Matthew 20:17-34

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.' "

Ok, so I was thinking about this verse, started breaking it down and I think I found something pretty cool. Bear with me.

So Jesus asks the Zebedees if they are "able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" Matthew 26:39 shows this same language, and I think any commentary would agree "drink this cup" is a euphemism for "experience this suffering". Agreed? Good.

My first thought was that Jesus was saying that to sit at His right and left, the Zebedee boys would need to drink His cup, or suffer. I was confused, however when Jesus said that the seating arrangement was decided by His Father, not by Christ Himself. So what gives?

In verse 23, Jesus apparently answers two questions:

Answer 1 - "My cup you shall drink"
Answer 2 - "but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give"

Wait a minute, there was only one question, right? Verse 21 shows the mother asking "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left". Where's the second question? Jesus is answering the very assumption that they would even be in His kingdom! This is cool because Jesus takes that a lot more seriously than the Zebedee's concern of the seating in heaven. I will attempt a paraphrase here: Jesus basically said "Well, whoever is sitting to the right or left of Me isn't My call. But let's talk about you even coming to my Kingdom in the first place. If you think you're going to join Me, you better be ready to pay the price."

I found this very exciting because it makes it so much more applicable to me! I'm not going to Christ to request VIP seating, but I do want to be with Him in glory! And to that request, Jesus is telling me, "are you ready to suffer?" I better be ready to answer.

I love the Bible. No matter how much I think I've "figured out" a passage or verse, something new jumps out. Living and active, indeed.

P.S. Ryan or anyone, feel free to pick apart my logic.

Lord, help me to be ready to suffer for you. Help me to be willing to join You not only in Your glory and Your resurrection, but also in Your sufferings and trials.