Matthew 20:17-34
As we continue on in
Matthew 20, we are very near the end of Jesus’ life. Matthew’s narrative will slow down
drastically over the next several chapters as we get closer to Jesus’ death. Matthew devoted the first 20 chapters to
Jesus’ first 33 years, but it will take him the last 8 chapters to cover the
final week. (Of course, we know that
Matthew did not actually write in chapter and verse. Those were added around the middle of the 16th
century.) Matthew devotes over one
quarter of his gospel to the final week of Jesus’s life to show the importance
of it. In Matthew 19:1, Jesus left
Galilee, crossed to the East side of the Jordan River, and was ministering in
the area of Perea. Perea was an area
just north of the Dead Sea but on the Eastern side of the Jordan River, the
side opposite of Jerusalem. When we pick
up in 20:17, Jesus is leaving Perea and headed for Jerusalem.
Now
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said
to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be
delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will
condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and
flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" –
Matthew 20:17-19
Why does it say that Jesus
was going “up to Jerusalem?” We see this
expression frequently in the Bible. From
where He was by the Jordan River, it was topographically up. The Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and the
Dead Sea all lie in a valley that runs along the eastern side of Israel. All 3 are below sea level. The Dead Sea is 1,361’ (416m) below sea
level. Jerusalem is 2,474’ (754m) above
sea level – a difference of 3,835’ (1,170m) over about 20 miles (32.2km). The distance from the Jordan River to Jericho
is about 5 miles with a 500’ (152m) elevation change, so the majority of the
climb is after Jericho. To put this in a
way that most of us can understand, if you leave downtown Clemson and drive to
downtown Anderson using Hwy 76, you will have gone about 18.5 miles, but you
would also be climbing up an almost 4000’ elevation change the whole way. So from where Jesus was near the Jordan River
to Jerusalem was literally, up.
The expression “up to
Jerusalem” was also used when the speaker was in other areas of Israel. While Jerusalem is situated on two mountains,
there are other higher mountains in the area.
To the Jews, if you were going to Jerusalem, you were going to where God
was. His presence was in the
Temple. So you were going “up” in that
regard as well.
Back to our passage, this
is the first time that Jesus is very specific about what is going to
happen. On top of just saying He will be
killed and rise on the third day, He adds that He will be mocked, flogged, and crucified. A man sentenced to crucifixion was always flogged
with a Roman whip before he was crucified in an attempt to speed death. Many victims actually died from the flogging
before they even made it to the cross. Once
on the cross, it could take up to 3 days for a victim to die that very slow,
painful, and embarrassing death. Crucifixion
was a very common occurrence in first century Israel, so the 12 knew precisely
what Jesus would be referring to. Because
of Deuteronomy 21:23 the Jews thought anyone who was crucified or hung from a
wooden pole was cursed by God. But that
was exactly the point! Jesus was cursed
by God. He took the full wrath of God
for our sins so that we might have forgiveness of sin!
But sadly, like the other
times that He foretold of His death and subsequent resurrection, they missed
it. They did not even want to think
about it. It was so foreign to their understanding that they did not want to
entertain the thought. Do not we do this
sometimes? Someone makes a point from a
Biblical text, and it is so foreign that we just write it off. We do not ask questions; we do not research
it. I have started digging into those
things a little more lately, and I have found that I was wrong on some things
that I had just written off previously.
Just because we do not understand it, or it does not align with our
thinking does not mean that we should blow it off and ignore it.
So this time, Jesus is
again clear about what will happen. He
tells them that this will all happen when they get to Jerusalem. But, like I said, they brush it off. Instead, they’re arguing again. Sometimes we think of the 12 as this cohesive
group of men, maybe with Judas on the outskirts, but they had their
quarrels. Guess what they’re arguing
about? Who is going to be the greatest
in the kingdom? They had been arguing
about this for a while. They did it
earlier in Matthew 18. This gets
overshadowed by the passage about correcting a brother, and so we often miss
it.
At
that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among
them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore,
whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. –
Matthew 18:1-5
And the parallel passage in Mark 9:
They
came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you
arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they
had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve
and said, "If anyone wants to be first must be the very last, and the
servant of all." He took a little child and had him stand among them.
Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these
little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not
welcome me but the one who sent me." – Mark 9:33-37
Like siblings who have
been arguing when a parent asks what the argument is about, they get quiet and do
not answer. Usually, the parent knows
what the argument was about. Jesus
certainly knew. But He wanted them to
tell Him. When they did not answer, He
gave them an object lesson. Why a child? Little children are solely dependent on their
parents and are bound to do what their parents command of them. We should be utterly dependent on God and
seeking to do His will, just like Jesus did as our example.
Sadly, these weren’t the
last times the 12 would have this discussion.
In Luke 22:24-30, they argued about it again at the last supper. But in this passage in Matthew it was a
little different. James and John decided
to up the ante a little. They played all
their cards.
Then
the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down,
asked a favor of him. "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." "You do not know what you are
asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to
drink?" "We can," they answered. 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." When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two
brothers. 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. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- 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." – Matthew 20:19-28
Jesus had nicknamed these
two “the Sons of Thunder.” We aren’t told exactly why Jesus gave them this
name, but Luke 9 might have a good reason.
At one point in Jesus’ ministry, He was headed to Jerusalem but went
through Samaria instead of around the Jordan River. As they were approaching a Samaritan town, He
sent men ahead to find lodging for the night, but the Samaritans refused Him
because He was going to Jerusalem. So in
Luke 9:54, James and John asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down
from heaven to destroy them?"
But Jesus might have other
reasons to have a special name for these two.
I believe that they may have been Jesus’ first cousins. If you compare the accounts of the crucifixion
in Matthew, Mark, and John, you will see that there are several women who did
not leave Jesus as He hung there.
Matthew 27:56, Mark 15:40 and John 19:25 combined tell us who these
women were. One was Mary the mother of
Jesus; another was Mary Magdalene, and a third is described differently in the
3 accounts. Matthew says she was the
mothers of the sons of Zebedee, or James and John. Mark just says her name was Salome. John only identifies her as the sister of
Mary.
James and John decided
they were going to settle the argument of who was greatest once and for
all. And they thought they had an ace up
their sleeves. They called in their mommy dearest who may have been Jesus’
aunt.
Matthew does not say this,
but in the parallel passage in Mark, we are told that they came to Jesus and –
just like an immature child – they wanted a blanket approval before they ever even
asked the question. It was almost like
they knew the answer before they even asked, so they were trying to get the
answer they wanted without asking. But
Jesus wisely makes them ask before He approves.
In this discussion about
who will be greatest, we see Man’s ideology contrasted with that of God’s. Man uses self-promotion while God uses a
system of self-denial. Self-denial does
not work in Man’s kingdom, and self-promotion won’t work in God’s kingdom. Let’s look at 3 areas of man’s system as
evidenced in James and John (as adapted from John MacArthur).
First, we see their
selfish ambition. Selfish Ambition. They
wanted to be first. They wanted to sit
on either side of Jesus when He set up His kingdom. To sit to the right and the left was a symbol
of power. You were next to the king and
only the king was over you. They were
part of the inner circle and they may have been family. So they play all their cards and try to get
the answer they want without any thought for others.
Secondly, they were
arrogantly overconfident. Arrogant
Overconfidence. The “cup” was an idiom
for judgement. Passages like Psalm 75:8
and Jeremiah 25:8-25 display this. To
drink the cup was a euphemism meaning “to take it all in” or “to immerse
oneself into.” We still use it
today. We talk about going somewhere and
“drinking it all in” or “soaking it all up.”
They had no idea what Jesus was about to go through. He’s been trying to tell them, but they are
clueless. So when He asked if they could
drink that cup and be baptized with Him, they said “We can.” In the end, they did. It cost James his head. He was the first of the 12 to be killed for
his faith. John was the last. He was exiled to the isle of Patmos where he
died in isolation.
Finally, we see ugly
competitiveness. Ugly
Competitiveness. They were climbing over
others to get to the top. As soon as the
other 10 heard about it, they were indignant.
Not that James and John asked, but that they asked first. They all wanted to be first. Jesus told them that it wasn’t His to give. In His ever submissive spirit, He tells them
that the Father has prepared it for someone already.
In Jesus answer to them
all, he described how Man tries to be great.
They NIV says they “lord it over them,” but the NASB says they “exercise
authority”. Jesus says this isn’t so
among His disciples. We are to be
servants and slaves. Servants are always
doing for others and looking for an opportunity to serve. Servants were paid for their labors. Slaves have an obligation to serve. They are owned by the master and get nothing
out of it for themselves.
I wish I had time to
unpack verse 28. I could spend weeks on
that verse alone. He came to serve
others and to give His life a ransom. He
did not pay Satan for our souls. God does
not owe Satan anything. Instead, He paid
God the debt we owe to God the Father.
But I want to look at it from the perspective of the Apostle Paul in
Philippians 2. Paul, in this iconic text,
gives us insight to the very mind of Jesus.
Starting in Philippians 2:3:
Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider
others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own
interests, but also to the interests of the others. You attitude should be the
same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped; but made himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient to death--even
death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him
the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:3-11
If anyone had a right to
anything, it was Jesus – God Himself.
But, He gave up everything, took the form a servant, and became obedient
to death. He humbled Himself. He gave up the glory that was rightfully His,
and in the words of the writer of Hebrews, made Himself a little lower than the
angels for a time, endured the life of a man, being tested in all areas like we
are. He stood firm, submissive to the
Father, served others, and paid our ransom.
And for this very reason, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a
name that is above every name.
But we are finite humans
and yet we are so proud. Pride is the
foundation of all other sins. We want
what makes us comfortable, or satisfied, or happy. We want what we want when we want it. In Proverbs 8:13 God says He hates
pride. In Proverbs 16:5, we are told
that a proud heart is an abomination. Again,
Proverbs 21:4 a proud heart is sinful.
There are passages all throughout scripture where God clearly defies the
proud and arrogant, but then in other passages He exalts and gives grace to the
humble. If we truly want to be great, we
must be the least.
Moving on, let’s contrast
this next passage with the one we just looked at. For a while, I had a hard time connecting
these two. I was blind and could not see
the connection. Let’s dig in, and you’ll
see what I mean. Verse 29 of Matthew 20:
As
Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two
blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was
going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The
crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder,
"Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" Jesus stopped and called
them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. "Lord,"
they answered, "we want our sight." Jesus had compassion on them and
touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. –
Matthew 20:29-34
One quick point to make
before we dig into this section – if you look at the parallel passages in Mark
10 and Luke 18, there appears to be a discrepancy about whether Jesus was
coming or going. Remember that Matthew
was an eyewitness. Mark seems to have
gotten his information directly from Peter.
Luke would have interviewed a number of witnesses in order to write his
gospel, so he may be a little off on whether Jesus was coming or going. Regardless, this happened just outside
Jericho. As the lowest of the low in
society, a blind man would have sat outside the city on the main thoroughfare
asking for money. Remember the question
that the disciples asked Jesus in John 9.
To the Jews, physical ailment, especially blindness, was a curse for
sin. It was equated to judgement from
God. But Jesus sets them straight. The disciples had asked in that case if the
man had sinned or his parents. Those
were the only two possibilities in their minds.
But Jesus said neither had. He
was born blind so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. These
men would have been considered to be outcasts.
They were under judgement from God and not worthy of Jesus attention.
I am going to be honest
with you all about something. I hate
that I am partially color blind. I hate
it so much that I do not even want to try those glasses that help color blind
people to see correctly. I do not want
to know how badly I am color blind. It bothers
me to have my 3 year old ask me why I put the wrong color lid on Nathan and
Allison’s sippy cups. So now, I just ask
her which lid goes on which cup so she won’t tell me I did it wrong. I have to go by the design on the cup to tell
whose is whose. I hate that I do not see
sunrises and sunsets like everyone else. The pretty ones to me apparently are the ones
that have a lot of contrast. I have to
sit idly by while everyone else oo’s and ah’s over the pretty colors. I hate that after 30 years of enjoying all
things dairy, I now am now lactose free.
But, I have to remind myself each time those issues come up that it
happened so that the work of God might be displayed in my life, and that His
grace is sufficient for me. So if you
too struggle with something about you that you do not like that is
unchangeable, remind yourself that it is so you can see the work of God in your
life.
Another anomaly between
Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts is that Matthew says there were 2 men, but does
not name them. Mark just says there was one,
but he names him – Bartimaeus, or son of Timaeus. Why did Mark name him? Some think he may have gone on to be a
prominent member of the young church and Mark was telling of his
conversion.
But somehow word had
spread and these two blind beggars have heard of Jesus of Nazareth and of His
healing powers. Matthew says that as
Jesus was walking by, they began to call out to Him using the most common term
for the Messiah of the day: Son of David.
The crowd around Jesus decided that Jesus was too good for a couple of
beggars, so they rebuked the blind men and told them to be quiet. What did Bartimaeus do? He just pulled his cloak up over his head and
apologized for bothering such an important person. No! He
and his friend began to scream even louder with a desperate cry. The Greek structure is used elsewhere to
describe the cries of a woman in labor or of extreme agony. They wanted to be heard above all the other
noise around Jesus. These 2 blind men
had enough sight to recognize that Jesus alone could heal them. Alistair Begg put it this way: “We never know
Jesus as a reality until we know Him as a necessity. We won’t call out for a savior until we know
we need to be saved. We won’t call out
for sight until we know that we are blind.”
When the men called out
again, Jesus stopped. The power in those
two words: Jesus stopped. Think about
that for a few minutes. The Creator of
the universe, Colossians 1, stopped at the cry of man begging for mercy. Jesus stopped and told those around Him to
bring the two beggars over. Can you
imagine the humiliation of those who had tried to silence the beggars? Mark said that when they told the beggars
that Jesus was now calling for them, they threw off their cloaks, jumped up,
and came to Jesus. They were excited!
When they get to Jesus, He
asked a very simple question: “What do you want me to do for you?” Same question He asked James and John. It was a servant’s question. The king of glory became the servant of a
blind beggar. They simply asked for
their sight. Jesus, full of compassion,
gently touches them and heals them. Mark
tells us that Jesus told the two men that their faith had healed them. Interestingly, the Greek work translated
“healed” actually means to save, so what Jesus really told them was that their
faith had saved them.
There’s an old Gospel song
I used to hear on my dad’s records that I could not help but quoting here:
Many years he walked in darkness
As he groped along the streets
With his hands stretched out for pennies
Or for just a bite to eat
It is the story of the blind man
Who met Jesus on his way
And with the Master's touch, the man looked up
As the scoffers heard him say
And the parallel passage in Mark 9:
Many years he walked in darkness
As he groped along the streets
With his hands stretched out for pennies
Or for just a bite to eat
It is the story of the blind man
Who met Jesus on his way
And with the Master's touch, the man looked up
As the scoffers heard him say
Chorus
Somebody touched me
Somebody touched me
I was blind, but praise His name, I now can see
I was in darkness when Jesus found me
But since He touched me I now am free
Church, let’s not block
those from coming to Jesus who want to.
We go chasing the rich young rulers, and when the blind beggars come
around we ignore them and even block them from coming to see Jesus.
When Jesus grants this
man’s request, what does he do? He
follows Jesus to Jerusalem, and Luke tells us that they were praising God the
whole way. If Jesus had granted James
and John their request, they would have been glorified. Instead, when we humble ourselves, we see
what God has given us and we praise Him all the more for it.
May we set aside our pride
and come to Jesus begging for mercy. May
we seek to serve others and not to put others down.
Somebody touched me
Somebody touched me
I was blind, but praise His name, I now can see
I was in darkness when Jesus found me
But since He touched me I now am free
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