Matthew 20:17-28

New Testament for Everyone

The cup he had to drink

¹⁷ Jesus was on his way up to Jerusalem. He took the twelve disciples aside in private, while they were on the road, and said to them, ¹⁸ “Look here. We’re going up to Jerusalem. The son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they’re going to condemn him to death. ¹⁹ They will hand him over to the pagans, and they’re going to mock him, flog him and crucify him. And on the third day he will be raised.”

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came up, with her sons, to Jesus. She bowed low in front of him and indicated that she had a special request to make.

²¹ “What d’you want?” he asked her.

“It’s about these two sons of mine,” she said to him. “Please say that, when you’re king, they may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left.”

²² “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” said Jesus. “Can you two drink the cup I’m going to drink?”

“Yes, we can,” they replied.

²³ “Well,” said Jesus, “so you will drink my cup, then! But sitting at my right and left is not something I can grant. That’s up to my father to give to whoever he has in mind.”

²⁴ When the other ten heard this they were annoyed with the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus called them together.

“You know how it is with pagan rulers,” he said. “They lord it over their subjects. They get all high and mighty and let everybody know it. ²⁶ But that’s not how it’s to be with you. If any of you wants to be great, he must be your servant. ²⁷ If any of you wants to be first, he must be the slave of all. ²⁸ That’s how it is with the son of man: he didn’t come to have servants obey him, but to be a servant—and to give his life as ‘a ransom for many.’ ”