We Are Able

Matthew 20:17-28

Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?

The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.

It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.

For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.

Dillard, Annie. Teaching a Stone to Talk (p. 49). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition.

Matthew 16:24 HCSB

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.

What exactly does it look like in 2022 to ‘deny one’s self, take up his/her cross, and follow Jesus?’

We Jesus followers use that clear call often. I wonder if we really understand what we are speaking.

In Matt 20 Jesus privately shares with His disciples one more time what will happen to Him when they arrive inn Jerusalem - Matthew 20:18-19

Matthew 20:18–19 HCSB

“Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death. Then they will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified, and He will be resurrected on the third day.”

This last explanation is the most detailed of all three. Jesus outlines the process by which He will be arrested, tried, and handed over to the Roman authorities who reserved the right of capitol punishment. He reminds His disciples that even though He will die, He will be ‘resurrected’ on the third day.

Just as the previous occasions, the disciples respond. The first time Jesus shared what would happen Matthew 16:22

Matthew 16:22 HCSB

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, “Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to You!”

The second time Jesus tells the disciples of what awaited Him, Matthew simply records that they were deeply distressed (Matt 17:23).

On this occasion, the disciples response follows a different pattern:

Matthew 20:20–21 HCSB

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached Him with her sons. She knelt down to ask Him for something. “What do you want?” He asked her. “Promise,” she said to Him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and the other on Your left, in Your kingdom.”

John and James’ mother simply wanted whats best for her children. Jesus sees through her request as He addresses John and James:

Matthew 20:22–23 HCSB

But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” “We are able,” they said to Him. He told them, “You will indeed drink My cup. But to sit at My right and left is not Mine to give; instead, it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

At this the other ten became ‘indignant’ or as the NKJV translates, ‘greatly displeased.’ I also appreciate Eugene Peterson’s translation in The Message:

“When the ten others heard about this, they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers.” (Matthew 20:24, The Message)

Jesus uses their response as an opportunity to explain to all of them - and all who will follow Him - what it means to deny one’s self, take up one’s cross, and follow Jesus.

Matthew 20:25–28 HCSB

But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and the men of high position exercise power over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must 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.”

Redefine Your Identity

First, ‘Deny your self.’ Let’s be clear what Jesus is not saying. He is not saying that we who follow Him are to suppress our unique giftedness and nature. He is not telling us - contrary to what many of my friends thought we heard when we were teenagers: to follow Jesus means going to some remote tribe in Africa and being eaten by cannibals.

What is Jesus asking of us?

A. We are NOT LIKE THE WORLD

“On the contrary...” Again, the Message translation is helpful:

“It’s not going to be that way with you. ” (Matthew 20:26, The Message)

Over and over again non-believers look at churches where people are bickering, where people are jockeying for positions of authority and leadership, churches where people gossip incessantly about one another and ask:

WHY WOULD I WANT TO BE PART OF THAT?

To be different begins with a redefinition of our identity - we are ‘servants’/slaves.’

B. What is a servant/slave?

One source tells us that:

The main sources of ancient slaves were warfare, piracy, brigandage, the international slave trade, kidnapping, infant exposure, natural reproduction of the existing slave population and the punishment of criminals to the mines or gladiatorial combat.

J. Albert Harrill, “Slavery,” in Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 1125.

In Jesus’ world - as in our own - to be a servant/slave was not a desirable position. To be identified as a slave/servant was to be denied even basic human rights. Yes, there have always been generous and caring slave-owners, but they are by far the minority.

Slaves/servants are generally in that position because of some failure, some weakness, some disastrous choice.

And yet, Jesus willingly and even cheerfully describes Himself as a slave, as a servant.

Are we ‘able’ as John and James claimed to willingly forsake our ‘rights, privileges’ and offer ourselves as mere servants?

Paying the Price

When defining what a disciple was to be, Jesus said that each must ‘carry their own cross.’

When John and James’ mother asked Jesus to assure her that her sons would be given positions of prominence and responsibility Jesus asked the two men:

Matthew 20:22 HCSB

But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” “We are able,” they said to Him.

The ‘cup’ to which Jesus referred

is to be understood in connection with OT language where it is an image for being overtaken by disaster

John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2005), 820–821.

The disaster which Jesus anticipated He identified in vs 17-19.

John and James were not being asked to give their lives to crucifixion. Only Jesus was and is qualified to offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice.

So, what does ‘take up your cross’ or ‘drink this cup’ mean?

A. Discovering God’s strength in our weakness

We often have an inadequate understanding of Jesus;. Yes, He willingly gave Himself for our sin, but never mistake willingness for cheerfulness.

The pain which Jesus experienced was excruciating. Being crucified is understood to be one of the cruelest forms of torture and death invented by human beings.

At every step Jesus had to depend on God’s strength to persevere. Later in Matthew’s gospel Jesus will pray -

Matthew 26:39 HCSB

Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

John and James were being promised that their future would be painful, difficult, filled with experiences that we can only begin to imagine.

Prior to his marriage to his first wife - who would die in Burma - Adoniram Judson wrote to his soon to be father in law these words:

I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean;

to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress;

to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death.

Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of and the glory of God?

Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"

Anderson, Courtney. To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson (pp. 80-81). Judson Pr. Kindle Edition.

His wife would die in Burma after bearing four children - of whom none survived.

What is the ‘cross’ we have been asked to carry?

B. Facing the Future with Assurance

Each time Jesus spoke of His death He also spoke of something that had no precedent: He will be resurrected!

Yes, Jesus had ‘raised’ the dead to life. However, in Jesus’ case ‘resurrection’ meant that He would never die!

When we ‘take up our cross,’ when we ‘drink the cup’ we are acknowledging that no matter what is asked of us, no matter how costly it appears, we will respond with confidence, knowing that God has promised us a life beyond what we are experiencing here and now.

Follow Me

Jesus is not calling any of us to do that which He Himself did not do.

Matthew 20:28 HCSB

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

Read any of the four Gospels and watch as Jesus gives and gives of Himself. Yes, He gets weary. Yes, He gets hungry and thirsty. Yes, He gets discouraged.

But Jesus always gives of Himself fully. Whatever the need, whatever the circumstance, Jesus willingly meets the need.

On one occasion a leper - an unclean person with highly a highly transmissible skin disease falls before Jesus and asks

Luke 5:12 HCSB

While He was in one of the towns, a man was there who had a serious skin disease all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged Him: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

Jesus’ response:

Luke 5:13 HCSB

Reaching out His hand, He touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean,” and immediately the disease left him.

Jesus not only spoke a word, He touched the leper - risking His own health, risking the anger of those around Him.

When we choose to follow Jesus we are being asked to lay aside our reputation, our health, our hopes and dreams in favor of serving as a slave the needs of those whom God brings into our lives.

We are Able?

Zero in on the last few words from Matthew 20:28

Matthew 20:28 HCSB

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

Three times Jesus has told His closest followers that He will die in Jerusalem and be raised.

Here He explains why He must die.

Jesus’ understanding of His death and resurrection is explained in words written nearly 700 years before His birth.

Isaiah 53:12 HCSB

Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

God created each of us to live in an ongoing daily relationship with Him.

Sin has wrecked that relationship. Sin captures us, binds us to wrong behavior, attitudes and actions that are self-destructive and that seek to destroy others.

Self-discipline cannot set us free from sin. Yes, self- discipline can change our habits. But self-discipline alone cannot change our inner disposition.

Only accepting the truth that Jesus died the death we should have died because of sin will set us free from the disposition that naturally prompts us to sin.

Jesus clearly spells out that His death and subsequent resurrection are the only way to find release from the sinful nature that is aimed at self-destruction and destroying others.

His death is in place of you for the God ordained penalty of sin is death.

Dying for us, experiencing the resurrected life for us in God’s promise that we who ‘deny self,’ ‘take up our cross’ and ‘follow Him’ will also discover resurrection life.

We are able…because He enables us!

Are you trapped by some sin in your life?

Accept that Jesus died and was raised that you might have freedom

Are you fearful of whatever it might cost you to follow Jesus?

Let His example remind you that God’s strength is made known in and through our weaknesses.

Are you wondering of life is worth living?

Ask Jesus to set you free, acknowledge that sin has cut you off from all God wants for you, believe that Jesus died on the cross and was raised for you, and proclaim your willingness to follow Him today-

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