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

 

 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 

 

 In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught a parable, in response to a question from Peter regarding the reward for discipleship:  "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'  So they went.  Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.  And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day?'  They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.'  He said to them, 'You also to into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.'  So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.'  And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius.  But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received a denarius.  And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, '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."   My study Bible comments that Christ's repeated prediction of His Passion was meant to encourage and strengthen the disciples for the terrifying events that they would face.  Theophan comments that it is as if Christ were saying, "Think on all these [words and miracles], so that when you see me hanging on the Cross, you will not imagine that I am suffering because I am powerless to do otherwise."  This is the third time He has taught the disciples that He will suffer, die, and rise again on the third day.  This is also the first time He has declared openly that "we are going up to Jerusalem."

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." This is yet again another request from among the disciples regarding being one of the great ones in Christ's Kingdom.  In last Thursday's reading, the disciples asked Him, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"  In Wednesday's reading this week, Peter asked, "See, we have left all and followed You.  Therefore what shall we have?"   Directly following Christ's third prophecy that He will suffer, die, and rise again, there is this request from James and John Zebedee.  Matthew reports that it is their mother who makes the request, but Christ answers with a plural you in the Greek text (in "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?"), which reveals the brothers' involvement, as in Mark 10:35.   It is as if in hearing Christ's repeated warnings about what is to come, all the disciples seem to grasp is that He will come into His kingdom, and they want to know their places in that kingdom.  My study Bible says that this quest for temporal power and glory is unfitting for a disciple, and that it shows an earthly misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God.  It also notes that Christ calls His Crucifixion a cup and His death a baptism.  The Cross is a cup because He drank it willingly (Hebrews 12:2).  His death is baptism, for He was completely immersed in it, yet it cleansed the world (Romans 6:3-6).  Christ's prophecy of James and John participating in this same cup and baptism is a prediction of the life of persecution and martyrdom they both would lead after Pentecost.  James would be the first apostle to be martyred (Acts 12:2), and John endured a long life of persecution, giving the Church one Gospel, three Epistles, and the Revelation.  My study Bible also says that Christ declaring that the places of honor in the Kingdom are not His to give doesn't mean that He lacks authority.  Instead, it means that these are not His to give arbitrarily.  They will be given by Him to those for whom God has prepared them.  In regard to those sitting as equals on the right and left hand of Christ in the Kingdom, St. John Chrysostom teaches that no one could possibly occupy such a position.  As to the highest places of honor that can be given to human beings, the icons of the Church universally depict the Virgin Mary (most blessed among women -- Luke 1:28) and John the Baptist (greatest born of women -- Matthew 11:11) holding those places.  As Jesus has just declared His intent to go to Jerusalem, it is easy to imagine the expectation of the disciples that there He will claim what they think will be a worldly kingdom.  The text in this way makes clear to us that at this stage, they simply cannot fathom the reality of what is to come.

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 makes it clear that His Kingdom will not be like the kingdoms of the world; and that to think only of places of greatness is out of place for His disciples -- especially in the context of the mysteries of His Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection that He's just revealed.  My study Bible points out that He corrects their thinking by comparing them to the power-hungry Gentiles, whom they themselves considered an abomination, and then contrasting them to Himself, who serves us even though He is Lord of all.  For many is an Aramaic expression which means "for all."

Jesus teaches us here about what it means to be great, what greatness is and does.  He makes Himself the example, that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.  It is an important lesson which builds on the things He has already taught them regarding how to use power within His Kingdom, and in His Church.   They must be humble and serve the littlest ones; acts of abuse of power, habits which lead to offenses against those in their charge must be decisively dealt with and cut away from their lives (see this reading).   The pursuit of and love of wealth for its own sake can be prohibitive to anyone desiring to be a part of His Kingdom (see this reading).  And the ultimate lesson is here, regarding service to all.  Everything leads back to the ultimate good, the ultimate truth, and the ultimate beauty and value -- and that is a life lived in service to God and God's kingdom lived through our own lives in this world.  Jesus will go to the Cross for our salvation, but it is ultimately up to us to accept and value the gift of His Kingdom, and to choose also to participate in His life as He has offered it to us.  This is not a question of sacrifice or even service for its own sake or as some sort of pious virtue we can hold up in front of others.  Jesus will have His own choice words for the hypocrites who supposedly served God and were the custodians for the people and their spiritual heritage of His time -- which serves as another warning to we who call ourselves His followers about how we live our faith and how nominal custodians and guardians of that faith conduct themselves and use that power to do so.  Jesus' service is not sentimentality nor pity; but it is a gift to the world that conquers death and evil through its sacrifice, that plants the seeds of love, and ultimately seeks to secure God's will "on earth as it is in heaven."  That is, to bring the real values of goodness, truth, and beauty into this world and to secure them as posterity for all by living them in our lives, and to teach others to do so.  This is the only real way to serve the "little ones," and it requires humility to do so, for no matter how much we know, regardless of what wisdom we might possess or authority we might merit in our lives, there will always be the One to whom we humble ourselves, more to learn, and more to examine in our own hearts in Christ's light.  There is always more to real love than what we think we know and understand, for God is always beyond us and Christ always calls us forward.  This requires self-emptying, the willingness to learn more, to change, to be corrected, and in so doing to serve all.  Christ's teaching here is for us to escape the confines of the prison of a type of self-centeredness that has us focus on our image in the eyes of others and instead to focus on the image that God gives us of ourselves.  Ultimately, to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and neighbor as ourselves, becomes a focus on living the fullness of such a relationship, securing God's kingdom in this world through that living relationship that teaches us what love is, where our real boundaries must be, and not to look away from what is evil but to seek God's will for how to deal with it.  This is how we serve all, and Christ will give the fullest example we have, His once-and-for-all sacrifice for all, in which we may participate in our own lives.  Let us consider the truth of Christ's teaching, the power of removing the mask the world might seek for our image of "greatness," and serving by instead asking God to bring us to the fullness of what our "greatness "might really look like.  For this is what He did, even to the point of His death on the Cross, so that He might point the way to what is truly worth serving.