Matthew 20:17-28

Matthew 20:17-19 Jesus plainly foretells his crucifixion

This is Jesus’s third prophecy of his Passion.  He reveals more each time.  In chapter 16, he said he would suffer and die and be raised.  In chapter 17, he added that he would be betrayed.  Now, he fills in more details.

Jesus’s first prophecy of his Passion (Matt. 16:21) had already mentioned Jerusalem.  What are the various things Jesus now says will happen to him in Jerusalem?

He will be handed over to the Jewish leaders; they will condemn him to death; they will hand him over to the Gentiles; the Gentiles will (a) mock him, (b) flog him, and (c) crucify him; and he will be raised on the third day.

Why do you think Jesus takes the Twelve aside to tell them this, and why do you think he keeps telling it to them repeatedly?

The crucifixion was so horrible that he wants them to be prepared – especially the leaders of his group.

This is the first time he indicates the manner of his death: crucifixion.  How might the disciples have reacted to that?

Crucifixion was a horrific, excruciating form of execution that was assigned to serious criminals, rebels, and slaves in slave rebellions.  It was designed to totally subjugate the person and cause them great and lengthy suffering.  It was also designed to humiliate them.  So the disciples would have been horrified.

In Matthew’s Gospel, we have seen Jesus minister to Jews and Gentiles, so it is ironic that both Jews and Gentiles will be involved in his execution.

This is the first time Jesus says explicitly that Gentiles (i.e., the Romans) will execute him.  Throughout European history, Jews have suffered discrimination and maltreatment at the hands of Christians, with major pogroms attacking whole populations of Jews in 1096, 1189, 1254, 1348, 1492, 1881, 1938-1945, and many other times.  People who lived 1,000 years or more after Christ were absurdly charged with somehow being responsible for his death.  In light of that history, why is it so significant that, while Jesus said that the Jewish leaders would condemn him, he made it clear that it would be non-Jewish people who would mock and scourge and crucify him?

The crucifixion is so much a part of our telling and retelling of our faith that we have probably lost the horror of it.  Is there something in this prophecy that you think you should take less casually or take less for granted?  Explain.

Matthew 20:20-23 Special honor for James and John?

Who makes this request?

Note: This is not some random, foolish woman.  The mother of Zebedee’s children was one of the women who fearlessly stood by the cross as Jesus was crucified (Matthew 27:56).  She was also possibly the sister of Jesus’s mother Mary (looking at the information in John 19:25 and comparing the lists of the women at the foot of the cross in the various Gospel accounts leads to this possible conclusion).

James and his brother John, along with Peter, hold a special place among the apostles.  They are the ones who are invited to accompany Jesus when he is transfigured.   But it might be helpful to sort out the men names James.

There are three Jameses in the New Testament:

• James, the brother of John, was an apostle.  James and John are known as the sons of Zebedee and, in Mark 3:17 as the “sons of thunder.”  They are the ones who in this passage ask to sit at Jesus’s right and left hand when he comes into his kingdom.  This James is sometimes called James the Great.  He was martyred around A.D. 44, executed by Herod in In Acts 12:2.  He may have been the second Christian martyr, after Stephen.

• James the son of Alphaeus was also an apostle.  He is sometimes called James the Less (perhaps because he was shorter, or just because he was less prominent).

• James the brother of Jesus becomes the leader of the Christian community in Jerusalem, as seen in Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18 and Galatians 1:18-19.  He is sometimes called James the Just.  Several ancient sources suggest that he was martyred in Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple, perhaps in A.D. 62.

What does the mother of James and John ask for?

In the Gospel of Mark, James and John make the request directly.  Some scholars have observed that Matthew rarely writes anything that makes any disciple look bad.  Here, the way he tells the story, it is their mother who makes the request.  Considering that they accompany her and readily answer Jesus’s first question, do you think they agree with their mother’s request or are embarrassed by it?  Explain.

When they ask to sit at his right and left hand in his kingdom, what do you think they think they are asking for?

What does this tell you about them?

They were ambitious, but also zealously loyal to Jesus and wanted to be as close as possible to him.

Jesus tells them they don’t understand what they are asking for.  Why?

What is the “cup” (verse 22) that he asks them if they are ready to drink?

Why do you think they are so sure they are ready for it?

Jesus says they will drink his cup.  What do you think that means?

James was an early martyr (Acts 12:2), but John lived a long life ending in a natural death in Ephesus.  So what is the “cup” for them?

Why is Jesus unable to grant their request?

If there are these right and left seats in heaven, and given Jesus’s upside-down approach to humanity, is it possible that the people who will sit on his right and left are people at the bottom of the social scale?  Would that surprise you?  Explain.

Note that, although Jesus corrects James and John’s thinking in the next passage, he does not rebuke them for their request.  What is your best guess as to why not?

We will look at the other disciples’ reaction in a moment, but let’s think about how this passage might speak to us in our lives.

When or how might we have inappropriate or misguided ideas about what God should do for us?

In what ways might we get caught up in the glory of believing in Jesus and lose sight of the fact that we are called to take up our crosses?

Matthew 20:24-28 The one who wants to be great must be a servant

How did the other apostles feel when they heard about James and John’s request?

How does Jesus describe the way the rulers of the Gentiles treat other people?

In our day, what does it look like when people in authority “lord it over” others?

In Jesus’s kingdom, if you want to be great or first, how must you treat others?

What does it mean to be a servant (Greek diakonos) of others?

To serve means to work for or minister to others, to attend to the needs of others or wait on them (as Martha did, when she pointed out to Jesus that she was “serving” while Mary sat at Jesus’s feet).  What does it look like when we are doing that?

When we are serving, we are trying to help others achieve their goals or are trying to meet their needs, not our own.

How can we, in practical terms, follow this teaching?  How can we be a servant of others?

My father was the one who, at every church event, always stayed after to put the chairs away and sweep the floors.  That might be one example.

What is the attitude of a servant toward those he or she is serving?

In typical Jewish rhetorical fashion, Jesus makes his point in two different ways.  First, he contrasts “great” with “servant”: if you want to be great, you must choose to be a servant.  He then sharpens the point by taking those concepts to their extreme: if you want to be “first,” you must be a “slave” (Greek doulos) – i.e., if you want to be at the absolute top, you must choose to be at the absolute bottom.

Jesus is not endorsing slavery – he is making a point about God’s upside-down view of the world: If you want to be at the absolute top, then in God’s kingdom you must be willing to be at the absolute bottom of the ladder of social status.  What does this say to you about the Christian life?

What does this say to you about your life?

Look at verse 28.  How is Jesus as a model of servanthood?

People who are placed in positions of leadership are called to serve even while filling those positions.  What does verse tell them about what “servant leadership”?

If you had to capture in a word or phrase the concept of what it means to serve others, without using the word “servant” or the word “slave,” how would you describe what it looks like to serve others, from Jesus’s perspective?

One possible answer, among many, is: Work for the good that others seek, not just the good you seek, and put what is good for them first.  (How would you answer?)

In verse 28, Jesus says he is giving his life as a “ransom for many.”  The word “ransom” usually means a price paid to free a person, but when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into the Greek Septuagint, the word “ransom” was used in places where the Hebrew communicates the ideas of God’s liberation without implying that any payment has been made – for example, in Exodus 6:6; Psalm 77:16 in the NABRE, which is 77:15 in the NRSV and most other translations; and Isaiah 43:1 and 44:22.  The idea is probably the same here: that Jesus will give up his life to liberate or free others (New American Bible, revised edition, Matt. 20:28 fn.).

In verse 28, the word “many” is not signaling that some people are specifically excluded (New American Bible, revised edition, Matt. 20:28 fn.); it is merely explaining the difference between “the one” (the servant who brings freedom) and the “the many” (who are freed and also called to be servants).

In verse 28, Jesus says he came to give up his life to free many people.  In what ways does Jesus’s act of giving up his life free us?

In what ways can we help free others by being a servant to them?

Take a step back and consider this:

Women have faced a long history of being stereotyped and confined to subservient roles.  This can complicate their effort to respond to Jesus’s call to service.  Is Jesus calling them to be a “doormat”?  No.  Does Jesus support discrimination and inequality?  No.  Women have a right to speak up for themselves when they do not receive respect and to seek equal treatment.  They can do that and still respond to Jesus’s call to be a servant.

Throughout history, men have been primed to think of themselves as leaders and to seek positions where they can direct others.  They may sometimes unconsciously assume that women will take greater responsibility for the service work – food preparation, childcare, etc.  When they hear the word “service,” they may tend to think mainly of ways they might “serve” others by being leaders in the positions at the top.  But sometimes, we are called to servant “helpership,” not servant leadership.  The challenge for many men is to get past the historical and cultural assumptions that expect them to serve at the top, so that they can also embrace opportunities to serve others from below, in the supporting roles that help others thrive and lead.

How can we transcend cultural stereotypes and assumptions, and embrace the heart of a servant who is willing to be “last” in the eyes of the world, imitating Jesus’s self-giving service?

How might God like to see you respond to this call to service today?