Matthew 20:20-34

20:20-21 | James and John were Zebedee’s sons. It is surprising that their mother would ask Jesus to give such a favor to her assertive sons, but she may have been Jesus’ aunt on His mother’s side. Matthew tells us she came to the tomb to help give Jesus’ body a proper, so clearly she ha a close relationship with Him.

20:22-23 | James and John likely thought that Jesus was about to inaugurate the full expression of His earthly kingdom, and they wanted the chief positions (right hand and left). They understood neither the timing of the kingdom nor the sacrifice that Jesus would make to secure it. Eventually James was the first apostle to be martyred (Acts 12:2), and John was exiled to Patmos (Rev. 1:9).

20:24-28 | The other 10 disciples were unhappy with James and John because they were also privately trying to gain important positions in the coming reign of the Messiah. Jesus said something revolutionary to them all: true leaders go out of their way to serve others (Luke 22:25-27). Jesus used the word servant and then drove home His point with the word slave. The disciples had not understood that this long-prophesied messianic kingdom would be a spiritual kingdom that operated according to eternal values.

20:28 | Jesus exemplified the traits of a leader in the kingdom of heaven: He never lorded anything over anyone; rather, He sought to serve (John 13:14). Even more, He humbled Himself to the very limit by willingly handing over His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world (Phil. 2:5-8).

20:29-31 | Matthew supplies a detail to this story that an eyewitness would likely remember: he tells of both blind men. Mark and Luke describe only one blind man. The men cry out both Son of David! And Lord, indicating they knew of Jesus’ ministry before He came to Jericho. They probably even believed He could be the Messiah.

20:32-34 | Jesus reached out and touched the eyes of the blind men, instantly healing them. He did not instruct them not to tell anyone about their healing because by now His course was unalterably set: He was heading to Jerusalem to be arrested, scourged, crucified, buried, and resurrected.