Matthew 20

Selfish ambition rebuked

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached Him, with her sons, and kneeling down she asked something from Him. 21 So He said to her, "What do you wish?" She says to Him, "State that these my two sons may sit one on Your right and one on Your left in Your kingdom." 22 But in answer Jesus said: "You (pl.) do not know what you are asking.*Jesus sees that the sons had put their mother up to it and answers them, not her. Are you able to drink the cup which I am about to drink, or to be baptized with the baptism that I am being baptized with?"*Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit "or be baptized with the baptism that I am being baptized with" and also the corresponding clause in verse 23 (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). They say to Him, "We are able." 23 And He says to them: "You will indeed drink my cup, and you will be baptized with the baptism that I am being baptized with, but to sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give; rather it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."*We may well be surprised at the Father’s choices.