SERMON XIII.

The Request of James and John.

ST. MATTHEW xx. 20-23.

"Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children, worshipping Him, and desiring a certain thing of Him. And He said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto Him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other on the left, in Thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto Him, We are able. And He saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father."

HAD they understood that in those well-known

words, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church," our Lord meant to confer any supremacy on that Apostle, the two sons of Zebedee would scarcely on the occasion before us have ventured to ask the highest places

in His kingdom for themselves. They desired to sit on His right hand and His left. And the request is a remarkable instance of that slowness and dulness of heart with which our Blessed Lord had to deal, even among them who were nearest to Him and understood Him most. For you observe that it was made immediately after a very clear prediction of His Cross and Passion. "Jesus took the twelve disciples apart, and said, Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the Chief Priests, and they shall condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify." And then, we read, came the mother of Zebedee's children, and her sons, with this petition for the first places in His kingdom. So little had they comprehended His words, that they were yet dreaming of some temporal sovereignty, a revival of the empire of Solomon, which their Master was going up to Jerusalem to establish, and in which they desired to be pre-eminent. You may judge how great was the solitude of heart, the isolation in which the Incarnate Son abode on earth, when even His intimates and closest followers could so little sympathize with His purposes, or enter into His thoughts. That mighty plan of man's redemption which He was

revolving in His mind, there was not one who could appreciate it, not one with whom He could solace the thought of the coming agony by counsel taken together; He had to bear its burden alone. And yet the ignorance and dulness displayed in the request of the two Apostles was not unmixed with faith, and faith of a very real kind. They had less ground even for believing in a temporal sovereignty than in a spiritual kingdom. To come for exaltation to the carpenter's Son, to One whom men despised, whom the nation abhorred, whom the Synagogue had cast out, and the rulers of their Church were seeking to destroy; to believe Him to be a King, who had not where to lay His head, and whose very sustenance was due to the ministrations of friends-truly there was real faith in this. And there was also love. To sit on His right hand and on His left, this was their wish; to be nearest to Him, to have Him ever by their side.

And now we turn to our Lord's answer, "Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ?" He does not deny that there are high places in His kingdom, but He unveils the terms on which only they may be won. Nearest to Him they

might be, but then it must be a nearness in selfabasement, self-sacrifice, and suffering. He was a King, it is true; but do you remember where He was saluted, where He was proclaimed as such? In His Passion; on His Cross: "This is Jesus the King of the Jews." And while this was meant in mockery, it was overruled by God to proclaim deep truth; for then it was that He did indeed exhibit Himself as King of men-King of them all in patience, self-sacrifice, and love. Christ is our King, not merely by an arbitrary appointment of the Father, but because He has won the right to be so by shewing qualities in which none can approach Him; a grandeur of soul, a tenderness, a self-abasement, an endurance, a strength, a power over Himself, before which the world still stands amazed, and which attract even unbelievers. "Between Thee and God the world will see no difference;" this is the inconsistent acknowledgment of one who writes specially against the truth of His Godhead, a confession forced from him by the inimitable virtues exhibited in that holy life, and most of all in that self-sacrificing death. And as these were the titles to His Kingship, so they are the standard by which are measured all gradations in His kingdom. They shall sit on His right hand and

His left, who have been most like Him, who have most of His spirit of self-sacrifice, who have most of His control of self, His readiness to spend and be spent for His brethren. It is he that humbleth himself who shall be exalted in that kingdom. And hence Christ's words to James and John, "Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ?" Pre-eminence in patience, in meekness, in forgiveness-did they understand that this was the only patent of honour in His palace? And if they were ready to seek this, were they ready to pay the price by which they must obtain it? For to form in them these virtues, many a pang, much searching discipline would be needed, many a sacrifice must be made, and many a hope disappointed; and could they bear this? were they ready for it? The very terms Christ uses spoke of suffering: the poison cup was not seldom used of old as a mode of execution-you remember the hemlock of Socrates; and water was sometimes the instrument of death-we read of being drowned in the depth of the sea. They were terms, moreover, which their acquaintance with the Old Testament would have connected in the Apostles' minds with suffering "the cup of trembling," "the cup of