ACC ~ Matthew 20 v20 - 28

OVERVIEW:

The disciples made a salutary error in seeking special privilege. It became the occasion for our learning that to desire a good work is good but to desire honor is not in harmony with the kingdom. When the disciples so readily said “we are able” it was not so much by the boldness of their own hearts as by the ignorance of the trials ahead. To the unknowing, war is a desirable thing. To the inexperienced, the trial of death seems to be a light thing (INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW). The ecclesiastical histories show that in due time the spirit of martyrdom was not lacking and that James and John did drink the cup of confession (JEROME). Just as James and John would not have made their request if they possessed spiritual understanding, so the ten would not have been saddened if they had understood the spiritual meaning of what had taken place (INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW). Jesus simultaneously removed the envy of the ten and the arrogance of the two. Eminence within this community is not like status in the world (CHRYSOSTOM). Whoever pursues boasting, while the Lord pursues humility, does not reflect the image of Christ. And one who is a lover of riches in this age, while the Lord is a lover of poverty, repels the likeness of Christ. A person is not a true disciple who does not imitate his or her teacher; nor is it a true image that is not like its creator (INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW). So you need not be too annoyed if your honor is cast down. No matter how much it is lowered, you will not descend as far as your Lord descended. And yet the deep descent of one has become the ascent of all. His glory shines forth from these very depths (CHRYSOSTOM).

20:20 | Asking Jesus for an Honor

THE BEWILDERMENT PRECEDING THE REQUEST

CHRYSOSTOM: Yet none of these things that he had done caused them to be courageous, even when they were continually hearing about his resurrection. It troubled them deeply to hear not only about his death but about him being mocked and scourged and the like. For when they considered his miracles just done, the possessed persons whom he had delivered, the dead whom he had raised, all the other marvelous works which he was doing, and then heard about his death, they were amazed, if it should be the case that he who did these works would then be destined to suffer. Therefore they fell even deeper into bewilderment. They now believed, now disbelieved, and could not understand his sayings. So far at least were they from understanding clearly what he said that the sons of Zebedee simultaneously came to him and spoke to him of precedence. “Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 65.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:618; NPNF 1 10:398.

THE MOTHER CAME

CHRYSOSTOM: It seems that both the mother and the two sons of Zebedee together came to him, with the purpose of making their supplication stronger and in this way to prevail with Christ. Mark well how Christ responds to them, and you will see better through their motive, since the request was doubtless their own, but they put forward their mother to make it. [1] THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 65.2. [2]

[1] Recounting this same episode, Mark 10:35 has only the two sons speak and the mother remain silent. Chrysostom takes this inconsistency, accentuated by the fact that in Matthew the mother makes the request but Jesus answers the two sons, into account and explains it in the manner that follows.

[2] PG 58:618; NPNF 1 10:398.

20:21 | Places in the Kingdom

THESE TWO SONS

HILARY OF POITIERS: The literal sense of this is that the mother begged the Lord for the sake of her two sons. But the spiritual sense is deeper and full of symbolic significance: Think of the analogy as that between the disciples of John the Baptist and the apostles. Both [groups] suffered. Both [groups] were to die. They were the two sons of Israel who were struggling against the Pharisees. After John had suffered and died, some of his disciples came to inquire of the Lord. The supplication is that both [groups] of these callings might be equally treated in the kingdom, since both [groups] believed in the gospel of Christ. [1] ON MATTHEW 20.11. [2]

[1] Why Hilary of Poitiers here interprets the two sons as analogous to the two dispensations of the Baptist and the Lord is a mystery, but it well illustrates the tendency in patristic exegesis to look for some analogy, even if feeble, when numbers of any sort emerge in the sacred text.

[2] SC 258:114-16.

20:22 | Are You Able to Drink the Cup?

THE CUP IS SUFFERING

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: The cup and baptism [1] are not one. For the cup is suffering, but baptism is death itself. Moreover, baptism is said to closely resemble dyed wool. For just as wool, having a natural color, is dipped so that it be colored purple or some other color, so we also descend into death as corporeal beings and rise again as spiritual beings. As the apostle said, “We are sown in infirmity; we rise in strength; we are sown in baseness, we rise in glory; it is sown an animal body, it will rise a spiritual body.” [2] Indeed, every death contains in itself suffering, but every suffering does not also contain in itself death. For there were many who suffered and were not killed; such are the confessors. They all indeed drank the cup of the Lord but were not baptized by his baptism. HOMILY 35. [3]

[1] It is Mark’s Gospel that mentions baptism: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mk 10:38).

[2] 1 Cor 15:43.

[3] PG 56:828.

WE ARE ABLE

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: They say, “We are able.” They say this not so much by the boldness of their own hearts as by the ignorance of the trial. For to the unknowing, war is a desirable thing, just as to the inexperienced, the trial of suffering and death seems to be a light thing. For if the Lord, when he had entered into the trial of his suffering, was saying, “Father, if it can be done, let this cup pass from me,” [1] by how much more would the disciples not have said “we are able” if they had known what the trial of death was like? Great indeed is the grief that suffering holds, but death holds even greater fear. HOMILY 35. [2]

[1] Mt 26:39.

[2] PG 56:828.

20:23 | Prepared by the Father

THE ACTUAL DEATHS OF JAMES AND JOHN

JEROME: It is asked how the sons of Zebedee, namely, James and John, drank the cup of martyrdom when Scripture says that such an apostle as James was beheaded by Herod, [1] but John ended life with a natural death. But if we read the ecclesiastical histories, we see it related that even John himself for the sake of martyrdom was sent into a vat of boiling oil and from there proceeded as an athlete to win the crown of Christ. [2] Immediately he was sent away to the island of Patmos. So we shall see that the spirit of martyrdom was not lacking and that John drank the cup of confession, which even the three boys in the furnace of fire drank, [3] although their persecutor did not shed blood. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 3.20.23. [4]

[1] Acts 12:2.

[2] See Tertullian Prescription Against Heretics 36; ANF 3:260.

[3] Dan 3:23.

[4] CCL 77:178.

FOR THOSE FOR WHOM IT HAS BEEN PREPARED

JEROME: “To sit at my right and at my left is not mine to grant to you, but to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” must be understood as follows: the kingdom of heaven does not belong to the one giving but to the one receiving. “For there is no respecting of persons with God.” [1] But whoever has proven himself in such a way that he is made worthy of the kingdom of heaven will receive what has been prepared, not for a person but for a life. If therefore you are such that you pursue the kingdom of heaven which my Father has prepared for the triumphant and victorious, you also will receive it. Others wish that it was spoken about Moses and Elijah, whom they had seen speaking with him a little earlier on the mountain, [2] but this view does not seem at all plausible to me. The names of those sitting in the kingdom of heaven are not spoken, lest the rest be considered excluded by the few who are named. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 3.20.23. [3]

[1] Acts 10:34.

[2] Mt 17:3.

[3] CCL 77:178-79.

NOT MINE TO GRANT

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: And he says to them: “Indeed you shall drink my cup, and you shall be baptized by the baptism by which I am baptized, but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to grant to you, but to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” [1] Did he not have the power to appoint whomever he wished, since it was written, “The Father loves the Son and gave all things into his hand?” [2] But Jesus did not thus reprove their request. He did not want to make them dispirited and fainthearted. For it is not easy to restore one’s strength for hoping about the future once one falls from that for which he had hoped. Moreover, the Lord did not wish to accept their request, in order not to sadden all the others. For it was necessary, to the extent that they even considered such things, to this extent that they be strengthened without the help of the Holy Spirit. If the society of that entire kingdom should be divided among these two, if John is secure at his right and James at his left, what then are we to do? For what do we now hope? For this reason we have followed him, so that we may be found remaining with those chosen from our midst. In labor we have been like them. But it is better that we be not like them in seeking honor. For it was necessary that they who had not yet been made spiritual should think of carnal things. For if their request was not accepted and they all were disturbed, why did they even dare to seek this very thing? How much more would the others have been disturbed if their request had been accepted? Thus he neither said “You will not sit” in order not to confuse the two; nor did he say “You will sit” in order not to anger the rest. But what did he say? “This is not mine to grant to you, but my Father.” Although kind and provident, the Father thus arranges and ordains all things so that among like-minded brothers the love of the brotherhood is not broken. See how he neither disturbed any of them or made them hopeful, saying, “It is not mine to grant to you, but my Father.” For what is not promised specifically to one or two is hoped for by all. HOMILY 35. [3]

[1] Mk 10:39.

[2] Jn 3:35.

[3] PG 56:828-29.

20:24 | The Ten Indignant

THE TWO AND THE TEN

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: “And the ten, upon hearing this, were saddened concerning the two brothers.” Just as the two carnally sought privilege, so also the ten carnally were saddened for the lack of it. For just as the two, if they had understood spiritually, would not have requested that they be put above the others, so also the ten, if they had understood spiritually that some are before them, would not have been saddened. For to wish to be above all is indeed blameworthy, yet to hold up another above oneself is truly glorious. O beneficial error, which absolves the error of the entire world! For if the apostles had not erred thus, where might they have learned that not everything that seems good to desire is good, because it is deceptive? Some might argue that it is bad to desire, bad, just as greed and theft are bad. Now we know indeed that to desire a good work is good. But to covet the first place of honor is vanity. Now we are better able to distinguish between the good of a good work and seeking the first place of honor. For to fulfill a good work is of our will and of our work and labor, on which account the reward is ours. But to pursue the first place intrudes upon the judgment of God. I do not know if we deserve to attain any reward of justice from the first place of honor if we seek it out for ourselves. HOMILY 35. [1]

[1] PG 56:829.

20:25 | Lording It Over Others

HE CALLED THEM ALL TO HIM

CHRYSOSTOM: What then does Christ say? “He called them to him, and said, ‘The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them.’ ” He drew them near to him at the very moment when they were disturbed and troubled, and he calms them by his invitation to come near. Picture the two as standing near him. They had already separated themselves from the company of the ten, pleading their own interests. Therefore Jesus brings all of them near him. By this very unifying act he calms the passions of the two and the ten. He exposes and reveals their plea in the presence of all. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 65.4. [1]

[1] PG 58:622; NPNF 1 10:401.

THE RULERS OF THE GENTILES LORD IT OVER THEM

CHRYSOSTOM: And now he corrects them, in a different way than before. Whereas before he brought little children into their midst and called them to imitate their simplicity and lowliness, now he admonishes them in a sharper way from the opposite direction. He says, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men 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.” Loving the first place is not fitting to us, even though it may be among the nations. Such a passion becomes a tyrant. It continually hinders even great men. So it needs to be treated more severely.

Note how deep the Lord strikes into them by comparing them with the heathen, shaming their inflamed soul. At the same time he removes the envy of the one and the arrogance of the other. In effect he is saying, “When you, the ten, are insulted, do not be moved with such indignation. For James and John harm and disgrace themselves most by seeking the first place. That puts them among the last. For eminence within this community is not like status in the world. For the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over others, but here the very last is counted first. And if you want proof that I speak truly, look at what I am doing. Look at what I do and suffer. Let the proof of my teaching be my life. For I have done what I commend.” For being King of the powers above, he was willing to become man and submitted himself to be despised and despitefully treated. And not even with this lowliness was he satisfied, but he even came to die. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 65.4. [1]

[1] PG 58:622; NPNF 1 10:401.

20:26 | Being a Servant

SERVING IN THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: With regard to this point, we were made in the image of Christ so that we might become imitators of his will and conduct. How were we created toward the likeness of his greatness? He indeed was able to imitate our flesh, yet we are not able to imitate his divinity. But we are being made in his image so that what seems good to him may also be good to us, and what seems bad to him may also be bad to us. Whoever pursues boasting, while the Lord pursues humility, is not the image of Christ. And he who is a lover of riches in this age, while the Lord is a lover of poverty, repels from himself the likeness of Christ. He is not a true disciple who does not imitate his teacher; nor is it a true image which is not like its creator. HOMILY 35. [1]

[1] PG 56:832.

20:27-28 | Not to Be Served but to Serve

A RANSOM FOR MANY

CHRYSOSTOM: He says, “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” It is as if he were saying, “I willed not even to stop at death but even in death gave my life as a ransom. For whom? For enemies. For you. If you are abused, my life is given for you. It is for you. Me for you.”

So you need not be too picky if you suffer the loss of your honor. No matter how much it is lowered, you will not be descending as far as your Lord descended. And yet the deep descent of one has become the ascent of all. His glory shines forth from these very depths. For before he was made man, he was known among the angels only. But after he was made man and was crucified, so far from lessening that glory, he acquired further glory besides, even that from his personal knowledge of the world.

So fear not then, as though your honor were put down. Rather, be ready to abase yourself. For in this way your glory is exalted even more, and in this way it becomes greater. This is the door of the kingdom. Let us not then go the opposite way. Let us not war against ourselves. For if we desire to appear great, we shall not be great but even the most dishonored of all.

Do you see how everywhere Jesus encourages them by turning things upside down? He gives them what they desire but in ways they did not expect. In the preceding passages we have shown this in many instances. He acted this way in the cases of the covetous and of the proud. So you can see why he asks whether we are giving our alms to be seen by others. To enjoy glory? Do not do this for glory, and you will enjoy it more. Why do you lay up treasures? To be rich? Try laying up no treasures, and then you will be rich. And in this case, why do you set your heart on sitting in the first place? That you may have the honor before others? Try choosing the last place; then you will enjoy the first. That is how things work in the kingdom. If it is your will to become great, then do not seek greatness and you will become great. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 65.4. [1]

[1] PG 58:622-23; NPNF 1 10:401-2.