Alba 5-11-2025
A MOTHER'S REQUEST
Matthew 20:20-28
A little boy was talking with the girl next door. “I wonder what my mom would like for Mother’s Day.” The girl answered, “Well, you could promise to keep your room clean and orderly. You could go to bed as soon as you’re told. You could brush your teeth before bed and you could quit fighting with your little sister, especially at the dinner table.” The boy looked at her puzzled and said, “No, I mean something practical!”
Today is Mother's Day. What are mothers? Well, mothers are teachers. Mothers are disciplinarians. Mothers are cleaning ladies. Some mothers are gardeners and mowers of lawns. Mothers are nurses and doctors and psychologists and counselors and chauffeurs and coaches. And mothers are developers of personalities, molders of vocabularies, and shapers of attitudes.
This is the day mothers are rewarded for washing sheets in the middle of the night, driving kids to school when they missed the bus, and enduring all those football and soccer games in the rain. It has been said that the reason women are mothers, is because men couldn’t take the pressure.
The fifth commandment in Exodus 20:12 says, “Honor your father and your mother. That your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” That says to honor your mother. There are no limits on that. We are to simply follow directions. The commandment from God doesn’t say anything about a mother’s qualifications to be honored; it just says to honor her.
It is true that mothers don’t always live up to our expectations. Sometimes, they experience hardships and challenges that affect their ability to offer what we need or want. Or, they might have a personal weakness that negatively impacts us or our families. But we are to follow the example of our heavenly Father, who loves us even though we don’t have any qualities that deserved His favor.
Today, we are going to look at the mother of James and John, those two who were in the inner circle among the followers of Jesus. Their mother was a mom and like any other mom. She was looking after the best interest of her children. All she really wanted was for her kids to do good.
Matthew 20:20-21 describes the scene. It says. “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.'”
She may sound a little pushy. But do we know her motive? Was she asking so her boys would be in position of authority and power, or was she simply asking that they would have the closest possible spots to Jesus. If it was the latter, that is something which each one of us should desire for our children. This mother prayed that her sons would have...
INVOLVEMENT IN THE LORD'S KINGDOM
Being a parent is not easy. It is difficult. But this mother gives us a valuable example, for she asked earnestly for her sons to be part of the Lord's kingdom. And not only that they be part of His kingdom, but you could say that she wanted them to be actively involved in the work of His kingdom.
James and John you will recall were among the first disciples, and like Andrew and Peter were fisherman. It seems that they had been partners with their father Zebedee, and had done very well at fishing because the day they decided to follow Jesus we are told that they left their father fishing with the hired hands (Mark 1:20).
I wonder if there were late night parental discussions about the change in career choice that the boys had taken. I mean it had been a family business. John and James had worked with their father on the boats, and all of sudden they just walked away? But it seems that their mother supported them in this decision. Can you just imagine the conversation between Zebedee and his wife when she said, “You know Zeb, I think I’ll go and talk to Jesus about the boys, to see if I can put in a good word for them.”
Aren’t you glad that moms still do that? She was proud of her sons and looking out for them. Now there is a twist to the story that gives us something to think about. The three of them may have been trying to capitalize on their family relationship to Jesus. By comparing the gospel accounts of the women who stood vigil near the cross, it appears that the mother of James and John was named Salome and it is possible that she was a sister of Mary, the Mother of Jesus (see Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25).
That would make her an aunt to Jesus, and James and John His first cousins. So then, in addition to relying on their relationship as cousins, the these boys perhaps also thought they could play on Jesus’ affection for His mother by having her sister approach Him for the favor. Some of this is speculation, but could be true.
But notice how she came to Jesus. She “came to Him…kneeling down and asking…” She was approaching Jesus in an attitude of worship and an attitude of prayer. Jesus had said in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
But then the other James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote in James 4:3 to be careful in our asking. He said, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
So we need to be careful not to come to the Lord with our requests with a motive to get something we want, whether it is in the Lord's will or not. It is wrong for us to play religious games expecting to receive something in return by trying to manipulate God. Yet, on the positive side, this mother came to the Lord asking that her sons might be involved in His Kingdom. There is no more important task of mother-hood than to pray that your children are a part of the Kingdom of God. Still, when Jesus asked what she wanted, this mother's request was that her sons would have a special place of...
HONOR IN THE KINGDOM
This request not only was bold but brash. In effect, she was claiming that, of all the great people of God who had ever lived, her sons deserved to have the two highest places of honor beside the King of heaven. She didn't just ask for her sons to be doorkeepers. She wanted them on the right and left hand of Jesus when He was on His throne. In ancient royal courts, the persons chosen to sit at the right and left hands of the king were the most powerful people in the kingdom.
Jesus had already promised “thrones” (although the disciples may have misconstrued the meaning) when he said in Matthew 19:28 that the twelve disciples would “sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”. It is likely that they thought this meant an earthly kingdom.
This mother meant well, but she didn’t realize what she was asking. This might be like some mother asking the President, “Please let my son be your Vice President!” That's not the way it happens. Sometimes, we may ask for some ridiculous things from the Lord. Like, “Lord, please help me win the lottery, or if not that, then the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes.”
It’s interesting that Jesus' response to this mother and her sons is not to put them down or rebuke them. Instead, He just told all of them that only His Father is in charge of figuring out positions and rewards. He says in verse 23: “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.” It would not be on the basis of favoritism or ambition that those honors would be bestowed, but on the basis of God’s sovereign choice.
But James and John and their mother were not alone in this desire for special honor. Verse 24 tells us that “When the ten (the other apostles) heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers”. But, all of them had visions of glory. They had recently expressed the same proud and selfish sentiments. In Mark 9:33–34 it tells us that on the way from Caesarea Philippi to Capernaum “they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest”. But it says that they were ashamed to admit it to Jesus. Even at the Last Supper, Luke 22:24 says, “There was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest”.
They were all guilty of the same self-serving ambition of wanting a position of honor. There was more than pure anger here on the part of the others. The ten were apparently sorry only that they had not requested the same privilege first.
In the previous verses (18 and 19) Jesus had just talked about being crucified, and here they were interested in honor. They were interested in a crown, but Jesus spoke about enduring the cross! Now, there is a positive side of this mother's request. It is that while she asked for her sons to have the greatest positions that anyone could have, she asked nothing for herself. We all know that a great mom sacrifices for her family and does not complain about it. She will go without before she will let her family have a need.
This mother's request was for her sons to have involvement and honor in kingdom of Jesus. Apparently she was also asking that they be given...
RESPONSIBILITY IN THE KINGDOM
But if that responsibility was thought to be some power or authority that they could have, Jesus quickly offered a correction in their thinking. Jesus spoke to the two brothers directly and said in verse 22, “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?”
Jesus was saying, “Can you do what I do, or what I am going to do?” Jesus knew what was ahead for Him soon: ridicule, mockery, scourging and crucifixion. And He knew, of course, what James and John would endure and suffer in their lives, so He was asking here if they felt they were equal to that. Either because they completely misunderstood what Jesus meant, or they self-confidently thought they could endure anything required of them, James and John foolishly declared, “We are able.”
The cup that Jesus was about to drink was the cup of suffering and death, which He had just finished describing to them. And that cup was immeasurably worse than the physical agony of the cross or the emotional anguish of being forsaken by His friends, painful as those would be. The full measure of His cup was taking sin upon Himself, an agony so horrible that He prayed in Matthew 26:39, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Again, they wanted a crown without a cross, a throne without the altar of sacrifice, the glory without the suffering that leads to it. So verse 25 tells us that Jesus called them all together. That’s exactly what needs to happen when there is tension and strife. We need to come together. When Jesus calls them to Himself He does so with tenderness and familiarity, and then gives a lesson in how differently things are to run in His kingdom. He doesn’t condemn them but instead uses their bickering as a “teachable moment.”
In verses 26-28 Jesus told them how to take responsibility in His Kingdom. He 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.” This is the very heart of the gospel. Jesus came for two reasons. He came to serve, and He came to be our sacrifice.
Jesus is the greatest example of servant-hood. This world is temporary and human greatness is only temporary. True greatness in the eyes of God is not matter of fame and fortune. True greatness in the eyes of God is being a servant to others. If we ever do anything that others consider to be great, then to God be the glory! He is author of good things in our lives. He alone is great.
Ultimately this mother's request for her sons was answered. John did achieve greatness being specifically mentioned as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He did achieve greatness, in being commissioned directly by Jesus to take care of Mary, Jesus' mother. He did achieve greatness when after being exiled to prison on the Island of Patmos, he was chosen by Jesus to give the Revelation of end times events. And James? James would be dead, having been put to death by Herod Agrippa. He was the first apostle to be put to death for following Jesus.
But don't you think that his friend Jesus was waiting for him, and in a very real sense at that point he was the closest apostle to Jesus? Isn't that what this mother was requesting? A mother’s prayer was answered.
I hope that in the heart of every mother and father here this morning there is a burden to go to the throne of God to pray for your children. Just like this mother, you may not get your prayer just right. But, trust God. He will get it right.
CLOSE:
Has your life been impacted by a sacrificial mother who would never give up? Never underestimate the power of a praying mother. Born in 1669, Susanna Wesley raised up two of Christianity’s most gifted leaders, John and Charles Wesley. Daily, as a mother, Susanna prayed, “Dear God, guide me. Make my life count.” While only ten of her nineteen children survived to adulthood, she poured her life into them, raising up three sons, Samuel, John and Charles to become preachers.
Susanna was an amazing woman. She has been described as the mother of the homeschooling movement. In an age when many parents only educated their sons, Susanna taught all of her children how to read, write and reason, including all of her seven surviving daughters. She instructed all of her children three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. Her children began and ended each school day by singing a Psalm and reading from the Bible.
Remarkably, she spent one hour a week with each of her children in personal instruction. And in her crowded house, Susanna would pull her apron over her head, taking an hour a day for her personal devotions. All her children knew she was not to be disturbed.
The story is that when someone stopped by their house in England and asked to speak to her, one of her sons said, “You can’t see her right now, she’s praying.” Every day she would be praying for her children. Eventually two of them, John and Charles, were used by God to bring a spiritual awakening to Britain and America.
