Take a look around you. Where does Jesus want you to live like a servant?
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is January 20, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called Read the Room. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Genesis 21, Matthew 20, and Nehemiah 10. Please open your Bibles to Matthew 20.
I’m not very good at reading the room. A few years ago, I had a stint leading the young adults group at our church. We had a group over for dinner and afterwards, Nicole mentioned a guy and a girl that had joined us that evening. “I think she likes him. And I’ve got a feeling he might be interested in her, too.” I was incredulous. “What?” I said, “They sat next to each other but they hardly talked to each other the whole night.” Nicole said, “Exactly.” I was perplexed. Nicole was a prophet. They were married within the year. She knows how to read the room.
Generally speaking, women are better than men at this, and the lovely Mrs. Whitacre is way better at it than I am. But in today’s Scripture for Students, I’ve found someone who is even worse than me at reading the room.
Would you please follow along as I read Matthew 20:17–28,
17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,
18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death
19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”
23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Ok, so you think I’m bad at reading the room? I would like to think that if I had been there, I might have leaned over to James and John’s mother right before she marched up to Jesus: “Hey, why don’t you give it a minute. Maybe try again tomorrow.”
Her request is incredibly tone deaf. Jesus has just predicted his betrayal, unjust trial, corrupt sentencing, and brutal death, and ultimate resurrection. Verses 18 and 19 contain all that and those two verses are worth a moment’s consideration. Jesus has just given the disciples a peek at the playbook. Guys, here’s how we’re going to defeat sin, death, and Satan. But it’s not going to be easy.
The mother of the sons of Zebedee doesn’t seem very decent in her timing. She seems to be thinking, “Ahh, this is happening sooner than I thought. I better get moving on this.” So she asks for her sons to sit at Jesus’ right hand and at his left hand. These would have been the places of honor. A king would place his prince or an esteemed guest at his right hand, and the next most honored person would sit on the left. She wants to make sure that it is only the best for her boys.
But she isn’t the only one who doesn’t get it. In verse 22, Jesus calls her out: “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am able to drink?” Like a lot of confident young men, they got this. “We are able,” they say. James, John, and their mother don’t seem to understand that Jesus explaining that the nearness of his betrayal and crucifixion is not the best time to try to call in favors for the life to come.
And who can blame the 10 other disciples for being indignant when they heard of it. I would have been. But Jesus is wise, and uses the moment of bad taste to teach his disciples about good leadership.
In verse 25, Jesus introduces his disciples to the great paradox of the kingdom: the way up is down. Greatness is gained through service. Honor follows humility. And Jesus says this is so because his own example is the ultimate expression of humility. Verse 28 reads, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is the ultimate inversion of position. Jesus humbled himself, even to death on the cross, in order to secure life for all those he came to save. Jesus got what he did not deserve so that we would not get what we do deserve. This is the glory of the gospel. And in verses 26 and 27, Jesus says that if we want to be considered great in the kingdom, we need to be willing to be treated like servants, or even like slaves.
It shouldn’t be too hard to imagine how these verses help us to “read the rooms” we find ourselves in. Jesus has made it possible for us to live like this. What kind of humility does he want to empower in your life? Where is he calling you to self-sacrificial love?
You may be surprised at how simple and mundane the application of this verse is. It is highly unlikely that any one of us will ever be called on to literally die for another person. But every one of us is called to live for Christ by serving others. This might be as simple as taking the initiative with chores around the house. Take out the trash. Put away your laundry. It might mean being attentive to new people at church. It’s up to you to go up to that person, welcome him or her, introduce him or her to your friends, take an interest and ask questions.
Do you want to get better at reading the room? I do, too. I bet we can both do better than James, John, and their mother. Let’s read the room—and more importantly—serve the room by following the example of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit of Jesus, all for the glory of Jesus.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!