QUESTION #34 Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall I drink of?

QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED BIBLE STUDY

 

    Read Matthew 20:20-28 KJV: 

 

  What wilt thou? (Matthew 20:21)

  What would ye that I should do for you? (Mark 10:36)

  Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? (Matthew 20:22)

 

THE SONS OF THUNDER

Reference: Matthew 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45

 

Despite the parable of God’s grace and generosity, despite hearing Jesus remark twice that the first shall be last and last first, Jesus’ disciples are still missing the point. The mother of James and John asks Jesus to grant her two sons the most prominent places in his coming kingdom. She asks Jesus that he grant her two sons to sit, one on the right hand, and the other on the left hand, in His kingdom. 

 

Jesus saw through the mother’s inquiry into the ambition of her two sons. Jesus turns to them and asks, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They are full of confidence in themselves, they respond, “We are able”. They think they can handle whatever comes. The two sons had no idea what they signing up to do, but some day later, they would.

 

When the other disciples hear about this, they are angry. Jesus takes this opportunity to challenge their notions about prominence and teaches them how to be truly great. He calls them to him and says, “You know how that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you let him be your minister, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your servant.” Jesus was almost scolding them for wanting to be greatest. Really, there is no place in a Christian’s service for jealousy. To be great in God’s sight, we must humble ourselves to the place of servants. True leadership is found in serving others.

 

We are not to be like the world including the manner in which our rulers and great men function. The Lord was teaching the disciples that the style of greatness and leadership for believers is different. The Gentile leaders dominate in dictatorial fashion, using carnal power and authority. Believers are to do the opposite - they lead by being servants and giving themselves away for others, as Jesus did. Jesus continued, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Jesus is our example, and He humbled Himself to the most shameful of deaths, the death on the cross. He came asking nothing and giving everything.

 

James and John claimed that they were able to drink the same cup that Jesus was about to drink, and in fairness to John, only he and Peter followed Jesus after He was arrested. All the other disciples, including James, ran away. Peter later denied Jesus, but John remained faithful. John was the only disciple at the foot of Jesus’ cross when He was crucified. When Jesus was on the cross, both John and Mary the mother of Jesus stood nearby. In John 19:26-27 we read, “When Jesus saw his mother standing nearby, he said to her, ‘Woman, behold thy son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Behold thy mother.’ From that time on, that disciple took her into his home.” It is clear that Jesus was leaving the care of His mother to John after His death.

 

In Matthew 20:23 Jesus tells the brothers that they would indeed drink from the same cup as He, but to sit on His right hand and on the left was not His to give, but only to those prepared of by His Father. James drank from the cup first. He was the very first of the Apostles to be martyred. In Acts 12 we find Herod kills James with a sword because it pleased the Jews. 

 

John also drank from that cup, but in a different way. John was the only apostle that did not die as a martyr but lived to be an old man and apparently died sometime after he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. It was there he had a prophetic vision from Jesus and wrote the book of Revelation. In some ways John may have drunk more deeply from the cup of suffering than those who were put to death for he had to endure the hatred of this world the longest. It is much easier to die for Christ than it is to live for Him. 

 

Note: Most people know that Jesus and John the Baptist were second cousins but few know that the Apostles James and John were Jesus’ first cousins. We discover this when we compare the lists of the four women who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion as recorded in Matthew 27:56, Mark 15:40, and John 19:25. Comparing these accounts we see that Salome (mentioned by Mark), also called “the mother of Zebedee’s sons” by Matthew and “His (Jesus’) mother’s sister” by John. With Salome and Mary being sisters, their children were first cousins.

 

This relationship sheds light on the incident in Matthew 20:21, where “the mother of the sons of Zebedee” asked that her sons be given the two most prominent positions in Christ’s Kingdom. The request seems quite bold, but then we realize that the requester was Jesus’ aunt, making the request on behalf of His two cousins.

 

Their closeness to Jesus as family members likely made them think such a request wouldn’t be seen as too forward, and also helps explain Jesus’ tactful but firm response.

 

This family relationship also helps us understand why James and John, along with Peter, were the three disciples Jesus seems to have been closest to, asking them to accompany Him at significant times and events (Matthew 17:1-9; Matthew 26:36-37; Mark 5:37). 

 

Jesus was evidently close to these two cousins in particular, and obviously enjoyed their companionship. They were nicknamed the “sons of thunder” by Jesus, and the apostle John is also known as the “disciple whom Jesus loved”. It isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination to think they may have grown up together and been friends from childhood.

 

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