One thing that I have seen throughout my life is an idea that anyone of us can fall into where we believe that our situations dictate our enjoyment of life. Several years back my wife made a friend through working at the school. The friend wasn’t a Christian and had a lot of marital problems. The idea this friend had was if they could only get out of Quartzsite, then their marriage would strengthen.
So this friend and her husband moved back to live with her parents, and for the first few years it did seem to work. But the problems that they had left behind in Quartzsite followed them to their new home, and struck an even deeper blow.
It’s true that environment can play a part in depression. If can play a part in worry, in anxiety, in our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. But if we’re not content with what God has for us; if we are not trusting in him, then our environment is the least of our problems, and as the saying goes, the grass is not always greener on the other side.
And it’s this idea of being satisfied that brings us back to our study in the Matthew’s Gospel, where we will be picking it back up in verse 16 of chapter 19. And as we do, we need to look at the overarching questions and themes of Matthew just to see the flow of thought we’ve been following.
Chapters 1-7 could be summed up in the question “who is Jesus?” Through the situations Matthew gives us, and Jesus’ first sermon, the answer that the Holy Spirit leads us to is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Messiah. In that, he is the prophesied prophet like Moses and the king like David. Additionally, it is revealed through both situations and Jesus’ own words, that he is not just another Messiah figure, but God descended to his creation.
The question that the second section seeks to answer is, “what should we build our lives on?” The answer is Jesus’ word. Section two takes Jesus’ final words from section one and unpacks them through chapters 8-10.
Following this, section three answers the question, “who can be a disciple of Jesus?” The answer to this third question is seen in chapters 12-14 and is anyone who does the will of God the Father.
Finally, in the section we finished last week, the question was, “what type of faith is a disciple of Jesus supposed to have?” Jesus answers this question by using a child as an illustration. Jesus’ disciples are to have a child-like faith. One that trust and follows God implicitly.
This brings us to the fifth section of Matthew, where Jesus’ authority takes center stage, and the question is answered, does Jesus have the authority?
Since the beginning of our Matthew study, we’ve been reading entire passages at once to see the overarching themes, which these summer series are intended to look at. In this case the passage we need to read through is almost fifty verses long. So instead, we’re going to break up the passage into parts. That being said, I want to highly encourage you to read this entire section as a whole on your own this week.
Let’s read together, starting in verse 16.
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
This is a pretty well-known story of Scripture. This passage kicks off with the question by a young man that has a lot of wealth; this is the passage which is usually referred to as the Rich Young Ruler. We read, that the young man asks Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
This leads into an exchange between Jesus and the young man that leads to his wealth. Jesus lists several commands that must be followed. The young man is adamant that he has kept these. But when Jesus brings up his wealth, the reader should come to realize that though this young man might have kept the commands of God that pertain to his interactions with people, he hasn’t kept the commands of God that pertain to God himself.
This is where we first encounter Jesus’ authority. Notice what Jesus doesn’t say. Jesus doesn’t say, sale everything and follow God. No, he says sell everything and follow me. The two are actually the same thing. This young man is keeping the commands of God when they pertain to the people, and maybe because of this he has gained wealth. Yet, when the call was on this young man’s life to give all that wealth up to follow Jesus, to follow God, the young man couldn’t.
As the young man walks away, Jesus makes an observation, wealth is an obstacle that is hard to come. Why? Because wealth gives a sense of security, but our security should be found in God himself. By not following Jesus, the young man proves that he does not keep the commands of God, especially the first one which states, “You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3).”
But it’s not the young man that we need to be paying attention to, it’s the disciples. Following Jesus’ observation they reply with…
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
The disciples are of two mindsets here. First, the prevalent thought that wealth equals God’s blessing is apparent in their question, “Who then can be saved?” This is actually a question that is dealt with in the book of Job, and many other times throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Jesus’ reply of “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” points to his authority and his ability to save people from all backgrounds and situations.
The other mindset we see in the disciples is a selfish one. They point to what they have left behind. They did what the rich young man could not. So what will they get. Jesus answers them frankly. The will receive a throne, or a seat of authority to judge the tribes of Israel. Yet in Jesus’ response he gives a caveat, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” This statement harkens back to the last section and the ending of the first. In both cases, humility is a sign of those who are in the kingdom. This is the child-like faith that Jesus wants from his disciples.
From here, Jesus goes straight into a parable, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
This parable seeks to help the disciples understand this concept of receiving gratefully what God has given and seeking to be humble in our reception of his gift of salvation. It is our sinful nature’s desire to put ourselves first. Richard Dawkins, a well-known atheist understands this. In his book, the The Selfish Gene, he writes, “Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are all born selfish.” Where Dawkins chalks this up to our desire to survive due to genetics, the Scriptures reveals, that it stems from a desire to be like God and therefore a sinful act (Genesis 3).
But Jesus’ disciples are to take with grateful hearts whatever God gives us. Whether that be thrones on which to judge, or simply the presence of God himself; our gifts from God are given by the will of God. And yet the greatest gift is salvation, because it brings us out of our eternal death and into God’s eternal life.
And it’s that gift of salvation and the price that it is bought by, that Jesus brings into perspective in verse 17.
“17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
Jesus’ the prophet like Moses, the king like David, the God descended to his creation to bring it back to himself; this Jesus is the one on whom the authority is given to dull out the gift of salvation, and he does this through his death and resurrection. The implication here is, if Jesus is willing to humble himself to die on the cross to bring salvation to people, how much more should his disciples live in a humble way? Rejoicing over the work of God that brings the gift of God to people. No greater work has been done, and we who are his should rejoice and be thankful for any and all things that our God has brought to us.
But what is the very next thing we are brought to in Matthew? Let’s read in verse 20.
20 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. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 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.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 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. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 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.”
And this is the right hook that should knock us upside the head. Why is Jesus’ the greatest in the Kingdom? It’s not just because he’s God, though this by itself would be enough. No, it’s compounded on the fact that Jesus doesn’t just call his disciples to do the things, that he himself is not willing to do. No, Jesus is the greatest, because being at the highest position in the kingdom, God himself, he makes himself the least in the kingdom, being killed by his creation.
The mindset of these disciples is completely off the mark. Let’s rework these few verses. First, if these first two disciples were in the right mindset, they would never have brought their mother to ask a favor on their behalf, because whatever position in God’s kingdom that Jesus would have granted them, should be all that they wanted. I mean they were going to be given thrones from which to judge.
But let’s say that they did just like we saw them do. The rest of the disciples should have responded, with humble acceptance that Jesus can and should do as he pleases. It is his kingdom after all. But none of the disciples were in the mindset that Jesus wanted them in. None, were humble in their acceptance of the positions that Jesus had in store for them. And all of them revealed that they were just like that rich young man. They didn’t have the wealth to give up, but they had their pride. They had their entitlement to be who they wanted to be, rather than humble acceptance of the gifts God had in store. They showed that they were the workers who worked harder than others and demanded more pay from their Master.
These verses end with a response that God is looking for. Dropping down to verse 29, we read, “29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”
34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Jesus gave them their sight, the gift to be able to see and their response was, to follow him. And that’s what a disciple of Jesus’ response should be. They were given a gift most of Christians would have loved to experience, they walked and talked and were sent out in the presence of Jesus. Yet they couldn’t see the simple thing they needed to do. When we receive gifts from God, the right response is to simply follow him.
It’s not to demand more, it’s not to look around and complain that others have it different. It’s to rejoice that we have what Jesus has given us and that we get to follow him.
It’s really easy to fall into the trap, of a “more” mentality. Jesus I want more of this or that. I want more influence, I want more wealth, I want more spiritual power, I want more, more more. When in reality the only thing we should want more of is Jesus himself. And we are to be satisfied on what he gives us.
The kingdom is vast, it’s blessings unbounded, we must rejoice at what blessings rain down on us, and on our brothers and sisters. We must thank God for what he is doing in their lives and what he is doing in our own. If they seem to be getting greater things for less work, we should rejoice with them. If it seems we are getting less for greater work, we must rejoice that this is what Jesus has given us.
God is calling us to a rejoiced and be satisfied in our relationship with him. In times of trouble or times of peace, both come from the hand of God and we must be satisfied in them.
I want to challenge you this week. Look around and see what are those hard things that God has given you, that others do not have? Ask God to fill you with rejoicing by the power of the Holy Spirit. Also look around at the things that others have been given that you haven’t. Ask God to fill you with rejoicing by the power of the Holy Spirit. That you would thank him for all that he has done, and hasn’t done in your life. Seek that God would be your satisfaction this week.
We are not called to desire thrones of power, that is what the enemy desires and humanity fell because if it. No, we are to be a people who desire God himself and are satisfied in him alone. Let us therefore seek true satisfaction this week and be a people who proclaim and practice that satisfaction. Amen.
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