The Promised King: The King Who Came to Serve
Matthew 20 holds two contrasting pictures of greatness.
It begins with the parable of the laborers in the vineyard — where the master pays the same wage to those who worked one hour and to those who worked twelve. It moves through Jesus' third prediction of the cross. It ends with the mother of James and John asking for thrones for her sons, and Jesus' staggering reply:
"Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The Promised King is not climbing toward a throne the way the world climbs. He is descending toward a cross.
The laborers in the vineyard
"The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard."
He agreed with them for a denarius a day. He sent them into the vineyard.
Going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said: You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.
So they went.
Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
About the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing. He said: Why do you stand here idle all day?
They said: Because no one has hired us.
He said: You go into the vineyard too.
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman: Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.
When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
When those hired first came, they thought they would receive more — but each of them also received a denarius.
They grumbled at the master: These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
He answered one of them:
"Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?"
Then He gives the punchline:
"So the last will be first, and the first last."
The Promised King reveals that the Kingdom is built on grace, not on hours worked. The deathbed convert receives the same eternal life as the lifelong saint. The Father's generosity is not bound to our calculations of fairness.
The danger in the parable is the heart of the early laborers. They got what they were promised. But they begrudged the late comers what was given as grace. Grace given to others is never grace stolen from us.
The third prediction of the cross
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and on the way said to them:
"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 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day."
He says it now with more detail than before. Chief priests. Scribes. Gentiles. Mocking. Flogging. Crucifixion. Resurrection.
The cross is not a vague tragedy. It is a specific, prophesied event being walked toward day by day.
A mother's request
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to Him with her sons. She knelt before Him and asked something of Him.
He said: What do you want?
She said:
"Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom."
She wants the two highest seats in the Kingdom for her sons. James and John are reportedly Jesus' cousins (Salome, their mother, was likely Mary's sister). Family connection may have given her boldness.
But the request is breathtakingly ill-timed. Jesus has just predicted the cross again. They are asking for thrones.
Jesus answered:
"You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?"
They said: We are able.
He said:
"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."
They will indeed share His suffering. James will be martyred (Acts 12). John will suffer exile. But the seats are not the King's to give. The Father will assign them.
The other ten are indignant
When the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.
Not because they had asked something selfish — but because they had wanted the seats too.
The whole twelve had been quietly competing all along.
"It shall not be so among you"
Jesus called them to Him:
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave."
This is the constitution of the King's court. The world rules by domination. The Kingdom rules by service. The world counts greatness by how many serve you. The Kingdom counts greatness by how many you serve.
"Even as 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 heart-verse of Matthew. The Promised King did not come for thrones. He came for a cross. He came to give His life as a ransom — a payment to set captives free.
The disciples wanted thrones. The King came for a cross. And the only way to participate in His Kingdom is to walk His road.
Two blind men at Jericho
As they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed Him. Two blind men sitting by the roadside, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out:
"Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"
The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent. But they cried out all the more.
Jesus stopped and called them:
"What do you want me to do for you?"
He asked the same question He asked of the mother of James and John. They wanted thrones. The blind men want only sight.
They said: Lord, let our eyes be opened.
Moved with pity, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they recovered their sight and followed Him.
The chapter ends as it began — with the King's generosity to people the crowd tried to silence. The latecomers got the same wage. The blind men got their sight. The Kingdom of the Promised King is shaped throughout by mercy.
Closing prayer
Father, thank You that the King came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Save us from begrudging Your generosity to others. Save us from asking for thrones when You have called us to take up a cross. Make us great by making us servants. Open our blind eyes. And let us, like the two beggars of Jericho, rise and follow Him. In Jesus' name, amen.
