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Greatness Looks Different Here (Matthew 20:17-28)
📨 THEKNGDOM | July 5th, 2025
Title: “Greatness Looks Different Here”
Passage📖: Matthew 20:17–28
Date: July 5th, 2025
📺 Want to watch the full teaching? Click here to view the July 5th, 2025, Lesson.
👋 Introduction to Today’s Lesson
Hey Everyone,
Thanks for pausing to enter this sacred space again — not just to learn more about the Kingdom, but to let it form us.
Today’s passage takes place as Jesus is headed toward His most painful moment. He knows what’s waiting in Jerusalem: betrayal, torture, death. Yet He walks with intention and clarity.
But even as He speaks of suffering, His disciples are still grasping for greatness.
This is one of those moments where the contrast is jarring — between the way of Jesus and the way of the world, between how power is usually wielded and how it’s meant to be held in the Kingdom.
If we listen closely, Jesus isn’t just correcting a misguided request — He’s giving us a whole new definition of greatness.
Let’s dive in.
⏪ Recap from Last Week (Matthew 20:1–16)
Last week, we explored a parable that stretched our understanding of fairness. Jesus told the story of a landowner who paid workers the same wage — whether they started at dawn or in the final hour.
To many, it felt unjust. But in the Kingdom, grace always offends our sense of merit.
The Kingdom doesn’t reward the most efficient — it embraces the willing.
The last aren’t left out. And the latecomers? They’re right on time.
If you missed it or want to revisit the reflection, you can read last week’s newsletter here.
📖 Scripture: Matthew 20:17–28 (ESV)
17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,
18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death
19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”
23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
🧭 Context & Background
Jesus and His disciples are nearing Jerusalem, the religious and political epicenter of Jewish life — and the place of His coming crucifixion.
This moment isn’t just a warning. It’s a turning point.
The request from James and John’s mother — to place her sons at Jesus’ right and left hand — reflects a common cultural understanding of honor and hierarchy. In Greco-Roman society, those closest to the throne held the highest status. It was a world obsessed with visibility and dominance.
Jesus uses the moment to contrast two models of leadership:
Rome’s model: Power is used to dominate, distance, and control.
The Kingdom’s model: Power is used to serve, restore, and draw near.
And to make the point clearer, He draws their attention not to emperors — but to Himself:
“The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve…”
This redefinition of leadership is shocking in any era — but especially in a world where greatness was measured by proximity to power, not proximity to pain.
💡 Key Takeaways
1️⃣ Ambition Needs Reorientation
Jesus had just revealed—again—that He was on His way to Jerusalem to suffer, be mocked, and die. And what’s the next thing that happens?
James and John’s mother kneels before Him… asking for positions of honor.
It’s hard not to miss the irony.
He’s talking about laying down His life.
They’re talking about elevating theirs.
But before we judge too quickly—how often do our own prayers echo the same tone?
We ask God for promotions, platforms, recognition… and forget we’re following the One who poured Himself out.
Jesus doesn’t crush the request—He redirects it.
“Can you drink the cup I’m about to drink?”
In the Kingdom, ambition isn’t canceled. It’s repurposed.
Not toward status, but servanthood.
Not to be exalted, but to be poured out.
The call isn’t to greatness as the world defines it — it’s to greatness as Jesus demonstrated it: downward, sacrificial, and rooted in love.
2️⃣ The Kingdom Doesn’t Rank — It Receives
When Jesus says, “These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father,” He’s reminding us of something critical:
Position in the Kingdom is not earned. It’s appointed.
And it’s not a hierarchy to obsess over.
Unlike the systems of this world, where proximity to power means importance, the Kingdom of God doesn’t operate on that scale.
We are not ranked — we are received.
We are not measured — we are known.
Remember what we heard just last week?
Those who came last received just as much as those who came first.
The vineyard owner didn’t pay by merit — he paid by mercy.
So don’t worry about your standing.
You are already seen, already valued, already loved by the Father.
3️⃣ Power in the Kingdom Looks Like Service
Jesus couldn’t be clearer:
“The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them… not so with you.”
In the world, power often means domination, influence, and control.
It’s used to elevate self, command attention, and demand loyalty.
But in the Kingdom?
Power means proximity. Power means service.
Jesus flips the entire model of leadership on its head.
The greatest one isn’t the one who gets served — it’s the one who serves.
Not the one who ascends — but the one who stoops low.
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve — and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
If our leadership looks more like lording than loving — we’re not leading like Jesus.
And if our greatness isn’t expressed through sacrificial love — we’ve missed the point entirely.
Challenge of the Week
We live in a culture that tells us to climb ladders, chase titles, and prove our worth.
But Jesus offers a different way — a deeper way.
This week, take inventory of your ambitions.
What are you praying for?
What are you working toward?
Ask yourself:
Is this about recognition, or about love?
Is this about being lifted up, or about lifting others?
Is this about sitting at the top, or kneeling to serve?
🛑 Stop striving to be seen.
✅ Start looking for someone to serve.
Whether it’s in your workplace, your home, or your community — choose one moment this week to go low. To do the quiet thing. The sacrificial thing. The Kingdom thing.
Because the real path to greatness doesn’t run up a ladder — it runs through a cross.
🌿 Final Word
The world honors those who rise above.
But the Kingdom honors those who bow low.
It’s easy to crave recognition.
To want to know where we rank.
To chase the feeling that we’ve done enough to be rewarded.
But Jesus doesn’t call us to prove ourselves.
He calls us to follow Him — and trust that the Father has already prepared a place for us.
So release the race.
Let go of the pressure to be seen, first, or exalted.
Because in the Kingdom:
The last are first.
Those who serve are the ones who lead.
And the cross precedes the crown.
You are already valued.
You are already chosen.
Now go live like someone who’s been loved —
and let that love spill outward in service.
Let the world see a different kind of greatness.
The kind that looks like Jesus.