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.
And Jesus answering said, Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink the cup which *I* am about to drink? They say to him, We are able.
A mother and her two sons asked Jesus for the top places in His kingdom, just after He had spoken of the suffering and cross ahead. He answered with a question about a cup: could they drink what He was about to drink?
They were thinking about rank. He was giving Himself up to do His Father's will. One writer sets the two side by side:
What unabashed self-seeking, in the presence of His complete surrender of self to do His Father's will! How terrible that our sinful nature should show itself in such a scene! And what was their desire? To be nearest to Christ in His kingdom. This was what suited man — not the cross, but the ease and peace and prosperity of the kingdom. Yet the cross was the necessary path to it.
His question shows how little they knew of what lay ahead of Him:
How lovingly and with what patience He reproves her. There is no harshness about it; it is all tenderness and grace. They did indeed not know what they were asking. He asks them if they could drink the cup He was about to drink. A cup was to be drunk by Him, and this cup stands for all the agony He was about to suffer. They knew nothing of that cup He was about to drink; nothing of the suffering and the cross which was before Him.
So commentators draw a line between what they could share and what He bore alone:
There was a cup He alone could drink; when it is a question of atonement He is all alone in that. His cup was beyond the power of all created intelligences to share. One only, Himself alone, could drink it. He suffered for sins at the hands of God. He suffered for righteousness at the hands of man. The atoning sufferings of Christ must always be kept distinct.
Some copies of this verse add a second picture to His question: a baptism He was about to go through. Commentators differ on whether those words belong here in Matthew. Either way, they explain the cup the same way:
The word is used as a picture of the overwhelming sufferings the Lord Jesus went through, so that He could carry out the purpose He came to earth for... The sons of Zebedee asked to sit on the right and on the left of the Lord in His glory. He pointed at once to the cup He had to drink, and asked if they could drink that cup, and be baptized with the baptism He was to be baptized with. They, ignorant of the depths of suffering involved in the question, said they could. In one sense they should share in His sufferings — the non-atoning sufferings, from the hand of man.
Kelly separates the two pictures in the question:
He took in two different kinds of suffering: the cup, which is inward suffering; and the baptism, which stands for what we are plunged into on the outside. The two cover every kind of trial, inward and outward.
They answered without knowing what they were agreeing to:
They answered as they did out of their own selfishness and presumption. They think they are able without knowing what the cup was.
The danger soon tested that confidence:
They did not know what they were saying, any more than what they were asking. For when our Lord was only in danger of death, we find that they all forsook Him and fled. When Peter followed on his own ground, it was only to show his utter weakness. In the presence of such a cup and such a baptism, the Lord says, "You shall indeed drink of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with." He does not say, you are able.
They asked for thrones; He offered them something He could give straight away:
The humiliation of Christ is complete, and His self-abandonment is complete too. He alone had perfect knowledge of everything, and a right to everything, by His personal glory. Yet 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... The highest honour we can have here is suffering with and for Christ.
- Asking blind. They wanted the throne while He was speaking of the cross. What suited man was the kingdom's ease, not the path that leads to it.
- The cup. The cup stands for all the agony just ahead of Him: the suffering and the cross.
- Alone. Part of that cup no created being could share: when it is a question of atonement, He drinks it by Himself.
- Shared. What they could share was the non-atoning suffering, at the hands of men — and the Lord promised it to them.
- Given. The places in glory rest with the Father. What He held out that day was suffering with Him — the highest honour we can have here.
[And] he says to them, Ye shall drink indeed my cup, but to sit on my right hand and on [my] left, is not mine to give, but to those for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Two brothers asked for the top two seats in the kingdom. The Lord's answer split their question in two. One part He grants. The other, He says, is not His to grant. His reply raises two hard questions. What cup are they promised? And how can the Son of God say that something is outside His giving?
The disciples claimed they were able. The Lord's reply corrects the claim while keeping the promise:
They did not know what they said, any more than what they asked. For, when our Lord was only in danger of death, we find that they all forsook Him and fled... Faced with such a cup and such a baptism, the Lord says, "You will indeed drink of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with." He does not say, you are able.
The words about baptism come from the older text Kelly used. The ESV does not carry them in this verse.
The Lord kept His word. James was the first of the two to die for it:
You remember that this martyr's mother, Salome, had once prayed that her two sons might sit, one on His right hand and the other on His left, in His kingdom. The moment had come here for one of the two brothers to drink of the cup — the other drank his many years later. Probably John was the latest of all the apostles to suffer martyrdom, but James was the first.
He grants them His cup. Yet it has a depth no one else has ever entered:
There was a cup He alone could drink; when it is a question of atonement He is all alone in that. His cup was beyond the power of all created intelligences to share. One only, Himself alone, could drink it. He suffered for sins at the hands of God. He suffered for righteousness at the hands of man. We must always keep the atoning sufferings of Christ distinct.
Believers can share the suffering that comes from men. They cannot share the bearing of sin.
The reason lies in the place He had taken:
He insists that the path to the glory of the kingdom is through suffering. He alone could carry out redemption by the sufferings of the cross when God forsook Him. But the disciples should have the privilege of drinking the cup of suffering from the hands of men. He could promise them the privilege of suffering for His Name's sake. But He could not give them a place at His right hand in the kingdom. He had taken the place of the Servant. He leaves it to the Father to say who will have a place of special privilege in the day of glory.
Darby points out how much the Lord left in His Father's hands:
He answers that He can indeed lead them to suffering. But He could not give the first places in His kingdom to anyone except those for whom the Father had prepared them, according to the Father's purposes. Wonderful self-renunciation! It is for the Father, for us, that He works. He disposes of nothing.
Saying it is not His to give does not remove Him from the giving. Older English versions add the phrase "it shall be given to them" here. Kelly explains what those added words cost:
The words which are put in italics (and inserted without warrant) spoil the sense very much. Without them the sense is better. It was His to give to those only to whom the Father destined it. Christ is the administrator of the rewards of the kingdom. As He was the Servant in suffering, He also shall dispense the rewards and glories of the kingdom.
"Prepared" works in two directions at once:
He leaves the right of choosing to the Father. He gives the special glory that belongs to special work to those for whom it is prepared, and whom grace has prepared for this glory. His portion is the cross; and the cross can give the glory, if anyone will follow Him as His disciple.
Writing on John's Gospel, F. B. Hole sets this saying beside two others where the Lord accepted a limit:
In Matthew 20:23, Jesus said the actual words, "Not mine to give." In Mark 13:32, He said in effect, "Not mine to know." Here He says in effect, "Not mine to do." He made all three statements from the lowly place of dependence He took, for the glory of the Godhead and for our salvation. They do not in the least argue against His supreme place in the unity of the Godhead.
- Asked wrongly. They wanted the thrones and thought themselves able. The Lord gave them the promise, but not the boast — "not, you are able."
- Given the cup. What He does grant is fellowship in His suffering, and He kept His word: James died first, John last.
- Kept the depths. The atoning part of the cup no created being could touch; He suffered for sins at God's hand, alone.
- Gave up the giving. As Servant He disposes of nothing. He leaves the seating to the Father. He gave up the right, not the power.
- Still the Administrator. The Father prepares the place, and prepares the person for it. The Son who suffered as Servant hands out the kingdom's rewards.
And the ten, having heard [of it], were indignant about the two brothers.
James and John had just asked for the top two seats in the kingdom. The other ten heard it and burned with anger. But was their anger any purer than the ambition it condemned?
Their anger looks like loyalty to Christ. Trench finds a plainer cause. The ten did not mind the request. They minded that someone else made it first.
Once more the Lord now tells His disciples plainly what is before Him in Jerusalem. But the cross was not what was in their thoughts, and Zebedee's wife asks for her sons the place at His right hand and left hand in His kingdom... When the ten heard it they were indignant that the two had got in first and asked for what they all wanted. What hearts we have!... And how self-seeking can mix even with real love for the Lord.
The anger of the ten did not disprove their ambition. It advertised it.
One could easily draw a picture of the ten... how they waved their arms and showed their indignation by looks and words... The pride in these two they most likely recognized, as well as the forwardness of the mother. It was, however, their own pride which moved them to indignation. And so it is repeated over and over again. The fault-finding spirit is rarely anything less than a display of the same evil. What a brother often accuses his brother of is exactly what he himself does.
Christ saw the same failure the ten saw. But He did not feel about it as they did.
No doubt it seemed a very right thing to put down these two brothers who were so full of themselves. But why were they so indignant? Their pride was wounded; they too were full of themselves. Christ was not filled with indignation — it was a sorrow to Him: but they were moved with hot feeling against the two brothers. We have to take care. Often where we seek to pull down those who seek to exalt themselves, there is self on our part too. Suppose one of us has fallen into sin. There is often a good deal of strong feeling about it: but is this the best way of showing our sense of sin? Those who feel most for God feel also the deepest for those who have slipped away from Him.
Kelly ties this to a rule in Galatians. "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted" (Galatians 6:1, ESV).
The timing makes the scene worse. Jesus had just told His disciples about His rejection and death.
Here again we have the prediction of His rejection and death. Right beside it comes the request of the sons of Zebedee for places of honour in His kingdom. It is sad and telling. He spoke of His sufferings, and they were taken up with their own honours in His glory. They never seemed to see that the cross had to come before the glory, until after the resurrection... Let us remember that this is only natural to us unless faith is bright.
Darby names what was filling their hearts instead.
About Jesus, their fleshly thoughts filled their heart with the exact opposite of what filled the mind of God about Him... It was their own glory they were seeking in the kingdom. The cross — the true path to glory — made no sense to them.
Twelve men, all of them wrong, and none of them dismissed.
This indignation of the disciples brings out another gracious instruction from the Lord. Once more He teaches His poor erring ones in perfect patience. And oh, praise to His name! He is ever the same. We are all His dull and weak disciples, and the graciousness and patience He shows here He has shown to us a thousand times. And still He teaches; He bears with us and treats us with such loving tenderness. Why do we not learn from Him how to deal with a weak and erring brother?
- Self, asking. Two men wanted the best seats beside a King who was walking to the cross.
- Self, angry. The ten did not object to the ambition. They objected to being beaten to it. Their heat showed the same desire.
- Self, mirrored. We often accuse others of what we do ourselves. A fault-finding spirit is the same evil in a better coat.
- Self, contrasted. Christ met the failure with sorrow, not anger. Those who feel most for God feel most for the one who has slipped.
- Self, outlasted. He dropped none of them. He taught them again, with perfect patience. That is the pattern for handling someone who fails.
But Jesus having called them to [him], said, Ye know that the rulers of the nations exercise lordship over them, and the great exercise authority over them.
Two disciples had asked for the best seats in the kingdom. The other ten were furious. So Jesus called the whole group together and spoke about power. He starts with a fact they could not deny: this is how rulers behave everywhere.
The ten looked like the offended party. Commentators read their anger as proof that the same appetite was at work in them. So the Lord speaks to all twelve, not just the two.
He put His finger on that very love of greatness in themselves. They were loud in condemning it in James and John; but their feeling betrayed the same thing in their own hearts.
The same writer notes what was missing in their reaction — grief.
Christ was not filled with indignation. It was a sorrow to Him. But they were moved with hot feeling against the two brothers. We have to take care. Often where we seek to pull down those who seek to exalt themselves, there is self on our part too.
The Lord does not have to explain how the rulers of the Gentiles — the nations — behave. That is the danger: a way of doing things so normal that nobody questions it.
How easy it was, and still is, for the disciples of Jesus to accept the standards and customs of the world around them. Because everybody appears to be doing it, they take for granted that it is the right thing to do. Again and again our Lord would say to us, "It shall not be so among you." The nations have their great men, and they use their authority like lords.
They wanted thrones. Behind that wish lay an idea of what a throne is for. Commentators trace the mistake to that point.
The mistake the disputing disciples had made was to think of His Kingdom as being like the kingdoms of the nations. He dispels this idea. His Kingdom would be the very opposite of the kingdoms of the nations.
Rule itself, in His kingdom, is not exempt from the principle.
Did they imagine that in His Kingdom ambition would be fed, and the desire to be lord over others satisfied? Or that the places of rule with Him could be anything like that? No — for service was the road to rule, and this could only be because rule itself would be nothing but fuller service.
The Lord bans one kind of authority, not all order. One writer draws the line at where authority comes from, and at who ends up being seen.
This is the Lord's own safeguard against self-exaltation in any church position: if the position is not used in service, the person loses his reward. This is what makes authority in the church different from authority in the world. The world's officer wears all the marks of present power. He demands to be recognised as having power, and he is to be recognised. The source of his authority is visible, and anyone can see him using it. The source of authority in the church is different. It is invisible. It comes from above, from the ascended Jesus, and it works by real spiritual control and guidance. The great aim is that the man it works through should so lose his prominence that Jesus, and not the man himself, is exalted.
The Lord bans the world's ladder, and that exposes ambition itself. The alternative is not doing nothing. It is moving in the opposite direction.
Anyone who seeks to be great, and to take the lead among Christians, has completely falsified the Christian character. He will be last of all. The true way to have the highest place is to serve, counting oneself the slave of what other disciples need… Seeking to lift oneself up is only the selfishness of the flesh, the spirit of the world, which is hostile to God. Love delights to serve — this is what Christ did; pride and selfishness love to be served, and to take precedence over others.
In practice this service is ordinary, and not always spiritual.
We gather from this that the great men in the kingdom are those doing everything they can to help God's people on their way through this world. They do it simply, humbly, earnestly and with devotion. It may not always be in spiritual matters. It may be in material things.
- Mirror. The ten were angry at James and John for the very thing in their own hearts. That is why the Lord gathered all twelve.
- Model. The rulers of the nations set a pattern so familiar that disciples copy it without noticing. "It shall not be so among you" targets that drift.
- Mistake. They pictured His kingdom as one more kingdom of the nations. There service is the road to rule, because rule itself is only fuller service.
- Source. The world's authority is visible and demands recognition. Authority among Christians comes from the ascended Jesus. It works so that people see Him, not the man.
- Measure. Greatness runs downward. Anyone chasing the lead has falsified the Christian character. The great are those helping God's people, in material things as much as spiritual.
It shall not be thus amongst you, but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant;
Two brothers among the disciples had just asked for the top places, and the other ten were furious. Into that quarrel the Lord speaks a rule that turns the world's ladder upside down. Who counts as great? How is greatness reached? And what does He mean by "your servant"?
The ten looked justified in their anger. One commentator points out what was moving them underneath:
No doubt it seemed a very right thing to put down these two brothers who were so full of themselves. But why were they so indignant? Their pride was wounded; they too were full of themselves. Christ was not filled with indignation — it was a sorrow to Him. But they were full of hot feeling against the two brothers. We have to take care. Often where we seek to pull down those who seek to exalt themselves, there is self on our part too.
The disciples had absorbed the way the world around them worked. That, one writer notes, is the standing danger:
How easy it was, and still is, for the disciples of Jesus to take up the standards and customs of the world around them. They take for granted that, because everybody seems to be doing it, it must be the right thing to do. Again and again our Lord would say to us, "It shall not be so among you." The nations have their great men, who lord their authority over people. Among disciples of the Lord, greatness looks completely different. There true greatness means taking the lowly place of service to others — serving the Lord by serving them.
The Lord uses two different words in verses 26 and 27, and the second is lower than the first:
There is a difference between the two words. The word translated "minister" means a servant. But in verse 27 it is a bondman or slave. Do you want to be really great according to the principles of My kingdom? Go down as low as you can. Do you want to be the greatest? Go down the lowest of all. Whoever has least of self is greatest in the Lord's eyes.
Serving one impressive person can still flatter us. The harder question is the one raised here:
We might be prepared at times to serve some great person, or some devoted saint, and exalt ourselves by doing it. But are we prepared to be the "servant of all?"
The two measures run in opposite directions:
Man's greatness means pushing self to the highest place, at the expense of others, in the company of the greatest people. God's greatness appears in a Man who comes into the lowest place and keeps company with the insignificant and despised.
Serving does not leave a person powerless. It carries an authority of its own:
I find that in these times the principle of these passages makes them of great value. It concerns a type of authority that no condition of the church can weaken. All other authority might be lost, this will only shine the more. It is exercised by the direct action of the Spirit of God in service. Besides, whoever seeks this authority will not have it. But whoever makes himself servant of all, as Christ did — from the heart, moved by the love of Christ working in him — will get it.
That is what separates leadership among Christians from leadership in the world:
The world's officer wears all the badges of present power. The source of his authority is visible, and its exercise is plain to the eye. The source of authority in the church is invisible. It comes from above, from the ascended Jesus, and it works in real spiritual control and guidance. The great object is that the person through whom it is exercised should so lose his prominence that Jesus, and not the man himself, should be exalted.
This order is not something the Lord asks of others only. He kept it Himself:
He who will one day be supreme must first be a servant. Only the path of service reaches the place of supremacy. The Lord said, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave." In this the Lord Himself is the perfect example of His own teaching, for He can say, "I am among you as the one who serves."
- Down — This kingdom measures greatness by descent, not height: "Go down as low as you can… Whoever has least of self is greatest in the Lord's eyes."
- Down further — Verse 26 says servant, verse 27 says slave. The test is not serving someone impressive, but being "servant of all."
- Not up — The world climbs at other people's expense. God's greatness appeared in a Man who took the lowest place among the despised.
- Not sought — This authority cannot be grasped. Whoever seeks it will not have it; whoever serves in love will receive it, and no state of the church can take it away.
- Then exalted — The path runs one direction only: service first, supremacy after. Christ walked it perfectly before He ever asked it of anyone.
and whosoever will be first among you, let him be your bondman;
James and John asked for the best seats in the kingdom, and the other ten were angry at being beaten to it. Jesus answered by turning greatness upside down — the way up runs downward, so what does it cost to be first among His followers?
The Lord uses one word in verse 26 and a stronger one here.
There is a difference between the two words. The word translated "minister" means a servant. But in verse 27 it is a bondman or slave. Do you want to be really great according to the principles of My kingdom? Go down as low as you can. Do you want to be the greatest? Go down the lowest of all. Whoever has least of self is greatest in the Lord's eyes.
That second word became a name Paul took for himself.
The word for minister in verse 26 is "deacon." The word for servant in verse 27 is "bondman." That is the word Paul uses for Timothy and himself in the opening verse of his letter to the Philippians. Paul was above all a bondman of Jesus Christ. Measure him by the standard that rules in the kingdom of heaven, and he will not be found small.
The ten looked innocent. Their reaction gave them away.
The flesh does not show itself only in the fault of one person or another. How do we behave when the faults of others are on display? The anger that broke out in the ten showed the pride of their own hearts, just as much as the two who wanted the best place. If unselfish love had been at work, their ambition would surely have been a cause for sorrow and shame.
The disciples had pictured Christ's kingdom on the model of the empires they knew.
The mistake the disputing disciples had made was to think of His Kingdom like the kingdoms of the nations. He dispels this idea; it would be the very opposite of what it is in the kingdoms of the nations. The greatest in His Kingdom are those who are servants, and the bondman is the first. He Himself, the Son of Man, came to serve. These are blessed words indeed, lowering all that is of self, dethroning pride and ambition.
Being a slave here has a clear object: what other disciples need.
Anyone who wants to be great and to take the lead among Christians has completely falsified the Christian character. He will be the last of all. The true way to hold the highest place is to serve, counting yourself the slave of what other disciples need… Seeking your own exaltation is only the selfishness of the flesh. It is the spirit of the world, which is hostile to God. Love delights to serve — this is what Christ did. Pride and selfishness love to be served, and to come before others.
This craving is not just a problem for the first disciples. It belongs to every fallen human heart.
To be somebody is the desire of fallen man, the world's spirit; to give up all in love and obedience is Christ's, who alone really had all things. It is our pattern now. Greatness according to Him is to be a true servant; and to be chief is to be a slave, as He became.
Verse 28 makes the standard personal. Jesus does not just command the slave's place. He takes it Himself, and that settles who ranks first.
The Son of Man Himself is the shining example of service of this kind. Who was ever as great as He was in His original state? Then "a thousand thousands served him" (Dan. 7:10). Who took so low a place, serving others? Who carried service so far as "to give His life as a ransom for many"? For this reason alone, even apart from anything else, the first place must be His. Those who follow Him most closely in lowly service in this day will be chief in that day.
The same order appears long before Matthew 20. Joseph, before he ruled Egypt, was sent out to serve his brothers.
Whoever will one day be supreme must first be a servant. Only the path of service leads to the place of supremacy, and this is what the Lord said… In this the Lord Himself is the perfect example of His own teaching. He can say, "I am among you as the one who serves" (Luke 22:27).
- Down. Verse 27 uses a stronger word than verse 26: not just servant but bondman. Want to be greatest? Go lowest.
- Detected. The ten were angry at the two, and their anger exposed the same ambition. The flesh shows itself in how we react to the faults of others.
- Directed. The slave's place is not vague humility; it means treating the needs of other believers as your master.
- Descended. Christ went lowest of all, giving His life as a ransom for many, and so the first place is His.
- Destination. Those who follow Him most closely in lowly service now will be chief in that day.
as indeed the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
These words close a dispute about who would be greatest. They set two things side by side: the pattern His followers are to copy, and the price only He could pay.
The ten were angry at James and John. Jesus showed the same love of greatness in every heart there, and His answer drops lower with each step.
He put His finger on that very love of greatness in themselves. They were loud in condemning it in James and John, but their feeling betrayed the same thing in their own hearts... There is a difference between the two words. The word translated "minister" means a servant. But in verse 27 it is a bondman or slave. Do you want to be really great according to the principles of My kingdom? Go down as low as you can. Do you want to be the greatest? Go down the lowest of all. Whoever has least of self is greatest in the Lord's eyes.
Someone with every right to be waited on chose the opposite.
The Lord sets Himself before us as the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve, though to be served was His right. Daniel 7:9-14 shows this in a twofold way, for Jesus may be identified with the "Ancient of Days" as well as with the Son of Man. As Ancient of Days "a thousand thousands served Him" before He came down among us. As Son of Man "all peoples, nations, and languages" shall "serve Him." Yet in between came the time of His humiliation. He gave Himself to service, and that service went to the extreme point of giving His life a ransom for many. So for the fifth time since chapter 16 the Lord set His death before His disciples. This time He spoke of its redeeming power. Thank God that we are among "the many"!
Everything in the verse hangs on one word.
The meaning of "ransom" is a price paid for redemption. And "redemption" means to buy back, or to buy someone out of captivity or slavery.
Some read "His life" as if His living were the payment. His spotless life had a different role.
"His life," someone may exclaim, "see, it says 'His life a ransom for many.'" True, but that is not all it says. He "came... to give His life." It was the giving of His life — the yielding of it up in death — that accomplished the ransom. His life was perfect and spotless. That made the offering up of it so acceptable to God, and it was one of His great qualifications for the sacrificial work. He was indeed the Lamb "without blemish."
Elsewhere Scripture says He gave Himself a ransom for all. The two statements are not rivals; the small Greek words carry the difference.
There is indeed a true sense in which our Lord is a ransom for all, and the apostle speaks of it in 1 Timothy 2... But a fine difference distinguishes the two texts. When, as in Matthew, it is a ransom for many, we have it clearly defined. The "for" is "instead of" (ἀντὶ) many. It is strict substitution. When, as in 1 Timothy, all are in view, it is simply "on behalf of" (ὑπὲρ) all. "For" does not always have the same sense in Scripture.
The limit falls on who may claim it, not on how far His death reaches.
Whenever we look at the death of the Lord as substitution, it covers only His people... The letter to the Hebrews also says that Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many (chapter 9:28). It does not say the sins of all, because the truth of substitution is again in view. On the other hand, Scripture also says that Christ died for all (2 Corinthians 5:14), and that He gave Himself for all (1 Timothy 2:6). There the wording shuts out the thought of substitution, and shuts it out carefully. Both things are wonderfully true of the death of Christ. He died for all, and by the grace of God He tasted death for every man. But according to Scripture, only believers can say that He bore their sins in His death on the cross.
Serving is not a detour away from the kingdom. It is the way there.
This is the road to the kingdom... The greatest sacrifice that could be given, He has given. The great purpose of Jesus going before us in the way is to lead us in that way. The kingdom is there, the glory is about to dawn. Let us therefore seek grace to serve one another with that glory in view.
- Down — Greatness in His kingdom runs downward: servant, then bondman, then the cross. Whoever has least of self stands highest.
- Down by choice — Thousands already served Him as Ancient of Days, and all nations will serve Him as Son of Man. He chose the serving years in between.
- Down to death — The ransom was not His living but the giving up of His life. His spotless life qualified the offering; it did not replace it.
- Down in our place — "For many" is anti, instead of. Where Scripture says "for all," it uses a different word. That difference holds both truths together.
- Down, then the kingdom — He goes first on this road to lead us along it. Serving one another is the path, with the glory in view.