Pondering Matthew 20:20-28

A Mother's Request

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."

24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25Jesus 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. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Words, phrases that stuck out to me:

*** "You don't know what you are asking..."; verse 22: I think sometimes we just simply don't get what it really means to have complete surrender and allegiance to Christ. We are good at saying things to others that sound spiritual, making promises to God, etc., that we so easily back out on once we realize the cost...

*** "These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."; verse 23: This is just a reminder of God's sovereignty to me. God knows what's up...we need to not worry as much about figuring it all out...we just need to be obedient and follow Him. It just seems that we humans are too concerned about future specifics too much, whether it's asking for clear, detailed specifics about our own future (and as long as it's within our own criteria...hahaha) or if it's "out there" stuff like end times scenarios...but i think God just wants us to let him be God sometimes...and trust...

*** "...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."; verses 26-28: First, so much about Jesus' purpose is contained here. To serve. To be ransomed. It is hard for folks to even fathom that, because a) we are modeled leaders that often seem to feel entitled to be "worshipped", served by underlings, etc. Jesus said, "NONE OF THAT!" b) It's tough enough at times for Christians themselves to grasp that God would choose for his own son's death to be what paid for the sins of mankind...let alone non-believers. To those who do not claim to be followers of Christ, the notion of a "loving God sacrificing his son" probably seems barbaric and absurd...but if you look at the Old Testament, you can see how this all came to pass...

I also know a prayer of mine is to seek to be a servant first...and if I am a "leader", it is a leader that is seeking to serve those I'm leading, not be served myself. I was praying specifically to have this attitude this morning...and no kidding, 30 minutes didn't go by before I was "compelled" (aka, I didn't ponder it first, weigh the options...I just DID IT) to get up, sweep the floors, do dishes, laundry, etc. I was compelled to serve my family...and if you know my attitude toward cleaning, chores, etc., you KNOW that was an answer to prayer!!! :-)

Questions for me today:

When I say I seek to "follow Christ", am I just giving him/others lip service? What if I am asked to do a REALLY tough thing? What If I thought I was hearing things right...only to find out God really wants me to head a different direction altogether?

Am I really letting God be God, and trusting in his ultimate sovereignty?

What does a servant leader look like? What needs to be done to make sure "false humility" (for personal gain) doesn't happen?