Service

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

SERVICE

Matt 20:17-28

17 Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 18 "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"  20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 "What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." 22 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" "We can," they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."  24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." 

NIV

There is a whole lot of truths contained within this narrative, but the whole of it has to be kept together as it happens all at the same time. As Jesus is foretelling the events that are going to happen to him within the next few days the mother of James and John comes and kneels down before him. We are told she asked him a favor. Because of the response of Jesus we have to conclude she simply asked if she could ask him a favor. His response is classic Jesus, “What is it you want?” before we delve into her request and how he dealt with it, we should first ponder on his words. From many of the past interactions with people we can conclude that Jesus, being divine, knows the heart of people before they verbalize. We see this with his conversation with Nicodemus as one example. So he most likely knew what she was going to ask him, but he wanted her to verbalize her request so that others around would hear it and then his response. How does this apply to our lives? First we need to know that Jesus is still asking us, “What is it you want?” This is his heart. We have already heard him tell us that he will give us whatever we ask.

John 14:12-14

12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name , so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name , and I will do it.

NIV

He still will do this for each of us, but we must ask, we must verbalize our request. Now here comes a rub, perhaps. So often we ask our requests in our private prayer closets so that no one else knows what we are asking for. If we do not get an answer or not get our request, no one knows and our faith is not in question. But if we make our request in the presence of others, then everyone would know if we get the answer of not. But at the same time he tells us that if two us agree,

Matt 18:19-20

19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." 

NIV

It may not have been that anyone else was agreeing with the mother of the sons of Zebedee. If fact they were even put out a bit of her request that her two sons could sit in his right and left. Yet the point here is that as we have faith in Christ, we might well ask him for our needs in the presence of at least one who would agree with us. Now as far as her request, it was not according to the will of the Father. We know everything needs to be according to the will of the Father. The whole of this truth he speaks is based on the sovereignty of God. He tells he that decision is not his to make, it is the Fathers. Although they will indeed be crucified as he was, drinking the same cup, the position in the kingdom of God is only up to the Father. This too is the central theme of our walk with the Lord. It is not up to Jesus or us to as to where we are in the kingdom of God. Although she was thinking in the natural as many were, that he was going to overthrow the existing rulers and establish an earthly kingdom, he was speaking of the eternal kingdom of God. We too are not in a position to claim any particular position in the eternal kingdom of God. We cannot say that any amount of good deeds get us a better spot, or bigger crown, or more jewels in crown. We cannot claim any other position than being in his presence, in some place that Jesus has prepared for us. This also applies to our life here. We cannot make a case that we deserve any particular position in the body of Christ. It is up to the Father as to where we fit into his plan for our lives. The one thing we can be sure of is that no matter what position in the body that we fit into, we are still to serve each other. We still are to live a life of service.