Reading Assignment: Matthew 20:17-34
Main Idea: Jesus came to serve.
Key Verse: Matthew 20:26-28
Overview:
1. Ransom
2. Healing
Prayer:
1. Thank Jesus for His sacrifice as the ransom for our redemption.
2. Commit to serving in His footsteps.
Transcript
Let’s pray and we’ll begin our time.
Lord, thank You for another morning. Thank You for giving us life and breath. We are Your creatures, and through faith in Christ, we are Your spiritual children. And this morning, we want to hear from You that we might learn to trust in You more and to walk according to Your holy word. We do not wish to live our lives our own way according to our own sinful and selfish desires. We want to live our lives to honor You. We pray that You would teach us this morning, that our hearts will be tuned to Your desires and that our lives might bring glory and honor to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
The next reading assignment is Matthew 20:17-34. That's the remainder of Matthew Chapter 20. The main idea here is this: Jesus came to serve. The key verses are found in verses 26 through 28, and it reads thus: “It is not this way among you (this is comparing how His disciples are to be like with the rulers of their day), but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” That captures not only the fact that Jesus came to serve, but that He, therefore, calls all who follow Him to also be a servant in His likeness. There are two main parts to the passage for today. The first part I would simply call ransom. And then the second part is healing.
Let’s begin with the first part. This section on the ransom stretches from verse 17 through 28. It begins with Jesus' journey down to Jerusalem. At the outset of this journey, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and told them what was going to happen when they got to Jerusalem. He tells them, “the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes (the religious leaders among the Jews), and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.” Jesus had already announced this to the disciples before back in Chapter 16, then again in Chapter 17. He tells them once again now. Of course, this was a prediction of His self-sacrifice in Jerusalem. But the import, the significance, of that sacrifice is then spelled out for us in the last part of this section. Well, before we get there, there is another development in the story. The scene changes and we have the mother of the sons of Zebedee (that’s James and John) comes to Jesus with her sons beside her. She bows down and asks Jesus for something. Jesus said to her, “What do you wish?” And she had the audacity to say, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” It’s a pretty bold request to tell Jesus to command that this take place.
Well, the rest of the 10 disciples find out about this conversation and they are indignant. Because they were all vying for the best position in the kingdom of God. And so with this tension mounting, Jesus called them and taught them a lesson on servanthood. He told them, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles (i.e., the nations or the pagans) lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” He tells the disciples that they are not to function like the pagans do. The autocrats among the pagans dominate over their subjects. They exercise authority over their subjects, they lord it over them. But Jesus says, “Don't do that.” Why? Because unbelievers are motivated by their thirst for power, wealth, position, and/or ego. This is not the way for His disciples. Instead, He teaches them about servant leadership. If you want to be great, you must be a servant. If you want to be first, you must learn to be a slave. And of course, Jesus gives Himself as the example. And this is the really astonishing thing. Jesus is the Son of God from heaven. There is no position of authority higher than His. And yet when He came to earth, He did not come to be served. He came to serve. But not only that, then Jesus explains why He will sacrifice His own life at Jerusalem. He's going to give his life as a ransom for many. What is ransom? Ransom is a payment for redemption. It is payment to free people. Jesus says, “I'm going to give my life as a ransom payment to free My people.” To free them from what? From their sin and hell and from the judgment of God. He's going to exchange His life for their eternal life. This is the Son of God from heaven. He comes not to have people please and do things for Him. He comes to give God's blessing to others. And he tells His disciples to follow in His footsteps.
Now, there’s another dimension to Jesus' servanthood that comes up in the second part, which has to do with healing. In their journey, they go through Jericho and as they were leaving that city, there was a large crowd around him. And two blind men hear that Jesus was passing by, and so they cry out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David.” They called Jesus the Son of David because they believed Him to be the Messiah. That's the title of the Messiah. The crowd was a little fed up by their cantankering and so they told the two men to be quiet, but they wouldn't let up. They cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us.” Of course, Jesus heard their cries. So He stopped and He called for them and asked them, “what do you wish for Me to do for you?” And they said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” Then Jesus was moved with compassion, Matthew tells us. And He touched their eyes and immediately they regained their sight, and they followed Him. This is another incident of Jesus' healing, but it's not just another incident. He showed them compassion. When the Son of Man, the Son of God, came to earth, He served His people. This is the astonishing revelation of the Son of God. He sacrificed Himself. He gave Himself up as a payment for our redemption. He had compassion on those who were suffering under the curse of sin, and He healed them. This is the Son of God from heaven who came in the person of Jesus Christ. He is nothing like the selfish dictators of this world. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. The Son of God from heaven came to serve. This is the best leader, the best shepherd, the best king you could ever want. But He has a calling for us. It is not only to receive Him as the best leader and shepherd, and we absolutely should. He instructs us: If you want to be great, be a servant. If you want to be first, be the slave of all. Why? Because even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. What an amazing lesson here for us. There are at least a couple of things we can pray about.
First, we can thank Jesus for His sacrifice, that He gave Himself up as a ransom for me. We can thank Him for His saving work. Second, we can pray a prayer of commitment to Jesus to be a servant like Him. This is a really rich part of Scripture. And I pray and hope that the Lord will bless you as you read it and pray in response to it.
Let's pray and then we'll wrap up. God, thank You for Jesus Your Son. There's none like Him. He who has all authority in heaven and on earth, He gave Himself up as a ransom for many. Moreover, He showed compassion to those who are suffering under the curse of sin. He had mercy on sinners who were suffering under the curse of sin. Thank You for the wonderful mercy of Jesus. In Him, we see Your mercy and the depth of Your kindness and generosity towards sinners. Thank You for Jesus' saving work. We also thank You for the lesson Jesus teaches us, that in life we are not to be like the pagans who jockey for position, aiming to garner the first place, seeking to be recognized as great among men, but that we would walk humbly and see ourselves as servants, even the slave of all. We are to imitate Jesus, who washed feet and loved His people. We pray that You would evermore teach us to also walk in His footsteps. We hear Jesus’ call. This is indeed Your will for us, to be a humble servant, even as our Master and Lord was for our sake. Thank You, Father, for the wonderful gift of Your Son and thank You for Your holy word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
All right, Lord bless you all. Have a wonderful week in the Lord. I'll see you on Wednesday.