Matthew 20:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

NIV: 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.'

NASB: And He said to her, 'What do you desire?' She *said to Him, 'Say that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit, one at Your right, and one at Your left.'

CSB: "What do you want? " he asked her."Promise," she said to him, "that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom."

NLT: What is your request?' he asked. She replied, 'In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.'

KJV: And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.

NKJV: 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.”

The "mother of the sons of Zebedee," James' and John's parent, has approached Jesus with great respect (Matthew 20:20). She has kneeled before Him in humility to make this specific request. Some scholars speculate that this woman may have been Salome (Matthew 27:56; John 19:25), possibly Jesus' aunt—His mother Mary's sister—and that James and John were his cousins. That may be why she felt bold enough to ask such a thing.

What she asks is huge: She wants Jesus to commit, right now, to declaring James and John will sit at Jesus' right and left hand in His kingdom. In this era, the closer someone was seated to the king, the more power that person had in the kingdom. James and John, through their mother, are asking Jesus to make them the most powerful men in His kingdom, second only to Jesus Himself.

It is an understatement to call this a bold request. It would be an audacious thing to ask even if Jesus had, in fact, come to overthrow the Romans and return Israel to power and glory amongst the nations. This was what many people in that era expected the Messiah to do.

Jesus had not come to do any such thing at this time, however. He had come to plant the seeds of the kingdom of heaven, the eternal kingdom over which He will reign forever. That makes this request of Him even more enormous. If Jesus said yes, He would be declaring James and John as second only to Him for all eternity. Jesus will show patience and understanding in denying this request they do not understand.

Matthew 20:20–28 follows Jesus' clear description of His impending death with a poorly timed request from James and John, through their mother. Their desire is for the two sons to be given the powerful positions of being seated on Jesus' left and right hand in His kingdom. Jesus makes an obscure reference to His upcoming suffering, asking if they can "drink the cup" ahead of Him. He then notes they will experience their own persecution and suffering, yet greatness in His kingdom won't look like the flaunted authority of the Gentile rulers. The greatest of all will be the one who serves the others as a slave. Jesus, too, has come to serve and not to be served.

Jesus illustrates His earlier comments about how some of the "first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30) with a parable about hired workers. He then clearly tells His disciples about His impending death and resurrection. The mother of James and John asks Jesus to make her sons number two and three in His kingdom. Jesus tells the disciples that true greatness won't come by flaunting authority as the Gentile leaders do. Instead, they will become great by serving each other, even as a slave does, as Jesus Himself has done. He then heals two blind men immediately before entering Jerusalem.

Matthew 20 begins with a parable that illustrates Jesus' statement at the end of Matthew 19: In His kingdom, some of the first will be last and the last first. Still on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus tells the disciples for the third time that He will be killed and then raised on the third day. When asked, Jesus explains that it is not up to Him to grant the seats on His right and left hand in the kingdom and that His disciples will not become great in the way of Gentiles. Instead, they will find greatness by serving each other. A healing of two blind men leads into the triumphal entry, the first event in the last earthly week of Jesus' ministry.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.