Resource Detail

JESUS PREDICTS HIS GLORIOUS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

 

Matthew 20:17-34

Key Verses: 20:18-19

 

    "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed

     to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will

     condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be

     mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be

     raised to life!"

 

STUDY QUESTIONS

 

 

1. What did Jesus again tell his disciples about his immediate future?

   Why did he refer to himself as the "Son of Man" (Jn 1:14)? How is

   God's world salvation work revealed in verses 18-19? By whom and why

   was he tortured and killed?

 

2. What is the meaning of his death? (Isa 53) What does it mean that on

   the third day the Son of Man will be raised to life? What is our

   living hope? (1Pe 1:3-4)

 

3. Read verses 20-28. What did the mother of Zebedee's sons request?

   Why? Did she understand Jesus? How did he answer? Why could he not

   give them what they asked? Why were the ten indignant?

 

4. What did Jesus teach them all about true greatness? Why did they

   need this lesson?

 

5. What did the blind man believe about Jesus? Why did the crowd try to

   silence them? What did Jesus do? What was their request? How did

   Jesus respond to their request?

 

 

JESUS PREDICTS HIS GLORIOUS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

 

Matthew 20:17-34

Key Verses: 20:18-19

 

    "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed

     to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will

     condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be

     mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be

     raised to life!"

 

     In the last passage we learned Jesus' generosity and hard work.

Jesus was compared to a landowner and this landowner went out to get

workers at 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Usually a daily work agency opens its office at 8:00 a.m. and hires

people for two hours and then closes. But Jesus in the parable works

all day long from 6:00 in the morning to 5:00 p.m. We also see our Lord

Jesus Christ's generosity. Jesus agreed with those who came at 6:00

a.m. to give them one denarius. But he also gave one denarius to those

who came at 5:00 p.m. If we are generous like our Lord Jesus Christ,

our hearts might be like the summer ocean. However, most of us have big

bodies, but have hearts like the eye of a needle. May God bless us to

have a heart like Jesus. In today's passage Jesus teaches his disciples

his glorious death and resurrection. But his disciples were still

earthbound and didn't listen to him. He taught them to the end instead

of arguing with them. Finally, there is a conclusive story about two

blind men. This is Easter Sunday.  May God penetrate into our souls and

plant Jesus' glorious death and resurrection in our hearts so that we

may have life on earth and eternal life in God's house.

 

First, the Son of Man (17-19). Look at verse 17. "Now as Jesus was

going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to

them...."  Jesus finished his earthly messianic ministry with his

divine compassion and God's love. He also taught his disciples as time

permitted. They were on their last journey to Jerusalem. Starting from

Galilee, Jesus came to Jericho around that time. Jesus took the twelve

disciples aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and

the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers

of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to

the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day

he will be raised to life!" (18,19) In these short verses Jesus

concisely manifested God's plan of salvation work; more specifically,

Jesus' death and resurrection. Here in verse 18 Jesus professes himself

to be "the Son of Man." In Mark's Gospel "the Son of Man" is repeated

more. But Matthew saw Jesus as the King. He didn't use the words "the

Son of Man" frequently. "The Son of Man" is a most exquisite

description of himself. "The Son of Man" reveals his incarnation. John

1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We

have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the

Father, full of grace and truth." Originally, Jesus is God. He was with

God and nothing was made without him. But he renounced his glory and

power and his righteousness as God and came down to this world and

lived among men. John interpreted the meaning of "the Son of Man" in

such a beautiful way that anybody can understand the meaning of "the

Son of Man." The incarnation of Jesus is full of grace and truth. Here

the word "grace" in Greek means, "charis." "Charis" is the root of all

the beautiful words in the Bible. "Eucharitis" in Greek means beautiful

and wonderful. The Son of Man who came to this world and lived among us

is indeed beautiful and wonderful, as we have studied in the last

several chapters. He is full of grace, but also he is full of truth.

What is truth? Truth is never-changing, universal and invaluable. The

things of the world all perish and spoil and fade away. Where on earth

is such a thing that does not? Yes, there is Jesus who is truth.

Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and

forever." Most people wander while living in this world, not knowing

their specific direction of life or destination of life. But Jesus, as

our advocate, embraces us and passes us through the twelve pearly

gates. Jesus is full of grace and truth. This Son of Man will be

betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. The chief

priests and the teachers of the law are chosen people to do the work of

God. They are chosen people to take care of God's flock of sheep. But

they all became thieves. Now we see that they will condemn Jesus, and

because they do not have the right to pronounce the death sentence,

they will hand him over to the Roman governor to be crucified. In this

way the Son of Man was arrested and mocked and flogged and crucified

and died. The death of Jesus is to save men from their sins. The death

of Jesus is to bring his children to God's house. Ultimately, the death

of Jesus destroys the power of sin and death with God's love. The death

of Jesus is in fact the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. The death of

Jesus is the universal love of God to save men from their sins and

bring them back to God. If we study hard, it is easy for us to

understand Calculus II. If we study a little more, we can also

understand Linear Algebra and we can understand the principles of

politics, economics, medicine, astronomy, and speech. But it is not

easy for us to understand the death of the Son of God. When we look up

at the cross, sometimes we feel sorry. Sometimes the Son of God's

crucifixion looks pathetic, so pathetic that we cannot but cry. But we

should not look up at the Son of Man's crucifixion with

sentimentalism.  Isaiah 53 expressed the Son of Man's death on the

cross so vividly and so meaningfully. While on earth the Son of Man

healed the sick and preached the gospel to the poor.  And with great

divine compassion he healed men with leprosy and opened the eyes of the

blind. But the Son of Man was despised and rejected by the Pharisees

and the teachers of the law. How painful it is for us to know. They

should have been the most close co-workers of Jesus.  But they despised

and rejected the Son of Man. They made the Son of Man a man of sorrows

and familiar with sufferings. They made the Son of Man like one from

whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and they esteemed him not.

Jesus only loved them and healed them and preached the good news of the

kingdom of God.  But the old Christians, the Pharisees and the teachers

of the law, never esteemed the Son of Man.

 

     Outwardly, the Son of Man's death on the cross looked pathetic.

But by being crucified on the cross he carried our sorrows. "He carried

our sorrows" means that each person has his or her own sorrows, even if

he or she is a prince or a princess. Most people are, in one way or the

other, deeply wounded in their souls. They are crying day and night.

Last night, I saw a beautiful and attractive teenage girl. I told her

to have hope of meeting her father in the kingdom of God by believing

in Jesus. She shed many tears. But our Lord Jesus Christ took up our

infirmities and carried our sorrows. He was also pierced for our

transgressions and he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment

that brought us peace was upon the Son of Man; by his wounds we are

healed. In actuality, Jesus told his disciples his sufferings, death

and rising again on the third day.  But they only heard two words:

"sufferings" and "death." They missed the words, "On the third day he

will be raised to life!" Therefore, their despair was beyond

description. Sorrow and fear overpowered their souls.

 

     What then does it mean that on the third day the Son of Man will

be raised to life? It means that Jesus will be resurrected on the third

day after his death on the cross. It means that Jesus will be the Risen

Christ.  These days "Jesus Christ" is sometimes not properly used. But

the original meaning of "Christ" is King of kings and Lord of lords and

he is the Judge sitting on a throne with his twelve disciples in the

kingdom of God. Why is the resurrection of Christ so important? Once

Billy Graham said, "We can live without sex, but we cannot live without

hope." This quotation might be one of his best ones. That's true. There

is an 87-year-old man who is in bed dying. His wife is 25 years younger

than he.  Because the dying man has a legal first wife, the second wife

is no more than the old man's concubine. But this lady cried and cried

for three weeks, looking at her grandfather-like husband. It was

because she was crushed that her old husband was perishing moment by

moment, and it was because she largely depended on him as her hope and

trust. So I said, "Man is like grass. Don't depend on him. Depend on

God who gave us his one and only Son. By being crushed for our

iniquities the Son of Man brought us peace and the living hope." Since

then, the lady who was crying in the power of darkness could see the

beam of light. Now she sees that Jesus is the one who is worthy of

trusting, and Jesus is the living hope. As long as she had her

87-year-old husband she never accepted the word of God. Now Jesus is

her trust and living hope.

 

     There is no living hope in this world. 1 Peter 1:3,4 says, "Praise

be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy

he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never

perish, spoil or fade---kept in heaven for you...." Last night I talked

with a girl. I asked her, "Which school are you going to enter and what

are you going to major in?" She said she is going to Northwestern

University. She also wants to major in chemical engineering. This can

be her hope for the time being. But it is not an everlasting hope. Only

the kingdom of God established by the blood of Jesus is an everlasting

hope. We go to God's house. We pass through the pearly gates of the

kingdom of heaven. We can meet all whom we have missed earlier. We can

be like Christ and we can talk to Christ face to face. Therefore,

Jesus' death and his resurrection is indeed glorious.

 

Second, "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" (20-28). Those

disciples who did not hear the word about the glorious resurrection

were bewildered. The mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her

sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. "What is it you want?"

he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit

at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom" (20-21).

Obviously these two sons were John and James and the woman was their

mother. She believed the earthly messianic kingdom they thought Jesus

would establish.  There she wanted her sons, John and James, to be top

cabinet members.  Jesus did not answer her, but he turned around to his

disciples and said, "You don't know what you are asking." Here we learn

how to fish HNWs.  "You don't know what you are asking. Can you drink

the cup I am going to drink?" Unanimously they answered, "Sure! We

can." Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to

sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to

those for whom they have been prepared by my Father" (23). Jesus had

not yet been crucified and become the Risen Christ. So he answered them

in this way.

 

     When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two

brothers (24). Peter might have thought that he left his mother-in-law,

his wife, his Little Peter, and his fishing business which was

prospering. He was young. He was very committed to Jesus according to

his own words.  Once he said to Jesus, "Lord, why can't I follow you

now? I will lay down my life for you" (Jn 13:37). Peter had confidence

in himself that he was the most committed to Jesus and the most loyal,

and he was the most curious. In addition, he thought that nobody could

defeat him in arm wrestling. When Peter saw these two sneaky guys using

the favor of their mother, he was very upset. But because of Jesus he

tried to cool himself down until he felt that his two eyes were bulging

out. He overcame himself, breathing hard. Let's see what Jesus said to

them. Look at verses 25-27. "Jesus called them together and said, `You

know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high

officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead,

whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and

whoever wants to be first must be your slave...." Jesus knew that they

all wanted to be the President of the United States. Jesus also

understood they were living in a man's world where there are those

competing, defeating, crushing, smashing and rising to power. The

disciples must have watched Roman soldiers in very elegant and

fashionable army uniforms marching around Jericho City where most

business was going on. If someone is a man, he cannot escape from this

ambition to become the President of the United States.  One young man

said that he dreamt twelve times that he became president of his

country. But each time when he opened his eyes, he was not a president

but a factory boy. Many young people fail in their youth because they

only want to be somebody great instead of preparing to be a great man

in the future. What Jesus said to them was indeed annoying to their

ideas. The disciples might have been wishing to wield power and display

glory by following Jesus. But he was saying that "the rulers of the

Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority

over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great

among you must be your servant...." Because of their spiritual

immaturity, even Bartholomew didn't want to serve the top disciple

Peter. Rather, he wanted to be served by Peter, the top disciple. Look

at verse 27. "...and whoever wants to be first must be your slave...."

This verse clearly tells us that spiritual greatness and authority come

from serving others and spiritual authority and power come from serving

others with divine compassion. In the spiritual world, great men are

not ones who are being served, but ones who serve. Look at verse 28.

"...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and

to give his life as a ransom for many." In this verse Jesus clearly

teaches them how to be good shepherds, and how to be truly great men in

the sight of God. Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to

serve and to give his life as a ransom sacrifice. This verse tells us

that Jesus didn't mind, even if he gave his life in serving others.

Jesus was indeed happy to serve others who are in need. Finally, he

gave his body and blood as a ransom sacrifice.

 

     These days the most frequent words people use are "It is

practical," or "It is not practical." In the service of God there is no

"practical" or "not practical." We must serve others like a servant

with the clear purpose to lead them to Jesus who is the Son of Man,

King of kings and Lord of lords. God's house is not an entertainment

house. It is the house of prayer for all nations. It is the place where

people discuss how to serve God better. During the last one week, JBF

members were preparing their Easter messages, their testimonies,

singing for singspiration, and even many kinds of skits. They were

helping each other and staying up until 12:00 midnight. They looked

happy indeed. They looked as if they were ready to do anything for

others for the preparation of the Easter Conference. People think there

are only worldly joys. But that's a terrible mistake. There is a

spiritual joy that passes all human understanding.  When we serve one

another in Jesus Christ we experience that our hearts are glad and our

souls are rejoicing in the Lord. Those who are only served always feel

miserable and there is the danger that they will get diabetes or high

blood pressure. But if we work hard in the service of God we are indeed

happy. One young man from Northwestern began to help our

second-generation missionaries' orchestra. Now he is smiling, looking

at people around him. So he is frequently misunderstood. He also smiles

looking at the sky, even on cloudy days. Some think he needs a doctor's

help, but he does not need a doctor's help. True happiness does not

come by receiving something or by being served by others. True

happiness comes when we serve others in the name of Jesus Christ.  When

we have no money, even a cup of cold water given to the needy is

remembered by God. Let's bring this joy to this country through our

prayer and earnest Bible study and by receiving one rejection after

another for the purpose of carrying out one-to-one Bible study. Let's

read verse 28 together. "...just as the Son of Man did not come to be

served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

 

Third, "Lord, Son of David" (29-34). When we study about the disciples,

we see that finally their names were spread all over the world. When we

visited a communist country, we found so many named with a disciples'

name such as Andrea, Johannes, Natasha and so on. It is because the

disciples learned how to serve others in the name of God and

experienced heavenly joy. Look at verse 29. "As Jesus and his disciples

were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him." This verse shows us

a clear picture that Jesus was like a general and his twelve disciples

were lieutenant generals, and the large crowd of people who were

following him were well-disciplined soldiers. They also look like they

were marching to Zion, the city of Jerusalem. The entourage of Jesus

was indeed glorious at the moment. But Jesus was not going into

Jerusalem as a triumphant general but to take up the cup of suffering

and death. Anyway, when they formed a large crowd and followed Jesus,

it looked spectacular.

 

     Two blind men were sitting by the roadside. When they heard that

Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on

us!" (30) Those who were following Jesus were Jesus' people. But let's

see how they helped these two blind men. "The crowd rebuked them and

told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, `Lord, Son of

David, have mercy on us!'" (31) They were almost grabbed and thrown

away. We cannot say that this crowd, even though they followed Jesus,

were Jesus' people in their divine integrity. They were just a crowd of

people.

 

     Jesus stopped and called the blind men, "What do you want me to do

for you?" "Lord," they answered, "we want our sight" (32,33). Jesus'

heart went out because of his divine compassion on them and he touched

their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and they also

followed him. Here we learn two things. First is they knew the Son of

God. At that time people were waiting for the Son of David as the

Messiah of the Jews.  Waiting for the Messiah's return began from the

time of Jesus' ascension, when Jesus was ascending to heaven. The

disciples really wanted Jesus to come back even after one hour. At

Pentecost there were 120 people in Mark's upper room and they prayed.

The Holy Spirit came upon them.  What they wanted was not sufficient

food or future success, but Jesus' coming again as the Messiah of the

Jews. Jesus' coming again had been the main idea. Later it became a

traditional idea to the Christians. The fact that the two blind men

shouted all the more means they knew that the Son of David was the

Messiah. People persecuted them, but they called out "Son of David,

have mercy on us!" Here we learn that even though they were no more

than blind beggars, they had firm faith in the Messiah, the Son of

David. Second is when Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for

you?", they answered, "We want our sight." It is indeed amazing. They

had a chance to meet the Messiah, the Son of David. But they didn't ask

to become Prime Minister like James and John. In view of history, not

knowing what they want, many people have perished. But these blind

beggars knew what they wanted.

 

     Today we studied about Jesus' glorious death and resurrection. We

also learned that it is not easy to learn the true concept of Jesus'

death and resurrection; it is simply because we are full of human

calculation.  But we can learn from the blind beggars' great faith in

the Messiah, the Son of David.