Matthew 20:17-28
Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “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 19 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!”
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.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 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. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 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.”
Third Time’s the Charm
Have you ever heard of “The Rule of Seven”? It’s an old advertising theory that states that you have to see an ad seven times before it has any effect. It’s been around for a long time; it used to be only 6. All the way back in 1859, this was the prevailing advice for advertisers:
The first time a man sees an advertisement, he takes no notice of it; the second time he looks at the name; the third time he looks at the price; the fourth time he reads it; the fifth time he speaks of it to his wife; the sixth time he buys.[1]
The point is, sometimes you need to hear or see or say something several times before it fully sinks in. I don’t know that this rule was around in Jesus’ day, but in the words we just read from Matthew’s Gospel, we could make a case for “The Third Time Is the Charm.”
This was Jesus’ third time trying to explain a pretty basic concept to his disciples. Twice before, in the recent past, Jesus said some variation of what he says here: “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!”[2] Jesus wants his disciples to know that the reason they’re going up to Jerusalem right now is so that he can be put to death and rise to new life.
The first time Jesus said this they didn’t get it. In fact, Peter – impetuous Peter – chided Jesus as if he were a little boy who didn’t know how the world works. “This shall never happen to you!”[3] he said. But then Jesus spun on his heels and delivered one of the most severe rebukes recorded in Scripture. Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”[4]
The second time Jesus predicted his death, the disciples are a little more sheepish. All Matthew tells us is that after Jesus said he’d have to die, “the disciples were filled with grief.”[5] Something was starting to sink in.
Surely, this third time would be the charm, right? When Jesus said he’d have to die, they’d finally get it. Jesus didn’t come to sit on a throne, but to hang on a cross. His kingdom is not of this world. He is not going to establish a 1,000-year reign of glory on earth. He came to die for sins, to ransom souls with his holy, precious blood and innocent suffering and death. This is Christianity! This is what it’s all about! They have to get it eventually, right??
Wrong.
Right after Jesus talks about being mocked and flogged and crucified, James and John silently follow their mother who asks Jesus for them, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”[6]
What kingdom?? Jesus is going to die on a cross when they get to Jerusalem. They’re headed there right now! What could they possibly be thinking?
It’s impossible to answer that question, but it’s not impossible to relate with their situation.
In Lutheran circles we often talk about the “theology of the cross” as opposed to the “theology of glory,” or, as it is also called, the “prosperity gospel.” In other words, we know from the Bible that faith does not equal success. Your bank account won’t grow just because you go to church (or tune in digitally, as it were). You’re not going to be shielded from catastrophe just because you’re a Christian, as if something like the coronavirus can’t touch people who believe in Jesus. God doesn’t promise that if you pray hard enough or believe strongly enough that you’ll get everything you ever wanted.
We know that. God tells us that time and time again in his Word. In fact he tells us to expect the opposite: “In this world you will have trouble.”[7] “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”[8] “There will be terrible times in the last days.”[9] We should expect hardship. We should be prepared for problems.
But what do we do when disaster strikes, e.g. when you’re laid off of work or you’re diagnosed with a disease; when a relationship crumbles or your self-esteem does; when you’re quarantined because of COVID-19? In short, what do we do when life doesn’t go our way, or we don’t get what we want?
Do you want to shout, “This shall never be, Jesus”? Do you feel yourself slowly filling with grief and sadness – you just want to lie in your bed in the dark? Do you assault God’s throne with prayers for greatness? “Lord, I know a global pandemic just crippled our country leaving hundreds of people ill and thousands out of work, but can you at least make sure my mutual fund stays flush with cash or that people will finally appreciate what I do for them?”
So often, it’s like the words go in one ear and right out the other. We should know better than to make it our life goal to be served, to be respected, to be loved, to try to bend God to our will so that everything always goes perfectly to plan. We can be so self-centered and self-seeking that we blind ourselves to the selflessness of our God.
Jesus came to earth to suffer many things, to be condemned to death, to be mocked and flogged and crucified. Jesus came to serve his selfish disciples, and it shows!
James and John’s request was ridiculously out of place. They couldn’t have shown less respect for the sacrifice Jesus was about to make for them. But what does Jesus do? He turns their cluelessness into a teachable moment. He doesn’t give up on them or condemn them for their ignorance, but shows his love for them with his patience by taking the time to double down on what he had said before:
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.[10]
Jesus keeps explaining his promises and purposes to them even though they kept missing the point. And it goes right back to the first words of our text. They may seem insignificant but the communicate an important attribute of our Savior: Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside…[11]
Jesus is going to his death! He is going to suffer greater pain of body and soul than you or I can imagine. He must have had so much on his mind at that moment, but he still took the time to take the Twelve aside. He wasn’t so concerned about his own impending pain that he forgot about his friends. They were actually his focus and the reason he was willing to endure that pain in the first place. He was going to die on a cross for them, and he wanted them to understand that this had to happen for their salvation. His death for their sins. His selfless sacrifice for their self-centered souls.
He wanted them to know, so he kept telling them even though they didn’t get it the first or second or third time around. He kept telling them even though they wouldn’t get it until everything was over. They wouldn’t get it until he was raised to life on the third day after he died.
And that’s not something to ignore here either. Every single time that Jesus warns his disciples about his death, he predicts his resurrection. Every time he talks about the inevitable pain and suffering, he shows them a glimpse of the glory to come. He wanted them to be prepared for problems but still filled with hope.
Friends, Jesus wants the same for you. He wants you to be prepared for problems but still filled with hope. And he does it in much the same way as he did with his disciples. We’ll learn as we go. We may not understand each speed bump and roadblock that comes along, but God’s plans don’t wait for us to get on board before they begin. Imagine if Jesus hadn’t gone to the cross until his disciples understood; we’d still be waiting!
God doesn’t wait for us to understand before he acts, but he does continue to teach us along the way. He continues to speak to us in his Word. He equips us more and more every day as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus, so that the third and fourth and fiftieth time we read or hear God’s Word the more we understand his promises and purposes.
It’s easy to get lost in the problems. It’s tempting to despair when we hear Jesus say that we will face trouble in this world, but don’t fixate on just one part of his promise. Listen to it all: “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus says. “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”[12] “I am going up to Jerusalem to be crucified,” Jesus says. “But on the third day I will be raised to life!”[13]
We may be living in a Good Friday world, but we are an Easter people. Our lives may be filled with pain and death and the cross, but because of Jesus’ cross we have hope. We will face trouble in this world, but Jesus still speaks to us along the way. He reminds us of the sacrifice he made to ransom us, to forgive our selfishness, to serve us in our weakness, to save us from death and damnation, and to give us eternal life in his name.
When that message finally sinks in – the third or fourth or fiftieth time we hear it – it frees us to be like him. We don’t have to beg him to bless us here on earth when we realize he’s already given us heaven. We don’t have to scratch and claw to serve ourselves, when we realize that Jesus gave his life to serve us. Instead we can serve him by serving others.
We can reach out to those who’ve been knocked down by this virus and see how we can help – delivering groceries, filling prescriptions, giving a voice to talk to and companionship to cherish. We can serve our community by respecting the regulations of our government and restricting the risk of transmission, even if it doesn’t serve my desire for a Sunday afternoon.
When it finally sinks in what Jesus was willing to endure for you, that’s when our hearts come alive – saved by his grace and freed to serve others; prepared for problems, but filled with hope through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. May he who died and rose to new life for you, awaken you to a new life that you can live for him. Amen.
[1] Weekly Constitutionalist, Augusta, Georgia; June 1, 1859
[2] Matthew 20:18,19
[3] Matthew 16:22
[4] Matthew 16:23
[5] Matthew 17:23
[6] Matthew 20:21
[7] John 16:33
[8] John 15:20
[9] 2 Timothy 3:1
[10] Matthew 20:28
[11] Matthew 20:17
[12] John 16:33
[13] Matthew 20:19