MATTHEW 20:17-34 Key verse: 28. The King serving Those surrounding the King in the last days of His public ministry: The Mind of the Master; the perplexity of the disciples; the Master’s attitude towards the needs of the people.
THE MIND OF THE KING, v.17-19
- He knew what was before Him at the hands of men: there was no speculation or questioning if it would happen; there was accuracy in the details; there was a calm knowledge of things ahead.
- He knew what was ahead of Him was by the determined counsel of God: suffering; resurrection on the third day; He always decaled the fact of the resurrection when He told of His death; there was a clear vision of the coming darkness and the coming light beyond the darkness. He knew of the suffering and pain and also of the triumph.
- He took His disciples apart to give details: He was getting them ready for the pathway before them, He was filling their minds so they could make sense of what happened even though they could not understand now.
- They later remembered and moved ahead with His work after Pentecost.
THE MIND OF THE KINGDOM, v.20-28
- The disciples still believed He was coming into His kingdom then.
- They obviously had faith in Him to ask for positions in the kingdom.
- They were devoted to Him. They thought they could go all the way with Him. Peter made a blunder, but it was by one obviously devoted to his Lord.
- They had faith in Christ personally but were still self-seeking. The desire for power and precedence was then and has not gone away now.
- The Lord was patient: He allowed them the fellowship of His sufferings. The power, precedence and place is given those for whom it has been prepared. It is not done in an arbitrary fashion. God prepares a man for the office, not the office for the man. The one qualification is willingness to others.
THE MIND OF THE KINGDOM REVEALED TO THE MULTITUDE, v.29-34
- There was an act, either of faith or hope shown by two blind men.
- The mind of the crowd was they thought He was too lofty to respond to two blind beggars.
- The crowd had a wrong idea about the kingdom.
- The King stops all movement, His and the multitude, and acts to meet the needs of the two men because of His compassion. This is the mind of the kingdom
- He corrects their false ideas of the kingdom; He corrects their false idea of dignity; He corrects their false idea of place; He corrects their false idea of power as it pertains to the kingdom of God.