Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many

Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again."

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom." But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able." So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

- Matthew 20:17-28

Over the course of the past several readings, Jesus has been in Judea, and has come out of Galilee where He spent so much time in His ministry. We've received many teachings of late in Matthew's Gospel on community and relatedness: on wider community relations, on care of the "little ones," on discipline and mutual correction in the Church, on forgiveness, and on marriage. Jesus has taught a wealthy young man what he needed for eternal life, and on attachment to riches, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught a parable about the nature of work for the kingdom, following up on His statement to the disciples that "many who are first will be last, and the last first." He taught a parable about a vineyard owner, who early in the morning hired workers at an agreement to pay a denarius a day. He went later and saw others standing around and hired them. Still later, at the sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours he saw other standing around and asked why they were not working, and hired them. When the evening came, he told his steward: "Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first." But the ones who worked earliest complained that all got the same wage. They said, "These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day." But he answered one of them and said, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?' So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."

Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again." This is the third strong warning Jesus gives His disciples about what is to come. He is very blunt, even terse, but gives a full description of what is to happen to Him at Jerusalem. The news begins to sink in for His disciples - but from the following verses we can still assume they think the full manifestation of this Kingdom is imminent.

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom." The mother of John and James Zebedee (also known as the "Sons of Thunder") comes to Jesus with a request. Clearly, status and rank in the Kingdom is still in the minds of Jesus' followers; John and James Zebedee are among those of Jesus' closest inner circle. Their mother, Salome, is also close enough to Jesus to approach Him to make this request. We note Jesus' typical response; it has varied but in essence remains the same: "What do you want me to do for you?" or in this case, "What do you wish?" The crux of the matter here in Matthew's Gospel focuses us in once more on the topic that has been at hand: relationship within the Kingdom. The disciples are still focused on rank and status and hierarchy, despite Jesus' many talks so far on relationship, humility and service. This teaches us as much about our own human nature as it does about the disciples.

But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able." Here we have a lesson about life in the Kingdom. Is it to be filled with whatever our hearts desire, whatever our minds set themselves upon? Jesus first brings up the subject of membership in this kingdom and how it is linked to service. My study bible points out that He calls His Crucifixion a cup and His death a baptism. It says, "The Cross is a cup because He drank it willingly. His death is a baptism, for He was completely immersed in it, and by it He cleansed the world." The answer in the plural by the brothers James and John tells us that it is not just Salome, their mother, who is asking.

So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." My study bible points out that this doesn't mean Jesus has no authority to give what they ask, but that it is not His decision alone. I'm intrigued by His answer, that they will indeed drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism. I wonder how they can possibly understand His words at that time. In Acts of the Apostles we are told that Herod had James killed with the sword; in effect James will be the first of the Twelve Apostles to be martyred. John will go on to write a Gospel and Epistles, to care for Jesus' mother, and to be exiled on the island of Patmos where he will write Revelation - the vision given to him amidst terrible persecution of the Church. In effect, the great inheritance we have from these two brothers and their service is quite simply incalculable.

And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Jesus gives an illustration from outsiders, "the rulers of the Gentiles" and the power they wield, and how they wield that power, and He says that it shall not be so among them. Their lives are not for the purpose of "lording it over" others. This is a kind of power over others, an authority that dominates, manipulates, controls those under themselves. In a great culminating reference to Himself as the paradigm and prime example of what it is to have authority in His Church, in a sense summing up the teachings on relatedness we've recently encountered in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus offers Himself to them as the image of greatness in His community. He will give up His life as a ransom for many. We contrast this with what it means, instead, to "lord it over" others in a sense of worldly power.

So, what is it to be held in God's embrace? In a future reading, Jesus will sum up all of the commandments of God into two: First, that we love God, and second, that we love one another. In effect, the message is that God loves us, and wants us to love one another. In this choice, this paradigm, this understanding, comes Jesus' teaching for today. What is it really to be a servant of all? Is it not to do good, to do God's will for all? I think quite often, we are very much like Salome, the mother of John and James here in this story. We take our own limited perspectives of what is great and good, and apply them to God. This is perhaps quite natural! But the understanding here is that we seek to enter into God's kingdom, where different rules apply than the worldly ones that we know. Power, rank, hierarchy, even what is good indeed, is the substance of a new identity, a new understanding, an essence that is steeped primarily in love -- and we clearly always have a lot to learn about this love and how it works. It is in this power and this energy that we grow as members in this Kingdom. And it is in this growth we participate, God shares His grace with us, so that we may truly learn what is good. That is, what is good for us and good for others. Every wish may not be granted. But God's plan for us includes real greatness, the best inheritance in all the earth, and all the good things that are truly good for us. Let us remember today that we live in a world that deeply needs all the real greatness, and the heroic efforts of those who will truly follow in His grace. Like John and James, first martyrs and apostles who also drank this cup and were baptized with His baptism, who have given us so much and upon whose shoulders we stand. How does He call you? How is greatness redefined in your faith for you?