Matthew 20:22

But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto Him, We are able. He turns …

There follows: "You are my friends." O how great is the mercy of our Creator! We are not worthy to be servants, and we are called friends. How great is the dignity of men to be friends of God! But you have heard the glory of this dignity; hear also the labor of the struggle: "If you do what I command you." "You are my friends, if you do what I command you." As if He were saying openly: You rejoice at the height; consider by what labors one arrives at the height. Surely when the sons of Zebedee, through the intervention of their mother, sought that one should sit at the right hand of God and the other at the left, they heard: "Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They were already seeking the place of exaltation; the Truth calls them back to the way by which they might come to exaltation. As if it were said: The place of exaltation already delights you, but first let the way of labor exercise you. Through the cup one reaches majesty. If your mind desires what pleases, first drink what causes pain. Thus, thus through the bitter cup of affliction one arrives at the joy of salvation.

For there are two kinds of martyrdom: one in the mind, another in the mind together with action. And so we can be martyrs even if we are not slain by any sword of persecutors. For to die at the hands of a persecutor is martyrdom in open deed; but to bear insults, to love one who hates us, is martyrdom in hidden thought. For that there are two kinds of martyrdom, one in hidden deed, another in public, the Truth testifies, who asks the sons of Zebedee, saying: "Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" When they immediately answered Him: "We can," the Lord at once replied, saying: "You shall indeed drink my cup." For what do we understand by the cup except the suffering of the Passion? Of which He says elsewhere: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." And the sons of Zebedee, that is, James and John, did not both die through martyrdom, and yet both heard that they would drink the cup. For John did not end his life through martyrdom, yet he was a martyr, because the suffering that he did not undergo in body he preserved in mind. Therefore, by this example, we too can be martyrs without the sword, if we truly guard patience in our soul.

But Jesus answering, said. Here the response is set forth; then the murmuring of the others, at and the ten hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brothers. And regarding the first, he does three things. First, he rebukes their foolishness; secondly, he …

They knew not what they asked, for they were asking of the Lord a seat in glory, which they had not yet merited. The honourable eminence liked them well, but they had first to practise the laborious path thereto; Can ye drink of the cup that, I shall drink of?

Ye know not what is implied in being advanced in my kingdom, and necessarily prerequired thereto. All who share in my kingdom must first share in my sufferings. Are you able and willing to do this?

Peter and they were his favourites; John was the disciple whom Jesus loved; yet none were so often reproved as they; whom Christ loves best he reproves most, Rev. iii. Here is the ambitious address they made to Christ--that they might sit, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom,

Christ's answer is very mild; they were overtaken in the fault of ambition, but Christ restored them with the spirit of meekness. How he reproved the ignorance and error of their petition; (1.) They were much in the dark concerning the kingdom they had their eye upon; they dreamed of a temporal kingdom, whereas Christ's kingdom is not of this world.

It is but a baptism; if dipped, that is the worst of it, not drowned; perplexed, but not in despair. Baptism is an ordinance by which we join ourselves to the Lord in covenant and communion; and so is suffering for Christ, Ezek. xx. Baptism is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace;" and so is suffering for Christ, for unto us it is given, Phil. i.

But Jesus answered, and said,.... To her two sons, ye know not what ye ask.

Ye know not what ye ask - How strange is the infatuation, in some parents, which leads them to desire worldly or ecclesiastical honors for their children! He must be much in love with the cross who wishes to have his child a minister of the Gospel; for, if he be such as God approves of in the work, his life will be a life of toil and suffering; he will be obliged to sip, at least, if not to drink largely, of the cup of Christ.

The first thing that we should notice in these verses is the clear announcement which the Lord Jesus Christ makes of his own approaching death. For the third time we find him telling his disciples the astounding truth that he, their wonder-working Master, must soon suffer and die. The Lord Jesus knew from the beginning all that was before him.

The first thing that we should notice in these verses is the clear announcement which the Lord Jesus Christ makes of his own approaching death. For the third time we find him telling his disciples the astounding truth that he, their wonder-working Master, must soon suffer and die. The Lord Jesus knew from the beginning all that was before him. The treachery of Judas Iscariot, the fierce persecution of chief priests and scribes, the unjust judgment, the delivery to Pontius Pilate, the mocking, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the cross, the hanging between two malefactors, the nails, the spear— all all were spread before his mind like a picture. How great an aggravation of suffering foreknowledge is those know well who have lived in the prospect of some fearful surgical operation! Yet none of these things moved our Lord. He says, “I was not rebellious; neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting” ( Isaiah 50:5–6 ). He saw Calvary in the distance all his life through, and yet walked calmly up to it without turning to the right hand or to the left. Surely there never was sorrow like unto his sorrow, or love like his love. The Lord Jesus was a voluntary sufferer. When he died on the cross, it was not because he had not power to prevent it. He suffered intentionally, deliberately, and of his own free will ( John 10:18 ). He knew that without shedding of his blood there could be no remission of man’s sin; he knew that he was the Lamb of God, who must die to take away the sin of the world; he knew that his death was the appointed sacrifice which must be offered up to make reconciliation for iniquity. Knowing all this, he went willingly to the cross: his heart was set on finishing the mighty work he came into the world to do.