169 - Momma Zebedee

You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?

Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.

Welcome to More Than Ink. You know, everywhere Jesus went, people were asking him for something. And it was always something specific, like when a blind man asked for something, he's asking For his sight. Right. But today a woman is going to ask for something and Jesus' response is, You don't know what you're asking for.

What is she asking for? And we'll find out today on More Than Ink. More Than Ink. Exactly. That's us. This is Jim. And I'm Dorothy. I forgot who I was for a second. You just look like you weren't sure about that.

Sometimes these things happen when you get old. Well, we're glad you're joining us. We're walking our way through the Gospel of Matthew and we're coming, we're right up to the cusp of starting into the Passion Week. We're on our way into Jerusalem. But where we are is we're down in Jericho, which is about a 20-mile walk away from, and Jesus and a whole bunch of people are going into Jerusalem and leaving Jericho right now. And they're headed up for Passover week, which is coming up in just a couple days here on the calendar. But where we are in chapter 20 is we're leaving Jericho and we're moving our way up to Jerusalem.

And things are popping. And everybody, everybody is thinking about the coming of the kingdom of God because they know that Jesus is the Messiah and they know he's the Son of God. And here he is marching out in front of the crowd, booming into Jerusalem. And everyone is sure that when he gets there, sparks are going to fly and the Messiah is going to go on the throne and things are just going to be different than they've ever, ever been before. The kingdom of God is on everyone's mind and it's coming soon.

Okay. But if you remember that Jesus had just told this parable about the laborers in the vineyard and their wages being, in their view, not fair, but the economy in the kingdom is more dependent on the heart of the king than it is on the neighbors of the workers. So we don't want to review that whole parable.

But then he circled back and reminded them. But it's about who's getting in the kingdom. That's what they're thinking. It's about who's coming into the kingdom and how things work in the kingdom. But then he reminded them that they're going up to Jerusalem not to reign, but that the Son of Man is going to be killed and will rise from the dead.

Things are not going to go swimmingly. But it's going over their heads. They're just not making sense of it. And that's real evident when we open today's passage that they just, it just hadn't sunk in when he had just said. Luke's gospel last time said that they just didn't grasp what was said.

They just didn't get it. So they're still thinking about here comes the kingdom, here comes the kingdom. And so we open today in chapter 20 of Matthew's gospel, verse 20. And as they're walking on the road, headed into this great place, a wonderful interchange happens.

Well, okay. So it opens with the mother of the sons of Zebedee, right? So James and John's mother. But the fact that she's there at all tells us that their family groups were in this big procession.

It wasn't right. But it wasn't just Jesus and the 12. These are whole families.

So very likely there were mothers and children and fathers of the rest of them too. But James and John's mother takes particular advantage of the opportunity. Well you know, and I might mention too that she is not a small player in the narratives. In fact, when you look at the foot of the cross when Jesus dies on the crucifixion, she's there. She's there. I remember this and looked it up in Matthew 27, you know, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee was there standing right alongside Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph. I mean, she's right there. And her two sons were in that inner circle, Peter, James and John.

So she was well known to Jesus. So let's see what happens. Verse 20. Take it.

All right. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, well with her sons they were there. And kneeling before him, she asked him for something. And he said to her, what do you want? And she said to him, say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom.

Jesus answered, you do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? They said to him, we are able.

He said to them, you will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it's for whom it has been prepared by my Father. Let's stop there. Yeah.

Let's stop there. So this sitting on the right and left hand, these are positions of prestige, positions of power. Power, influence. Yeah, influence, honor, stuff like that. Recognition. Yeah, exactly. And so this is a really big deal. However, this isn't really out of character for what's been talked about. Because if you just go back to the end of Matthew 19, when Jesus is talking about you've left everything behind, and then he finishes in verse 28 by saying, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. So there's a lot of thrones up here. So it's possible that she's angling for the best two.

Can I get the best two? For her voice. Yeah, exactly.

So it's not above reason here. So she's making a pitch for the two of them. You wonder if they knew that's what she was going to ask. I wonder if they were embarrassed is what I wonder. Maybe. You know, are they standing on the side going, Mom?

They wouldn't be the first Jewish sons to be embarrassed by their mother. That's for sure. Mom, stop it. No.

Yeah, mothers are ambitious for their son. Yeah. So she's stepping in for on their behalf. Now, Jesus response in 22 really is pretty interesting. You know, you don't know what you're asking.

You just don't know what you're asking. Now, did he say that to her or did he say that to the brothers? He said it to the brothers. Yeah.

Because in a second here, they are going to respond. Right. And he says, are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?

And he says, we are able. So it's the two guys. So this is, and in fact, when you look at the other parallel account of Mark, she doesn't show up at all. It's just James and John. So it's a conversation with Mom and the two boys and Jesus. That's what's going on. Well, and you know, if she's been traveling with them on the road, she's heard the bickering.

She's heard the positioning. Right. So this is the conversation about who's the greatest. Yeah. Yeah. So this is, you know, but you don't know what you're asking.

You just don't know what you're asking. And then he says in a very practical way, so are you able to drink the cup that I'm to drink? Now that's a, that's a figure of speech that we don't use much here, but when you say drink the cup, it's a, it's like receiving a portion from somebody.

You take a cup and they pour in it what is expected just for you. It's the assignment for you. Just for you. This is my portion.

This is just for me. So when he says that, he's saying in larger language, are you able to do what really is just intended for me? I mean, what's coming up?

And he told us just in the last breath, last time we met, you know, about what's going to happen to him and the humiliation and the mocking and the scorn and the death and all that kind of stuff. He's really referencing that. That's what's put there for them. Are you really able to drink that cup that I'm going to drink? And in the other passage as well, in Marx, it talks about not just the cup, but can you be baptized? Can you be immersed into what I'm going to be immersed into? I mean, you're saying you're up for that? You're up for that?

So you're going to sit on my right and left? And of course, their answer here, totally ignorant about what's going on is, hmm, we're able. We're able.

We're with you, Lord. But they all were saying that right up until the blow in the garden fell and they all ran. That's exactly right. But this imagery of the cup is interesting to me. And so as a good Bible student, when I run across something that's clearly an image of something, I run hastening for my concordance to see where else it shows up and what can be learned there. So I would encourage you listeners, I'm not going to tell you, go take your concordance and look up cup. Look both in the New Testament and the Old Testament, because if you just begin to read those passages, some things will become clear about what Jesus is saying to them, because the cup is often associated with salvation, right?

You get the cup to celebrate, but it also is associated with the wrath of God, with the judgment of God. So you go and look that up and read those passages and it will round out this picture for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It has a... Yeah. I won't say much more than that. But it does, I recall that he uses this figure of speech in the garden.

He does. When he's praying and we're going to get there in a few chapters, but he says, Father, if this cup can pass from me. But it's a general figure of speech for what is intended for you.

What's meant for you. Which is interesting also, if you think about when he takes the cup at the Last Supper and says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you. Drink it.

So he gives them that portion intended for them, representing his blood poured out. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a beautiful picture. There's an awful lot in it. So take some time to look into it and kind of camp in it a little bit.

Yeah. It's a great figure of speech. It's a great figure of speech. Well, so he says, basically, if you want to sit on my right and my left, you have to be able to take the same cup I'm going to take, or be immersed in the same thing I'm immersed in. And then surprisingly, after they say, we are able, he says, well, you will drink my cup.

And he says, my cup here. And then we're talking about the persecution he already told them about. And sure enough, as you look forward in history, all the apostles except one die martyr death. So they really do. Well, and James was the first one of them. Right. Right. Right.

And this mother right here is aiming for James and John to be on left and right. And James is the first one to be martyred. Yeah.

Herod kills him. Interesting, though. John was not martyred, but he had a very long life, but he was imprisoned. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, as two brothers, James is the first to be martyred and John is the only one that's not.

It's kind of interesting. But he does say, yeah, you will drink the cup. He doesn't make a statement about whether they're able, but they are going to go through it. And they are able. They do go through it. But only by the power of God and the Holy Spirit are they able to really endure through it.

Well, they will have their assigned portion. You know the New Testament is full of references to sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Yeah. Right. Right.

That is an expectation of those who would be heirs with Christ, especially in Romans 8, that we would share in his sufferings. Yeah. And Jesus himself said, if they treat the master one way, then you know.

Right. They'll treat you like they treated me. They'll treat you the same. I mean, don't be surprised when this happens.

If they hated me, they'll hate you. Yeah. And so he wanted to talk about this right-hand and left-hand thing, and he says, you know, that's not mine to grant, which is an interesting, it's an interesting comment. Which implies that it's going to be granted.

It is granted. Yeah. Yeah. But it's for those for whom it's been prepared by my Father.

So you know, everyone already knows who's going to be on the right and left. Well, God knows anyway. He's prepared. Yeah.

God does. Yeah. So that's all set.

That's all set. But it's an interesting thing because for Jesus, since Jesus deliberately lowered himself, you know, from heaven and became a man, it's an interesting kind of submission still saying, you know, that's already figured out. So no.

Well, and functioning as a human, he did not always take advantage of all the knowledge that was available to him. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the other guys hear about it, and they hear what's going on, and I think they might have misinterpreted when Jesus says, yeah, you will drink my cup. It's like, oh, wait a second, did they get an edge on us?

What's going on here? Well, I don't know. Well, what were they mad about? It says in verse 24, when the 10 heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers, right? They were really ticked. What would they have been mad about? I kind of wonder if they were mad they didn't think of it first.

They didn't think of it first. Yeah. Because like I said, they have been always jostling each other for position. Who's the greatest? I'm the greatest.

Who's the greatest? Yeah. And this takes me back to the parable he told last time about the workers in the field too, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Let me hear it from there. Go ahead and pick it up.

So 25. But Jesus, you know, when he sees his indignities, Jesus calls them to him and said, you know, the rulers of the Gentiles, they Lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So they're angling for positions of prestige and power and he basically says, hey, you want prestige in fact? You want to go up?

You got to go down. It's about service. It's not about lording. And so it's interesting because when you see this right and left hand man kind of idea, they're thinking they'll have some kind of authority prestige that they'll have authority over people, which is what normally kings do. But he's saying, no, it's not going to be that way. There's another way that the kingdom of God is upside down from what we expected. He said previously, there are going to be 12 thrones and you are going to be judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

But you know what? We're not going to do this the way the Gentiles do this. The rulers of the Gentile, they Lord it over them and that Lord word means boss. They boss over them. They exert power and authority over them. They tell them what they can do. They tell them what they cannot do and they force their lives based on what they say.

And the great ones, that is the big toots out there, they exercise authority. But it shall not be that way with you. When you guys go out and you're exercising in the kingdom of God and when you're visiting places you're going to go, you are not going to be lording it over people. You're not going to be going around telling people what to do or what not to do because, hey, I'm one of the 12.

That's not going to work. This is very helpful to us, even pulling it forward all the way into this century. Yeah, I think so too. Because how many times have we seen in the last few years that lording it over, seizing control and the pursuit of power and authority over those in your congregation has been like a cancer on the leadership of the church. And because people feel like their position gives them permission to exercise that authority and Jesus says no. And to control others by outbursts of anger and pursuit of making them submit.

We heard this story again and again and again and so we can really pull this forward and say Jesus says no. This is an earmark for us, I think, to watch for and we see it in almost every false religion. You see those who are in leadership seizing authority and exerting a measure of control over their followers.

This is a good measuring stick, I think, about people who are exercising authority incorrectly. And Jesus said those who really understand the heart of the king and live within his kingdom will not come to be served but to serve and to give their lives, not for the salvation of the world, but give their lives to serve the world. And here he is in this earthly ministry right now at this very point saying, and I'm your best example of that. I had the position in heaven to come down here and tell everybody what to do and I didn't do it.

I didn't do it. I didn't come down here and boss people around. I came to serve. And really it's not until after the resurrection that he says all authority in heaven has been given to me.

Than all authority, right, yeah. So if anyone deserved coming down and being bossy, it should be Jesus. And he says no, look at me, I served.

And very soon in just a couple days in the narrative, you're going to have Jesus washing their feet. So this last image of the servant, the servant king. He is the king of kings. He is the Lord of Lords.

He is the promised Messiah from the Old Testament. But he comes to serve. And so he says if you're my disciples, that's what you need to do. So quit angling for power and prestige and authority and rulership and bossiness. Aim to go low if you want to be big in the kingdom of God.

Go low. You have to serve. This is so helpful. Yeah. Really such a big deal. That's a big deal. And then he closes out that whole passage, you know, making a slight reference to Isaiah 53. You know, about. The servant.

Yeah. The suffering servant. Gave his life as a ransom for many. You know, Isaiah 53, I looked at it just to get it exactly right. You know, by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities.

And that's exactly what he's saying here. If you want to talk about going low and serving, I'm going so far as to die. That's my service. To give my life. And I'm sure these words rang in their ears as they came to the end of their ministries individually and they faced martyrdom themselves.

And they said, oh, that's right. We have to give everything to the very end, even our lives, for the people who are going to benefit from what they hear from us about the kingdom and about the king. Wow. Well, should we push on? I think we need to. We're going to run out of time. And these guys are important. Let's pick it up in verse 29.

29. So as they went out of Jericho, so they've been kind of coming through Jericho, their last good water stop before they get up. That is what it is. It's like great last water stop. And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him and behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside. And when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David.

The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, Lord have mercy on us, son of David. And stopping. Oh, do you want to stop there? Shall we go? Yeah, let's stop there. Okay. I thought you might. Jesus stops there, so we'll stop there too. Yeah.

Yeah. So here's these guys begging by the side of the road. They're blind.

That's why they're begging. And yeah, in the Mark's account, it's just one guy. Here's two.

Well, Mark actually tells us his name and who he's related to, so that's why probably Mark just zeroes in on the one that the New Testament church would know. Yeah. Yeah. And when he mentions names like that, yeah, that's what we always wonder whether it's a church guru, whether they look around and say, pardon me, I said, wait, that's the guy across the street.

Your father. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of interesting. But yeah, as he's passing by, and I'm convinced that he actually goes past them. He's leading this crowd.

Yeah, that's possible. Because he has to stop, and they scream out a very particular title for Jesus, have mercy on us, son of David, which when you say son of David, you're saying the Messiah, the promised one. He's the prototype for what the Messiah King would look like, and they use that very same phrase.

He's the promised one from the Old Testament that David was the prototype for. He's the king. This is the king. So that is an actual, a verbalization of his messiahship. He is the sin one.

He is the king. Yep. Yep. Yep. And they anticipate the kingdom, and they're calling him the king. This is what they're doing.

You say, son of David, you're calling him the king. Isn't that interesting? Because they're blind, so they can't see the size of the crowd. They can hear it. Blind people hear things, right? Yeah, right.

And so they have heard, and they've been listening, and they've been hearing the crowd pass, but what are they asking for? Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us.

Yep. And when... We haven't read the rest of it, so I won't make that comment. I'll wait. But yeah, but it's enough as they scream out the son of David, the king title, that verse 32, he stops. And they've already recognized, blind as they are, they have recognized this is the king. This is the guy.

This is the son of David. Yeah, yeah. So stopping, Jesus called them and said, so what do you want me to do for you? I was thinking, what do you want me to do for you? Yeah, right.

Because everybody's asking to do something. So they said to him, well, Lord, let our eyes be opened. And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

They didn't just go, thanks, bud, and went home. They followed him. They followed in the great parade of the king coming in to the great city of Jerusalem. What do you think they wanted to see? Because wouldn't it have been enough to know that the king was coming? He was going up to Jerusalem, he was going to establish the kingdom and everything about their lives was going to change.

Yeah, yeah. What was it they wanted to see? I think they wanted to see that happen. The coronation? See the kingdom coming in. I think so too.

Yeah. With their own eyes. You know, Jesus healed people almost everywhere he went. If you take your concordance, this is my favorite tool, and look up blind, you'll find it running all the way through the ministry of Jesus. It's always mentioned, right? It's an unmistakable mark of the Messiah, of the sent one, that he would heal the blind because blindness could not be healed.

Yeah. Technically, it was like the top of the list of hard things to do for healings. And it was very, very common for people to be blind. So these guys, it doesn't say whether they were born blind, but it does say they recovered their sight. So perhaps the blindness came on them. It was not as quite as sensational as healing the man who was born blind in John 9, because nobody could figure that out.

Where they interrogated his parents. Was he really born blind? He was really born blind.

Right. And the assumption was, who sinned that this child was born blind, because people do go blind. But here, we have these guys, maybe they just became blind later in life. But they're asking, Lord, we know you are the king. Have mercy on us.

We want to see you. So why do you think Jesus had them stated explicitly, what do you want? That always has been kind of a fascinating thing to me. Well, he asked the same thing of the mother of James and John. Exactly. Yeah. So what do you got on your mind today? Yeah. Well, that's a good question.

Yeah. I don't think it's any more complicated than the fact that Jesus wants us just to verbalize exactly what our needs are. I mean, just say it straight up.

What do you want? And he does this to one of the lepers, basically, and the leper says, you can, but will you? And Jesus says, I will. So there we go. So yeah, here it's just an explicit thing. And I've always taken that to heart. When I think about praying for stuff, I say, God, I'm going to be very specific. This is what I need, and I'm placing that in your hands.

And there's also this assumption that you have it to give. Yeah. Right?

Yeah. What do you need? What is it you want? Lord, I want you to heal my eyes, not I want you to give me a free lunch. I want you to give me a new house. I want you to make my life secure.

I want to see you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and it's also a big ask. You know, it's a... I know I'm asking... Well, it's miraculous. Yeah. I know I'm asking something really big, but I know you can do it.

And for the people that he claims as having great faith early in his ministry, that's basically the same thing. I know that you can do this, so I'm asking you to do this, because I know you can. And so right here, we know you're the Son of David. We know you're the Messiah. We know you're the Promised One from all time.

We know you can do this, so do it. That's what we're asking. And Jesus, in compassion and pity, touches their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight. And then they just get up and follow everybody else. And then they follow him. They join the crowd. We're gonna see it.

We're gonna see it. Yeah. Yep. They join him in the crowd, and they've become followers of Jesus, not just takers of his benefits. They've become followers of Jesus. And they will presumably see something at the end of that week that their eyes never thought they would see.

Well, it's interesting to me that they already had seen the truth of who he was, and now they're just asking for their eyes to be healed. Yep. Yep. That just rings in my soul. Lord, what do I really want from you? I know who you are.

I know what you are able to do. Show me your mercy so I can see you do it. Well, and I think in large measure, too, Jesus knows where he's going at the end of this week, how it's gonna end. And I think for these two guys, too, in a sense of mercy, he wants them to see. He wants to have them see what love looks like when it dies for someone else. And they're gonna be able to see this, not just hear about it or hear the rumors about it. They're gonna see it. That's why I say they wanna see stuff, and they're seeing stuff they haven't seen for a long time. Maybe by the end of this week, they're gonna see something that maybe they didn't want to ever see. And they're gonna see this man who healed them.

If he can heal our eyes, what is going on that he allows them to crucify, be crucified? So they're gonna see something they didn't expect. Well, time is up. Next time, we're gonna turn the page into the next chapter of Matthew 21. And we're finally, finally gonna reach Jerusalem and everyone else is coming into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover week. I mean, it's gonna be beginning of the Passion Week that John spends half of his gospel talking about. It's gonna be, I mean, everyone's looking forward to it. It's gonna be the big day. So we want you to come back and join us as we take a look at the big day together in Matthew 21 here on More Than Ink. There are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website, morethanink.org. And while you're there, take a moment to drop us a note. Remember the Bible is God's love letter to you. Pick it up and read it for yourself and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink. That's pretty good. This has been a production of Main Street Church of Rhythm City.