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“Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons…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” (Matthew 20:20-21).
As we saw yesterday, the Lord Jesus told His disciples three times that He would be crucified and rise again the third day. But it seems that at least some of His disciples wanted to have a chief place in the kingdom, and here we see James and John, with their mother, coming to the Lord Jesus and asking for places beside Him when He set up His kingdom. They had not yet understood that the kingdom would not immediately be set up, and that they would be following a rejected Christ.
At another time, all the disciples disputed among themselves, as to who should be the greatest.
This is a real warning to us, for it is easy for Christians to want to “be somebody” among other believers. This is often the case with older ones, but the tendency usually starts when we are young. Naturally we all want to be considered important, but this is a sinful thing in the sight of God. All the glory belongs to Him, and as the Lord Jesus points out to the disciples, the one who wishes to be the greatest should be the servant of all. This was the place the Lord Jesus took in this world, and we are to follow Him.
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