20Then 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.
23Jesus 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."
Matthew 27
55Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.
My professor, Dr. Leuze, had this pointed out by a friend of his the other day.
In Scene one, we have the mother of James and John (the sons of Zeb) approach Jesus and ask for her sons to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus when His Kingdom comes. The ultimate stage mom, huh?
Jesus must have been frustrated due to her lack of understanding that his kingdom was about the opposite of exaltation--it is about humility.
Scene two brings the crucifixion. There are many women standing there watching Jesus die on the cross, including the mother of James and John. It made Doc's friend wonder if Matthew's Gospel isn't trying to point out something to us right here.
The picture in your mind of Golgotha is pretty accurate....Jesus in the middle, with two other men being crucified on his right and on his left. Makes me wonder if she finally understood why Jesus denied her appeal for her sons to be on his right and left when he came into His Kingdom just a few chapters before.
This is not the Kingdom the disciples expected...Not a political kingdom like the one they desired to set them free from the tyranny of Rome. It is a different kind of Kingdom.
She was offended by that.
Am I offended by the different kind of Kingdom I serve?
Are you?
And when you look at the Man of Sorrows, does it all come into perspective for you?
Talk about it.
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