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.