What Do You Want

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WHAT DO YOU WANT

 

Matt 20:20-23

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." 

NIV

It is interesting that when Jesus took the twelve aside somehow, and we cannot be sure how long the time is between Jesus telling the twelve what he did, here comes the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asking Jesus a favor, which has relevance to what he told his twelve. James and John had to have said something to their mother about what Jesus said and that she must have been under the impression that he was going to set up some earthly kingdom. We cannot be sure if she was thinking about a heavenly kingdom and what would happen after all of them died and went to be with the Lord in Heaven. It would seem more plausible that she was thinking about an earthly kingdom. But the point remains the same. First, when she came kneeling before Jesus, he asked, “What do you want”. Isn’t that just like Jesus, always willing to listen to the request of his people? Still, the question remains as to who will get to sit on the right and left of Jesus in his kingdom. It is also interesting that Jesus is not referring to any two people, but as we will see later in this gospel, Jesus explains fully how when he comes into his glory, the king will sit on his throne and those on his right, the sheep, will be given their reward, eternal life, and those on the left, the goats, will go to eternal punishment. All this has been prepared to happen by the Father even before the foundation of the earth. This is what Jesus meant by those for whom they have been prepared by my Father. It is not that the Father has handpicked two people to sit on the right and left of Jesus. There are one or possibly two truths here. First, both James and John would experience at some time the same that Jesus is going to. They would be persecuted and killed for their faith. Second, they would experience new life, being raised by back life after death. They would most likely experience both. This too we will experience, but maybe not the persecution or being killed, but we will die, and we will be raised to life, and we will be on the right side of Jesus. This is not because of anything we can do, other than accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior by faith. For no one can drink the cup that Jesus did, for he and he alone could be the one and only sacrifice for the sins of the world. There could be one more meaning about drinking from his cup, and that is in our time of communion. We do indeed drink from his cup, we drink the cup that represents his blood that was shed for our sin. However we look at all this, it still gives us hope and at the same time assurance as to what is to come. However, in the meantime, Jesus is still asking, “What do you want”?