learn that John and James made the request. This is no contradiction, though people who deny that the Bible is inspired word for word often call it one. Mother and sons came together, and they wanted the same thing... In Mark's Gospel the sons stand in front, and in Matthew the mother. We can see this, because the Lord does not answer the mother at all.
She bows before she speaks. What was that bow for?
She does worship Him (at least outwardly) before she makes her request. Do we think in the same way — that our worship will persuade Him to give us our own way? She asks that her two sons might sit, one on each side of Him, in His kingdom. May the Lord keep us from having any such aspirations for our children or for ourselves.
She had grasped something true about Him — but only half of it.
The Master her sons had followed had won her heart. She knew He was a King, and that one day He was coming into His kingdom. Perhaps she knew still more, for she worshipped Him. But she did not know that He was a rejected King, and that she was living in the time of His rejection. She did not know that Christ Jesus had made Himself nothing.
The request did not come from nowhere. It grew out of a promise the Lord made one chapter earlier, and out of how royal courts worked.
Most likely our Lord's answer to Peter in chapter 19 prompted this desire. He had said that those who followed Him would sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel, when all things are made new... Kings in the East used to have one person sit at their right hand and one on the left; and so came this wish for places of honour in His Kingdom.
The people asking loved Him. That is what makes this moment so searching.
That is what these hearts would value — hearts that truly loved Him and wanted to be near Him in the Kingdom... What hearts we have!... What a contrast to our self-seeking, and how self-seeking can mix with real love for the Lord.
He answered by offering something other than seats.
The humiliation of Christ is so perfect, His self-abandonment so complete — and He alone, by His personal glory, had full knowledge of everything and a right to everything — that He says: I have no place to give in My kingdom. It is not Mine to give, except as My Father may desire. But I have something to give you now: it is suffering... The highest honour we can have here is suffering with and for Christ.
Notice what she asked for her sons, and what she did not ask for.
Their mother's request was not about their rescue or their blessing, in body or in spirit. It was about their advancement and honour in the coming kingdom of displayed glory. A mother's natural pride and pleasure in her son looked to Him to satisfy it — and He refused!
The Lord would not let a family claim decide anything.
Nature is clearly leading here. The mother of Zebedee's sons shows us that we must watch our natural relationships and not let them push into the things of God. We see in the Lord's case how He refuses all control of this kind.
- Timing. He announces the cross; at once they ask for thrones. Self-seeking arrives at the worst moment.
- Knees. She really did worship Him, yet she bowed to get her own way. Worship is not leverage.
- Half-knowledge. She believed He was King but missed that He was a rejected King, so she asked for glory in the season of shame.
- Motive. A mother's natural pride drove the request. Family feeling must not steer what belongs to God.
- Exchange. He had no seats to hand out; those rest with the Father. He gave what He could give now: a share in His suffering — the highest honour open to us here.
And he said to her, What wilt thou? She says to him, Speak [the word] that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand and one on thy left in thy kingdom.
Jesus has just told His twelve disciples that men in Jerusalem will condemn Him, mock Him, whip Him and crucify Him. Then a mother kneels and asks for the two best seats in His kingdom for her sons, James and John.
The disciples' minds moved straight from His death to their own promotion.
Even after this, the mother of Zebedee's children comes to Him with her sons, who were among the apostles themselves. So selfish is the heart of man! She bows before Him in worship, and asks something of Him.
The two seats had a recognised meaning, and the idea did not come from nowhere.
Most likely the words of our Lord in answer to Peter's words in chapter 19 prompted this desire. He had spoken of those who followed Him: when all things are made new, they would sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Eastern kings used to have one person sit at their right hand and one on their left. So the wish here is for places of honour in His Kingdom. The mother of Zebedee's sons here leads; from the Gospel of Mark we learn that John and James made the request. This is no discrepancy... Both mother and sons came together, having both the same wish. In Mark's Gospel the sons are in the foreground, and in Matthew the mother. You can see this from the fact that the Lord does not answer the mother at all.
The mother's part in this carries a warning about family ties.
Nature is clearly leading here. The mother of Zebedee's sons shows us that our natural relationships need watching. We must not let them push into the things of God. We see in the Lord's case how He refuses all control of this kind.
Set this beside the other parents who came to Jesus for their children.
In this case the "children" were no longer young, but full-grown men. They were no strangers to the Lord Jesus either. They were His acknowledged disciples, His chosen apostles, near the end of their training under Him in person. Their mother did not ask for their rescue or blessing, in body or in spirit. She asked for their advancement and honour in the coming kingdom of displayed glory. A mother's natural pride and pleasure in her son looked to Him for satisfaction, and He refused!
This was not unbelief. They were sure He would reign, even with danger ahead.
James and John had faith. Despite the dangers they saw on the road to Jerusalem, they believed that Jesus would have the glory and the kingdom. So they said, In any case, give us a good place. But about whom were they thinking? About James and John.
They could not take in heaven. Their hopes rested on a throne here on earth.
Although the blessed Lord sought to turn their minds from earth to heaven... their poor dull hearts clung tightly to the old order. So Zebedee's two sons made their request in Matt. 20:21. Neither the mother nor the sons were thinking of heaven. They were thinking of a visible Kingdom set up in glory on earth.
His answer changes what honour means.
He alone, by His personal glory, had perfect knowledge of everything and a right to everything. Yet so perfect is His humiliation, so complete His self-abandonment, that He says: I have no place to give in My kingdom. It is not Mine to give, except as My Father may desire. But I have something to give you now: it is suffering. Yes, suffering for and with Him is what Christ gives His servants now — a high privilege.
Commentators differ on how blameworthy the asking was. Some call it plain self-seeking. Another writer holds that wanting a place in the glory is not wrong in itself, and that the Lord answered it with a test.
Their request was quite all right in itself, but the Lord applied the test. John was one of the few who stood by the cross. There he saw one criminal on the Lord's right hand and another on His left. Did he think then about this desire of his? This is what I asked for — a place on His right hand, a place on His left. Is this what it means for me to get that place in glory?
- Timing. They asked for thrones just after He told them He would be betrayed, whipped and crucified. The cross was never in their thoughts.
- Nature. A mother's pride pressed a family claim into the things of God, and the Lord refused to let it steer Him.
- Faith. They believed He would reign. The flaw was not doubt, but self at the centre of the hope.
- Exchange. He had no seats to hand out; that rests with His Father. But He did have His cup, and suffering with Him is the honour He gives now.
- Answer. At the cross two criminals filled the places at His right and left. That shows how little they understood what they asked for.