20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”
The attempted coup for gaining the second and third most powerful positions in the kingdom reveals insight into the disciples’ frame of mind. Did she catch the significance of Jesus previous remark about being raised on the third day (vs. 19)? Or was she simply blinded by motherly desires? But, the real movers behind the request were the brothers, James and John (referred to as the “sons of Zebedee”), because they are whom Jesus addresses in the next verses.
The right hand and left hand are pictured here as the highest positions of authority next to the King Himself. Rivalry among the disciples was not unknown (see Matt 18:1), despite efforts to hide their competitiveness from the Master (see Mark 9:34). While Peter desperately wanted to prove his loyalty, the Zebedee brothers were none-the-less the boldest of the bunch. What right or qualification did they have for such prerogative? Possibly they thought they had achieved prominence because they were among the first disciples selected by Jesus (Matt 4:21). The gospel writer does in fact list them as 2nd and 3rd in the list of the twelve (Matt 10:2) and they were part of the “inner three” along with Peter (see, for example, the Mt. of Transfiguration, Matt 17:1-2). Most likely, in their minds, Peter had disqualified himself because of his verbal rebukes from the Lord (Matt 16:23), so maybe they thought they were the logical choice.
Did they demonstrate meritorious loyalty more than the others? Nothing in the story so far would suggest that. One of the supreme deceptions in the human experience is that of self-exaltation, where we think of ourselves more highly than of others. After all, we spend copious amounts of time thinking about the inner person who inhabits our bodies. Our own self-view and self-talk magnifies our imagined sense of self-importance—to the point that it seems quite natural that we ourselves should receive favorable treatment from and above others. Self-justification makes us think it entirely reasonable and appropriate for us to assume the position of prominence before others. How often do we justify our own self-importance! How often is this the root of conflict in life!
The clandestine way that James and John approached Jesus was telling. They were not sure they did qualify, so sought out an unjustified personal favor. The irony turns out that John did occupy a special place with the Lord as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (see John 13:23, 19:26, for example).
Lord, I confess my biased, subjective, arrogant sense of self-importance. Help me see my veiled attempts at sinful, self-promotion for what they really are.
0 Comments