Who's the Greatest? / Matthew 20:20-28
Defining True Greatness
Martin Luther King Jr. once made this profound statement:
“Not everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato or Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”
Those words were deeply inspired by Jesus in Matthew chapter 20. That is the text we are looking at tonight as we kick off a four-week focus on service. I invite you to turn your Bibles to Matthew 20, where we will see what Jesus describes as true greatness.
Matthew 20:17-28 (NASB)
As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve [disciples] aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify [Him], and on the third day He will be raised up.’ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, ‘What do you wish?’ She said to Him, ‘Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.’ But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to Him, ‘We are able.’ He said to them, ‘My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on [My] left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.’ And hearing [this], the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ’You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and [their] great men exercise authority over them. ‘It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’
Jesus, our ultimate example of what it means to be great, tells us through His words and His life that true greatness in God’s eyes is defined by how we serve other people.
Now, we might look at Jesus’ words and think, That is very nice, but that just isn’t how the world works. How is this relevant for us today? One simple answer is that if we are followers of Jesus, if we profess Him as Lord and Savior, God’s call on our lives is to be conformed to the image of Christ. This is our sanctification. God transforms us day by day from the inside out so that our character and conduct are changed into the likeness of Christ.
Romans 8:29 (NASB)
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined [to become] conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
It is our calling—even our destiny—to become more like Christ. And a key way of becoming like Him is how we serve others in His name and with His love.
In Matthew 20:20–28, we see how Jesus defines greatness through an interaction with His disciples. There are really two main movements here: how not to be great in God’s kingdom, and how to be great in God’s kingdom.
How Not to Be Great: The Pursuit of Position and Power
Let’s start with how not to be great in God’s kingdom.
In verses 17 through 19, Jesus has just revealed that He will be betrayed, scourged, and crucified. Right after that, James and John—the sons of Zebedee—have their mother approach Jesus, bowing down to make a request. In the ancient Near East, people bowed before kings. Ancient monarchs prided themselves on granting sweeping royal favors. She is appealing to Jesus’ power and royalty, asking Him to command that her two sons sit at His right and left hand in His kingdom.
We might wonder why she would ask this immediately after Jesus spoke about His impending death. But earlier, in Matthew 19, Jesus had told the Twelve something remarkable.
Matthew 19:28 (NASB)
And Jesus said to them, ’Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
That promise was stuck in their minds: We get twelve thrones! They probably didn’t fully grasp the cross yet—maybe they assumed Jesus was being metaphorical about dying. So James and John thought, We are getting thrones anyway, why not ask for the two best seats?
The first way to hinder kingdom greatness in our lives is to make the pursuit of position and power our top priority. James and John wanted the highest status humanly possible. Their mother wanted greatness for them. As parents today, we understand wanting success for our children. Wanting greatness isn’t inherently evil—Jesus doesn’t rebuke the desire for greatness itself; He redirects how to achieve it. The problem comes when we equate greatness primarily with rank, status, and authority over others, and make that our driving ambition.
Jesus responds by asking, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” In Scripture, a “cup” represents one’s allocated destiny, whether of blessing or suffering. For Jesus, it was the cup of agonizing suffering and bearing the sins of the world on the cross—the very cup He would later pray about in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Matthew 26:39 (NASB)
And He went a little beyond [them], and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’
James and John confidently reply, “We are able.” I have been married twenty-two years, and I’ll confess: there have been times my wife asked me a question, I said yes, and I had no idea what she actually asked. Maybe they didn’t fully understand either. Yet Jesus gently tells them, “My cup you shall drink.”
They would indeed suffer. James became the first apostle martyred for his faith in Acts 12. John endured exile on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1. They were transformed from power-seeking men into sacrificial servants. But Jesus reminds them that places of honor are not His to give arbitrarily; they belong to those for whom the Father has prepared them. We must trust God to raise us up in His timing and according to His sovereign plan rather than obsessing over our own advancement.
How Not to Be Great: The Comparison Game
This leads to the second way we hinder kingdom greatness: being driven by the comparison game.
Matthew 20:24 (NASB)
And hearing [this], the ten became indignant with the two brothers.
When the other ten disciples heard what James and John asked, they were indignant. They weren’t mad out of righteous piety; they were mad because James and John beat them to the punch!
Throughout the Gospels, the disciples repeatedly fell into this trap. In Mark 9, they argued along the road about who was the greatest. In Luke 9, they argued about it again. Even at the Last Supper in Luke 22—the very night Jesus was betrayed—they were arguing about which of them was considered the greatest. Jesus, the Lord of glory, was in their midst preparing to give His life, and they were quarreling over rank.
Luke 22:24 (NASB)
And there arose also a dispute among them [as to] which one of them was regarded to be greatest.
Before we judge them, let’s look in the mirror. It is remarkably easy to fall into the comparison trap. On a normal day, you might feel completely content with your house, your car, your clothes, or your recent vacation. Then you open Instagram or Facebook. You see someone’s massive home in a nicer neighborhood, their newer car, their weight loss, or their European cruise, and suddenly your good vacation feels inadequate and your contentment vanishes.
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote:
“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man… It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.”
We don’t mind if others succeed, as long as we are slightly more successful. We don’t mind if others’ kids do well, as long as our kids do better. But that mindset produces division and resentment, completely undermining servant-hearted love.
How to Be Great: Pursuing Service as Our Top Priority
Jesus calls His disciples together and presents the antidote: the upside-down reality of the kingdom of God.
Matthew 20:25-28 (NASB)
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ’You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and [their] great men exercise authority over them. ‘It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’
Worldly greatness is about exercising control, climbing org charts, and lording authority over others. Kingdom greatness is entirely the opposite: whoever wants to become great must become a servant (diakonos), and whoever wants to be first must be a slave (doulos).
This does not mean Christians can never hold positions of leadership, influence, or authority. Many of you manage teams, lead companies, or hold civic responsibility. But Jesus teaches that your authority is not your identity. If God grants you influence, you are called to use it to serve and empower those under your care, not to dominate them. And if you never receive worldly acclaim, or if you lose a position through retirement, layoff, or circumstance, your worth remains secure because your highest purpose is serving others in love.
We don’t need a complex Greek word study to understand what Jesus is commanding. We understand it clearly; the challenge is living it out. It requires emulation.
Consider the life of Eric Liddell. Many know his story from the film Chariots of Fire—he won gold in the 400 meters at the 1924 Olympics and stood firm in his faith. But his true greatness unfolded afterward. He went to China as a missionary. During World War II, when the Japanese invaded, he stayed to provide food and medical care until he was sent to an internment camp.
Even in that camp, Liddell served everyone around him until his death shortly before liberation. One fellow prisoner said of him, “He gave me two things. One was his worn-out running shoes. But the best thing he gave me was his baton of forgiveness. He taught me to love my enemies and to pray for them.” He even gave up an opportunity to leave the camp during a prisoner exchange so a pregnant woman could go free instead. The world remembers him as an Olympic champion, but heaven honors him as a humble servant.
Driven by the Example and Power of Jesus
To be great in the kingdom, we must stop comparing ourselves to each other and fix our eyes on Jesus.
God has certain “incommunicable” attributes that belong to Him alone—omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. We will never share in those. But God eagerly shares His communicable attributes with us, especially His servant heart. At the Last Supper, Jesus wrapped a towel around His waist and washed the filthy, dusty feet of His disciples—including Judas.
John 13:14-17 (NASB)
’If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ’For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. ’Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor [is] one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ’If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Jesus took the lowest role. More than that, He gave His life as a “ransom for many”—paying the ultimate price to redeem us from slavery to sin, Satan, and death.
Philippians 2:3-8 (NASB)
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not [merely] look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus is our supreme model of humility, but He is more than an example: He is our source of strength. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Christ gives us the power to love selflessly. As Francis Chan observed in Crazy Love, “The fact is I need God to help me love God. And if I need His help to love Him, a perfect being, I definitely need His help to love other fault-filled humans.”
Living Out Kingdom Greatness
How do we apply this today?
First, check your heart. Do you measure success by the world’s standards or by God’s standard of sacrificial service? Make it your daily prayer: Lord, give me a servant’s heart. Cultivate the mind of Christ in me.
Second, look for the practical opportunities right in front of you. Recently, I was at Starbucks with my youngest son, Gabriel, and my dad. We were reading John 13 together, and I asked Gabe, “Who has God placed in your life that you could serve more?” Before Gabe could answer, my dad chimed in: “You could serve your mom!”
We don’t have to search far. God has placed family members, neighbors, coworkers, and friends around you who need the love of Christ shown through practical kindness. Sometimes it happens unexpectedly. About a year ago at our Fig Campus, I met a woman who shared that she started coming to church after her car broke down in the rain. She had no working phone and was stranded until a young Christian couple pulled over and helped her. That simple act of service brought her and her sister back to church and into relationship with Jesus.
Finally, let’s serve corporately. Through initiatives like Serve Fresno, we have the joy of joining together across neighborhoods and alongside other churches to bless our city. As Brad wrote in our church calendar:
“There’s something powerful about people whose hearts have been changed who speak and live the gospel, because the proclamation of good news is amplified by good deeds that therefore bring goodwill… May we be a people of faith on the move who don’t simply attend a church gathering, but allow the gospel that is changing who we are on the inside to evidence itself in good deeds on the outside.”
Let’s be a church that lives outside its walls, finding true greatness in following the Son of Man, who came not to be served, but to serve.