Matthew 20:20-28
Jesus Came to Earth to Serve Others
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Once Zebedee’s wife came to Jesus and brought her sons...The sons of Zebedee were James and John...She bowed before Jesus and asked him to do something for her...She truly loved her sons...Jesus said, “What do you want?”...She said, “Promise that one of my sons will sit at your right side in your kingdom and the other at your left.”...So Jesus said to the sons, “You don’t understand what you are asking...Can you drink from the cup that I must drink from?”...The sons answered, “Yes, we can!”...Jesus said to them, “It is true that you will drink from the cup that I drink from...But it is not for me to say who will sit at my right or my left...My Father has decided who will do that...He has prepared those places for them.”...The other ten disciples heard this and were angry with the two brothers...So Jesus called the disciples together...He said, “You know that the rulers of the non-Jewish people love to show their power over the people...And their important leaders love to use all their authority over the people...But it should not be that way with you...Whoever wants to be your leader must be your servant...Whoever wants to be first must serve the rest of you like a slave...Do as I did: The Son of Man did not come for people to serve Him...He came to serve others and to give His life to save many people.”...Once we gain power it is hard for us to give it up...
Jesus also told the disciples, in relation to this, the short about the teachers of the law and the Pharisees and the authority they held and had tried to hold over others ...The Pharisees tell you to do things, but they don’t do those things themselves...They make strict rules that are hard for people to obey...They try to force others to obey all their rules...But they themselves will not try to follow any of those rules...They think they are above the rules, the very rules they are teaching...“The only reason they do what they do is for other people to see them...They make the little Scripture boxes they wear bigger and bigger...And they make the tassels on their prayer clothes long enough for people to notice them...These men love to have the places of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues...They love for people to show respect to them in the marketplaces and to call them ‘Teacher.’...“But you must not be called ‘Teacher.’...You are all equal as brothers and sisters...Jesus knew that the Pharisees had been corrupted by their positions that had authority over others...So the common people were the ones receiving the non-serving results of obeying all their rules, which they were not following...
Jesus knows how to handle power and authority...He told His disciples they should be more like servants and learn to serve others...They were to be equal as brothers and sisters...Many men do not know how to handle power and how to serve others and to treat others...Sometimes, if not many times, power can corrupt us...Power and authority can lead to oppression and the exploitation of others...And some in power believe they do not have to follow the rules they even make...Jesus always seeks justice...He is not power seeking, yet He is Almighty and the Most Powerful One...Man does not always give justice, and justice is sometimes not given to those deserving of it, because we have blind spots as men...We must not love power...We must learn to see how we are judgmental and critical of others, before justice and equality can be given to all...Justice and equality cannot come until all men love each other and treat other men as they themselves want to be treated...Until this happens there will be a constant and perpetual injustice and inequality of different men and groups...
Once Dr. Martin Luther King wrote about a bussing meeting he had with officials of a city and bussing officials on the problem of seating and who should sit where, “I soon saw that I was the victim of an unwarranted pessimism because I started out with an unwarranted optimism...I had gone to the meeting with a great illusion...I had believed that the privileged would give up their privileges on request...This experience, however, taught me a lesson...I came to see that no one gives up his privileges without strong resistance...I saw further that the underlying purpose of segregation was to oppress and exploit the segregated, not simply to keep them apart...Even when we asked for justice within the segregation laws, the “powers that be” were not willing to grant it...Justice and equality, I saw, would never come while segregation remained, because the basic purpose of segregation was to perpetuate injustice and inequality.”...