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Transcript

Matthew 20:17 - 21:5 Leaders Don’t Take, They Give.

Transcript:

The natural human concept of power is that the people who have power get to tell people who don’t have power what to do, and the people who have power are served by the people who don’t have power. In dictatorships the ruling class lives an easy life and has more than enough food, clothing, and shelter while everyone else has a hard existence and sometimes goes hungry. The people without power are the ones who provide the food, clothing, shelter, and entertainment enjoyed by the ruling class.

In the business world, there have been many companies over the centuries where the managers had flexible work schedules, multiple perks, and excessive compensation while the hourly workers had rigid schedules, stifling work rules, and low pay. The managerial class often considered it their right to take advantage of the working class in order to make themselves rich.

Jesus taught His disciples to have a different mindset on leadership. His teaching on this topic was the precursor to the instructions in the rest of the New Testament on how churches are to operate. Jesus’ teaching is often called servant leadership, because it means the leaders serve those they lead.

In the first 18 chapters of Matthew most of Jesus’ teachings and miracles took place in the area around the Sea of Galilee. Matthew 19:1 tells us Jesus left Galilee and went to the region of Judea. In that area Jesus taught about divorce, salvation, wealth, and eternal rewards.

Matt. 20:17 ¶ And as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them,

Notice the word up. Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life, so in their minds, when they were traveling to Jerusalem, they were always going up, regardless whether they were physically traveling uphill, downhill, north, south, east, or west.

Having said that, Jerusalem was literally up. It was on top of a hill. On the map, the brown colors are higher elevations while the green colors are lower elevations. Jerusalem sits on a ridge. No matter whether you traveled to Jerusalem from Galilee in the north, the Jordan River valley on the east, the Negev in the south, or the Mediterranean Sea on the west, you had to go uphill to get to Jerusalem.

Matt. 20:18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,

Matt. 20:19 and will deliver Him over to the Gentiles to mock and flog and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”

Jesus was very clear on all the bad things that were about to happen. Jesus knew the fate that awaited Him, but He proceeded anyway.

Matt. 20:20 ¶ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

The sons of Zebedee were James and John. Out of the 12 disciples, Peter, James, and John appear to have been a special troika. They are the only disciples who were present at the transfiguration recorded in Matthew 17.

Notice that their mother was the one who brought them to Jesus and made a request.

Matt. 20:21 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.”

In some ways this was an audacious request, and in some ways it was natural. James and John were part of the troika who appear to have been elevated by Jesus into leadership of the twelve. From their perspective it may have been reasonable to think they could also be the ones to sit beside Jesus.

Matt. 20:22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.”

Jesus had just told His disciples that He was about to be crucified. James and John declared they were able to suffer with Jesus.

Matt. 20:23 He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

Jesus said they would indeed suffer for Jesus.

Matt. 20:24 ¶ And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.

The other disciples were not impressed with the audacity of James and John.

Matt. 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

It has always been human nature to think that people with power get to tell other people what to do and to be served by those who don’t have power. That was how the Gentiles thought about power. That mentality makes the acquisition of power very enticing. That was the mentality that led the mother of James and John to make her request.

Matt. 20:26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

Matt. 20:27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

Matt. 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus told His disciples to have a different mindset about power. In order to be great, one has to serve those under him. Jesus is the greatest example of this. Jesus is the Creator of the universe, but He came to earth to serve and to give His life as a ransom.

Matt. 20:29 ¶ And as they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.

Jericho is in the Jordan River valley. When Jews traveled between Judea and Galilee, a straight line of travel would have taken them through Samaria. Since they did not get along with the Samaritans, they traveled up and down the Jordan River Valley instead. That often took them through Jericho.

Matt. 20:30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

Matt. 20:31 But the crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, saying, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Matt. 20:32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

Matt. 20:33 They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes be opened.”

Matt. 20:34 And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

Matt. 21:1 ¶ And when they had approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

Bethphage was very close to Jerusalem. It was about 14 miles / 22 km from Jericho to Jerusalem. That is a relatively short distance which can normally be walked in one day. However, Jericho is around -700’ / -200 m below sea level. Jerusalem is around 2,400’ / 730 m above sea level. That is a steep uphill climb.

Let’s start reading again at verse 1.

Matt. 21:1 ¶ And when they had approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

Matt. 21:2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.

Matt. 21:3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

Matt. 21:4 And this took place in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,

Matt. 21:5 “SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,

‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,

LOWLY, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,

AND ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A PACK ANIMAL.’”

Matthew quoted Zechariah 9:9. Zechariah had told the Israelites that someday their king would come on a donkey. The religious leaders who knew the Old Testament would have, should have, known about this prophecy. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, they should have recognized the fulfillment of prophecy.

The natural human concept of power is that the people who have power get to tell people who don’t have power what to do, and the people who have power are served by the people who don’t have power. Jesus taught His disciples to have a different mindset on leadership. He taught His disciples to serve one another.

His teaching on this topic was the precursor to the instructions in the rest of the New Testament on how churches are to operate. Elders are the leaders of churches. They are not supposed to lord it over those who are under them as the world would. Instead, elders should serve those in their church. Elders should seek to help and build up those under their care.

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. Tomorrow I will start reading at Matthew 21:6 and draw a contrast between our culture’s concept of what Jesus would do and the Biblical proof of what Jesus would do. That post is for paid subscribers only, so if you are not a paid subscriber, please subscribe now. In order to subscribe, go to Bible Mountain dotcom and click on Subscribe. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”