20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 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. 23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matthew 20:20-23 KJV)
Thomas Scott
Verses 20-23: Perhaps Zebedee, the father of James and John, was dead before this time; or he wads not so constant a follower of Christ as his wife was; so that she is mentioned as “the mother of Zebedee’s children.”—At their desire, in their name, and with them, she prostrated herself before Christ, and besought him to grant her one request; seeming to expect that he would engage his word before the petition was made. And, when required to propose it, she asked that her two sons might have the chief places of honor and authority in his kingdom. Our Lord had been discoursing of his sufferings, death, and resurrection; but the apostles were too prejudiced, in that particular, to understand his meaning. They were however, continually expecting that he would appear in his glory; and probably Salome had respect to the twelve thrones which he had promised to the apostles; the two principal of which she wished to engage for her sons; being emboldened to make such a request, by the special favor which our Lord had shown them. But Jesus told her and them, that they knew not the nature or consequences of their request; for the chief preferment’s which he had to bestow would expose those who obtained them to the largest share of suffering. He therefore demanded, whether they were able to drink of his cup, and to be baptized with his baptism? He was about to be betrayed, condemned, scourged, mocked, and crucified; and were they prepared to drink after him of this cup, and to be initiated into his service by this baptism? Either they did not duly attend to the meaning of the question, or they had to great a confidence in themselves, when they answered, that “they were able.” He assured them, however, that they would be called thus to follow him through sufferings and persecutions, and that they would be enabled to endure them for his sake; but that the highest honors of his kingdom were not now to be disposed of by him to gratify the ambition of any favorite. In this sense they were not his to give, as Mediator, “save to those for whom they had been prepared of the Father;” for that concern had been previously determined in perfect harmony between the Father and the Son.—(The words in Italics, “it shall be given,” rather obscure the meaning, and may well be spared.)—James was the first of the apostles who suffered martyrdom: John survived all the rest, and is not supposed to have died a violent death. He, however, endured hardships and persecutions, stripes, contempt, and suffering, from the enmity of the world, for the sake of Christ and the gospel; and thus it may be said that he drank of Christ’s cup, and was baptized with his baptism.—Our Lord might indeed, by a strong figure of speech, be said to have been immerged in sufferings, when he endured the wrath of God as the propitiation for our sins; but the lighter afflictions of the apostles, connected with abundant joys and consolations, must be allowed, in this sense, to have been another and a far milder kind of baptism than his. ‘None of Christ’s disciples imagined he had promised the supremacy to Peter; for then neither would these two persons have desired it, nor would the rest have contended for it afterwards.’—Whitby.