High above the mountainous terrain of western Iran is a massive 2500-year-old inscription carved into solid rock.
It’s called the Behistun Inscription, and it was commissioned by the Achaemenid Persian King Darius the Great to declare to the world just how powerful and amazing he was.
The image itself depicts King Darius (standing nearly twice as high as an ordinary man) overlooking a train of rival kings who are all now captive and defeated.
They are all chained to one another by the neck as slaves, and Darius, holding a powerful war bow, has his foot firmly on the chest of his first victim.
Looking over the scene from above and giving his blessing to Darius is Ahuramazda, the chief Persian deity.
Here’s some of what the inscription around the image says.
“I am Darius, the great king, king of kings, the king of Persia, the king of countries… Ahuramazda has granted unto me this empire.” -Behistun Inscription
He then goes on to describe how exactly he punished and overpowered each of his enemies. Here’s just a brief example:
“Phraortes was taken and brought unto me. I cut off his nose, his ears, and his tongue, and I put out one eye, and he was kept in fetters at my palace entrance, and all the people beheld him. Then did I crucify him in Ecbatana…” -Behistun Inscription
It goes on and gets a lot more gruesome, if you can believe it. I’m going to spare you the (literally) gory details.
But the point is this. To anyone passing by, the message was clear: “You’d better think twice about challenging the might of Persia. We are the ones with all the power.” At least, that was the message until a new empire arose to challenge Persia. And then another empire arose to challenge that one. And so on and so on…
Each empire dominated by those with the will to seize power for themselves, leaving a trail of bloodshed in their wake. Each one found new and creative ways to lord it over their enemies. “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
It’s a tale as old as time. It’s how the world is run.
But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if there was a different kind of kingdom ruled by a different kind of leader? Well, that is our topic for today.
SERIES RECAP
We are back in the gospel of Matthew. This is the home stretch! We began our multi-part exploration of Matthew last Easter, and we’re going to end it this Easter.
A whole year (off and on) exploring some of the most important teachings and actions of Jesus in the whole Bible. By the way, if you want to dig deeper or watch past sermons from this mega-series, you can find them all on our new app.
As we’ve explored the gospel, three major themes have emerged again and again. Matthew is a:
Discipleship Manual - instructions on how to follow Jesus
Story of Fulfillment - drawing together dozens of threads from the Old Testament in Christ
Kingdom Manifesto - a radical depiction of Christ’s kingdom as completely “upside-down” when compared with the values of the world.
For example, in its complete inversion of power and authority.
In a world full of imperial propaganda: Behistun inscriptions and Roman triumphal arches and Nazi iconography - Jesus brings a truly radical message: The last are first, the poor are blessed, and victory comes through self-denial.
This is now how the world normally works. But it is a theme Matthew focuses on throughout the entire gospel.
Back in November, I introduced two Greek words which are contrasted a lot in Matthew:
μέγας megas - great, large, important, powerful
μικρός mikros - little, small, low in dignity
For example, in Matthew 18 the disciples want to know who is the greatest (megas) in Christ’s kingdom. Jesus’ answer? The mikros. The little ones. Those like children with zero status in the world. That’s who’s on top in the kingdom of God.
As you can imagine, in a world of mighty empires, a world where the Romans lined the streets with the crucified to show their dominance, Jesus’ philosophy of greatness (which includes being crucified by the Romans) was hard for the disciples to wrap their minds around.
And yet it is crucial to understanding what is about to happen in the story as Jesus prepares for his own death and resurrection.
So I’d like us to pick up where we left off in November and continue Matthew’s story of Christ’s very upside-down approach to power.
Grab a Bible and turn to Matthew 20:17, Page _______. While you’re turning there, I’ll pray for us.
THE BITTER CUP
Alright. Let’s read. From this point on in the story the cross looms large. Like the Behistun Inscription, the practice of crucifixion dominates the horizon with a reminder of Rome’s supremacy.
Matthew 20:17-19
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”
So, Jesus is very clear about where things are heading. But for some reason, the disciples just cannot understand. What happens in the very next verse is a perfect case in point.
Matthew 20:20-23
Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”
“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”
James and John were a part of Jesus’ inner circle. Along with Peter, they were the three closest disciples to Jesus.
As we saw last fall, Peter has been getting a lot of recognition by Jesus. He walks on water for a moment with him. Jesus tells him, “Upon this rock I will build my Church.”
So it might have seemed like a foregone conclusion that Peter would be the second-in-command in Jesus’ kingdom. The one sitting at his right hand.
Ah, but then came the whole “Get behind me, Satan,” moment, where Jesus rather shockingly cuts Peter down to size for tempting him away from his mission.
Perhaps it seemed like there was room for James & John to take Peter’s place as the ones with true leadership and authority.
So… their mom takes matters into her own hands. She asks Jesus to promise that her sons would be Jesus’ top deputies in his kingdom. Sitting “at the right hand” of a king was a way of describing a position with more power than anyone except the king himself.
Of course, Jesus knows the ones really making this request are James and John (hiding behind their mom’s skirts!). They are the ones who desire power and influence in Christ’s kingdom, so his response is not to her; it’s to them.
Verse 22. “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”
We’re going to talk all about this bitter cup - the cup of God’s wrath - in a few weeks. But suffice it to say, he’s talking about the crucifixion. When he says, “you will drink from this cup,” he’s referring to the fact that, eventually, both of these two young hotheads will give their life for their faith.
But right now, they’re missing the truth of how power operates in Christ’s kingdom. It’s like they’re daydreaming, “When we’re in charge, we’ll be the ones carving our names into mountainsides.”
What they don’t understand until much later is that the path to true authority in Christ’s kingdom is not domination; it’s surrender.
Matthew even drops a fascinating hint about this in the Greek of verse 23. He says,
Matthew 20:23
I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left.
And that phrase shows up again just a few chapters later.
Matthew 27:38
Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
It’s identical wording in the Greek. Being at the right or left hand of the Messiah does not involve victory. It involves defeat. Not dominating others, but being dominated. Willingly giving your life away like Christ.
AMONG YOU IT WILL BE DIFFERENT
Let’s keep reading what happens next.
Matthew 20:24-28
When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Here Jesus begins by describing the default setting for humanity. The reality carved into the mountainside at Behistun and repeated by every ambitious king, tyrant, and emperor since the dawn of time.
Verse 25. “You know that the rulers in this world” - literally, the rulers of the Gentiles - “lord it over their people, and officials” - literally, megas, ‘great ones,’ “flaunt their authority over those under them.”
Now, to the disciples (and Matthew’s original readers a few decades later), the mental image Jesus is painting here isn’t hard to grasp, because they lived in a world dominated by Rome.
Roman legionaries marched through their streets. Roman governors squeezed the people for taxes. Roman emperors were worshipped as gods, with their statues everywhere you looked.
According to Jesus, this is simply what the rulers of this world do. This is how human empires work.
But, he says in verse 26, “among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader (literally, megas) - Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.”
This is a shocking thing to say in an honor-based culture like theirs. Humility was not a virtue in the 1st century. It was a curse. Being humiliated like a slave or a crucified victim of Rome was the worst thing that could ever happen to you.
And yet, it’s exactly what Jesus willingly took upon himself. Verse 28. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Think about it. Jesus let Rome “lord it over” him on the cross. He took his place under the boot of “the great ones” of his day.
Why? Because sin and death could never be defeated if Jesus played by the rules of the world. He knew that wielding death like a weapon - like all the kings and tyrants and emperors before - would only lead people into more slavery.
But if he went through death - if he drank the bitter cup of our sin - and rose again on the other side, uncorrupted, then he would show just how powerless the “great ones” of our world really are. That’s when he could show us all how to be truly free.
Free to spread life, not death. Free to serve others, not ourselves. Free to reject the empty promises of human power and heal our broken world from below.
Again, this is a major theme in Matthew’s gospel.
At the end of Matthew’s gospel, the resurrected Christ sends his followers out to spread the good news of his kingdom. (And this is how we started this whole mega-series last Easter). Jesus says,
Matthew 28:18-19
I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations…
All of Matthew’s gospel is leading to this moment. The moment of Christ’s resurrection from death when we finally learn the truth:
It is through sacrifice and self-giving love that Jesus took his rightful throne.
And he still reigns from it today. Leading a counter-empire undermining the values of our world, inciting a revolution against the status quo, ruling an upside-down kingdom where the last are first and where our king is the servant of us all.
That is the posture of the true king of kings and lord of lords. And it’s the posture he expects in his followers. To paraphrase: “The great ones of this world flaunt their authority… but among you, my little ones, it will be different.”
SERVANT LEADERS
As we’ve said, the gospel of Matthew is a kingdom manifesto, and the cross only makes sense when we understand the type of kingdom Jesus is building: the empire of God, which rejects the values of the empires of this world.
But the gospel is also a discipleship manual. So let’s get practical.
I mean, the power dynamics of the modern world are very different then Jesus’s day. And yet, human empires continue to contend for power as they always have. The megas of our day still tell stories of their power. They play by the rules of our world.
But Jesus says to his disciples, “Among you it will be different.” So what does that difference look like for modern disciples of Christ?
Well, to answer that I have a warning for us and an encouragement for us. Let’s start with the warning:
Beware of human power masquerading as God’s power.
There are so many leaders today on all sides (politicians, faith leaders, business magnates, TikTok influencers, etc.) who claim Christ while playing by the rules of empire. Champions of Jesus who are really just championing themselves. Carving their achievements into stone and trying to claim the seat at the right hand of the king.
This is what we talked about during our “Christ Above All” series last October - about how the gods of Self and of Domination have become idols in America, even within the Church. Remember what Paul said to the church in Colossae?
Colossians 2:20
You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world?
Beware of leaders who speak of their Christian faith while humiliating and belittling their enemies. That’s not Christlike. Those who exclude, and don’t include. Those who use fear and hate and even violence as weapons, instead of love.
Again, there are people doing this on both sides of the political and ideological divide! Domination is in the air right now.
My point is: If we let those types of leaders - those who are hungry for human power - shape our worldview or our faith, I believe we run the risk of missing the very heart of the gospel.
The world plays by its rules, but “among you,” Jesus says, “it will be different.”
Beware of human power masquerading as God’s power, because in such a divided, vitriolic, hate-filled time, and with such powerful algorithms fueling our sense of rage, it’s far too easy for us to buy the lie that we - our tribe, our party, our people - should be the ones on top. It should be our boot on the chest of our enemies.
Beware of such thinking, because Jesus is crystal clear. “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.” In a world obsessed with being on top, our place is with Christ at the bottom.
In the kingdom of God, the first will be last. So that’s the warning. On the flip side - the far more positive side - is the invitation. That in the kingdom the last will be first. So we’ve got to learn how to be last! How do you do that?
Well, I think the answer - apart from constantly meditating on the words of Jesus! - is to:
Follow the servant leaders in your life.
Find those who have followed Christ into self-sacrifice and self-giving love. Learn from those types of leaders as they learn from Jesus.
Here’s why: Because we need you in the game of healing this broken world, and it is only Christlike servant leaders who can show you how it’s done.
How do you find a servant leader? Well, you look for
• The person whose faith in Jesus leads them to make sacrifices for others.
• The person who serves behind the scenes without expecting recognition.
• The person who demonstrates compassion for their enemies.
• The person who ignores their own dignity or status or wealth by entering into the lives of the broken.
As Mr. Rogers used to say, “Look for the helpers.” - Fred Rogers
This can be a little tricky, because by definition servant leaders are not the ones pounding their own chests and crowing about their achievements. Their names are not written on mountainsides.
But they are here. And they are worthy of being followed. Learn from them. Model your life on theirs. Witness the self-giving love of Christ bearing fruit in their actions, and then try to do the same.
“Among you it will be different.”
Just imagine if it was. Imagine if Grace Church - in such a self-absorbed time - was filled with servant leaders following Jesus in giving their lives away. Imagine how powerful our message of hope would become if we were known as servants of all.
Imagine our neighbors asking, “Who are these people?!?” And us responding, “We’re servants of a king whose throne is a cross.