Matthew 20:20 begins an interesting account in the Gospels:
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “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.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them.
It's interesting to me what Jesus did NOT say: "Shame on you all for being so selfish and wanting to have the highest places!" The other disciples thought this, but Jesus didn't. In fact, He didn't seem bothered by her request. He simply wanted to know -- do you know what you're asking?
True greatness in God's kingdom requires total humility, obedience and servanthood. It comes by way of suffering. If the disciples wanted to be great, they would have to drink the cup of suffering that Jesus was about to drink.
That would indeed happen later in their lives, but at Jesus' betrayal, arrest and crucifixion, all of the disciples would flee for their lives to avoid suffering.
I can only imagine how disgruntled and upset the other disciples were at James and John. I can also picture how defensive those two disciples got at the accusations ("Don't you talk about my momma like that!")
I love how Jesus handled the turmoil. He gathered the group together and got to the core of the issue, which was pride. He reminded them that they were servants, in fact, slaves of one another. You can get mad at somebody who wants to lord things over you and boss you around, but how can you get mad at someone who wants to be your servant?
Jesus defused the entire situation by taking the pride out of it -- so all of the strife had to go too. Jesus told them they could all be great, but it was going to come through serving one another, laying down their lives. They could go to the very top if they were willing to go to the lowest place.
And He was the example.
