The Highest Aspiration, Part 1 | Ambition and Reward

Luke 22:24-27

Well, we return to Luke 22 in our study of the Gospel of Luke, and we’re reading the final instructions of our Lord to his men, his twelve Apostles, before his death for sins. Our Lord, as we know, as he’s been predicting and telling us all through this Gospel narrative, he will soon be betrayed into the hands of sinners. He’ll endure the false accusations of sinners in corrupt courts that he’ll go through, and he’ll be sentenced to a criminal’s death. This man who never committed one sin, he’ll be condemned as a criminal and to the death of shameful crucifixion. And it’s in these final hours before the cross that Jesus wants to spend some private time with his men, his closest friends, and he wants to get them ready for what lies directly ahead.

Once again, let’s start our time by reading. You can follow along as I start in Luke 22 and verse 14. “And when the hour had come, he reclined at the table, and the Apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I shall never eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.’

“And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of the one betraying me is with me on the table. For indeed the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.’ And they began to argue among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.”

News of a betrayer in the midst of the twelve disciples came as a total shock. No one saw this coming except Jesus. No one of the disciples saw this coming, and no one would have identified Judas Iscariot as the source of this treachery. And so the shock led to the spirited discussion in verse 23, which became heated and then turned into contention in verse 24. And we’ll keep reading from there.

“And there arose also a dispute among them, as to,” which of them, “which one of them was regarded to be the greatest. And he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them. And those who have authority over them are called “Benefactors.” But not so with you. Rather, the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as the one who serves.’”

We can understand, I think, in just simple reading of the text, how the discussion of verse 23 turned into the contention of verse 24, as each man is there wanting to make sure that he himself is not the betrayer. And the question swings from who is perhaps the very worst among them to who is the very best among them. After all, the closer each man is to pole position, the front place among the disciples, the more distance he puts between himself and any suspicion of treachery, of betrayal. So Jesus responds to this with the correction in verses 25-26, and then calls them to consider his own example in verse 27, and his own example being the highest aspiration in the pursuit of greatness in life.

What Jesus does here in this section, verses 24-27, is what we’re going to cover, and what he does here in teaching his men is once again to subvert their wrong expectations. He does a lot of subverting of wrong expectations in his ministry. In fact, that seems to be a lot of what his ministry is about, to correct false understandings, to subvert wrong expectations.

But in this sense, it, it may not be in the way that we’re tempted to think. It may seem like the problem among the disciples, and what needs to be corrected and subverted, is the fact that they’re talking about greatness at all, as if greatness in their conversation and thinking about greatness is a flaw in their character. That’s not the issue. The problem is that their measure of greatness is flawed. Their value system, their estimation of greatness, they’ve got that all wrong. And that is what Jesus endeavors to subvert. It’s not the pursuit of greatness; it’s what greatness really is, so that they know what it is that they ought to aspire to.

And what we’re going to discover by the end of the hour is yet another demonstration of divine wisdom, how God has ordered the economy of his kingdom. The highest aspiration as Jesus’ disciples is to follow after the greatest among us. The greatest, that spot is already taken by the author and perfecter of faith, the one who performed the greatest service of all in sealing our redemption. But in following after him, we discover that the pursuit of greatness in life may be joined by any Christian of any means, any Christian of any station, of any gifting, any ability, any capability. And so we find that this section of teaching is as encouraging as it is challenging and convicting and penetrating. So buckle up.

I’ve mentioned the outline points already if you perceived them, but let me make them explicit. Here they are again: the contention, verse 24; the correction in verses 25-26; and finally, the aspiration in verse 27. The contention, the correction, and the aspiration.

First, the contention. As we said, we understand and we can perceive how it is that the discussion of verse 23 turned into some contention in verse 24, “There arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.” That word, dispute, philoneikia, philos is the word for love, or philia for the word love, plus nikos, nikos meaning victory. So if you were to translate this literally based on its principal parts, it’s a love of winning. That’s what the contention is. It’s contending. It’s loving victory, loving winning. As A. T. Robertson says, “It’s to be fond of strife, and eagerness to contend.” So this is the most fitting word to portray what is going on here.

In an argument about the greatest, there can be only one winner, so they’re going to contend for it. And that, I think, is the reason why Luke has juxtaposed verse 23 and verse 24 in such a way as to show us this point: that anxiety over the identity of the betrayer, each man wanting to make sure not only that he’s not the betrayer, but that also he wants to make sure others know he’s not the betrayer, and so their anxiety and fear over that issue exposed hearts of pride as they are jockeying, each of them, for first position.

It’s not the first time that these men argued about who would be the greatest. Way back before they even started the trek to Jerusalem, back in Luke Chapter 9 in verses 46-48, this issue came up then as well, almost in similar language, almost with a similar corrective. Parallels in the other two synoptic Gospel accounts, you’ve got Matthew 18:1-5, Mark 9:33-37. And by putting all these together, we get the whole picture painted for us.

We understand by looking at those different texts that God granted three of the twelve, remember those, Peter, James, and John, three of them, the privilege of witnessing the Transfiguration. They ascended the mount with Christ and saw him transfigured in glory before them. This is kingdom glory. Moses and Elijah appear, and they’re speaking with Jesus about his ascension, about his departure from Jerusalem. The literal word, there, is his exodus.

They’re seeing things that angels long to look into. They’re seeing things that none of the other disciples got to experience. And when they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them to keep quiet about it, not to talk about until after his ascension. But it wasn’t long after that experience that they started to argue as to who was the greatest. They didn’t need to talk about the Transfiguration. But hey, three of them knew. We saw what you didn’t. There’s a privilege that we have that you don’t have. And they kind of kept their cards close to the chest out of obedience to Christ. But it’s fueling pride within them.

All three synoptic writers then show the contention that rises up immediately after Jesus, just right after this section of his Transfiguration, he comes down and right before this, he predicts his betrayal. They think kingdom glory’s coming and he says betrayal’s coming. It’s going to get darker before it gets lighter. There’s going to be suffering before there’s glory. And so he says, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men.”

Matthew says the disciples were grieved, deeply grieved, about Jesus telling them this, and, and yet Mark and Luke tell us that none of the disciples understood what he was talking about. They were afraid to ask him about it. It just didn’t make sense. It didn’t fit their paradigm. It didn’t fit their expectations. Mark tells us this in Mark 9:33-34, “They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he began to question them, “Hey, what were you discussing on the way?” This is right after, right after he predicts his betrayal, his suffering, his death. He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he began to question, “Hey, what were you discussing on the way?” He knew. He just needed to draw it out. “They kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.”

Matthew chapter 18, recording this account, adds this, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Well, then, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And Jesus called a child to himself and set the child before them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you’re converted and become like children, you’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” Is he saying, have the innocence of a child and you can get into heaven? No. That’s a common misinterpretation.

Children, as any parent will tell you, are not innocent. They are glorious little gifts from God. The fruit of the womb is a reward. We’re so grateful for our children, but we do understand very quickly and they don’t have to be taught to sin. They just start doing that. It’s not the innocence of a child Jesus is talking about, that he’s commending and setting before them and saying, be as innocent as a child to get into heaven. No. Children in those days didn’t warrant any respect, regard. Nobody thought anything of them. In fact, with such a high infant mortality rate, it was very common for children to die before they were of any use to anybody.

It’s not really maybe our, precious moments, type of a vision that we have of our own children because we tend to be very sentimental. And why wouldn’t we? They’re very, very dear to us, our children. They’re dear to them, too. But it took some time before children counted in society. They had to grow up, they had to become productive, they had to become useful. And even as young people, they had no wisdom, they had no experience, they weren’t listened to, regarded like many regard young people today. Very different view of the young in this day.

So Jesus says, unless you’re converted, you have nothing to commend you. You have nothing before God to make you acceptable, to make you commended to God. You are a zero on the counter. You have no weight in the scale, you’ve got nothing to add, you’ve got nothing to offer, you’ve got no righteousness of your own. In fact, anything that you have is actually a negative on the scale. So unless you’re converted and become like children who have nothing, you’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever, therefore, will humble himself as this child, he’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Totally, radically flipped their idea of what greatness, evaluation of greatness, is. You’d think that would do the trick, that they would be cured of pride, embarrassed as, about having their selfish ambition exposed before Jesus Christ and before one another, but especially before Jesus Christ, who is the greatest and the humblest of men.

But it comes up again. It comes up in Matthew 20:20-23, Mark 10:35-40, both of these recording the same account of James and John approaching Jesus to seek places of honor in his kingdom, to be seated at his side, James on his right hand as the oldest, John on his left. Matthew tells us that the brothers were pretty shrewd about this whole ploy to gain favor and honor and, and grab those two, only two seats right next to Christ, and they’re going to get them for themselves. So Matthew tells us the brothers got their mom involved. She went and made the appeal. Now, Jesus, you know my boys.

 Matthew 20:24, Mark 10:41, virtually the same, exact language of response from the other ten disciples. “They heard what James and John asked Jesus, and they became indignant with them.” It’s a verb that means annoyed or vexed or even distressed. There’s an element of distress and anxiety that leads to their, their anger and their indignation. What distressed them? What made them mad? It’s not because they’re indignant, the brothers’ presumption and pride, as if they’re so humble, and they can’t believe that some of their comrades here in their number have been exposed in their pride. That’s not the issue. They’re upset that James and John got to Jesus first, got a head start and had taken the two highest places of honor for themselves. Aargg, they beat us to it! That’s the issue.

Again, wanting to be a great disciple, that’s not really the problem here. The problem is the pride of wanting honor for oneself and using worldly standards of valuation and of estimation, seeking glory, but not seeking the work, not, not enduring and embracing the suffering that comes before the glory.

And Jesus told the brothers on this occasion, he said, You, “you don’t know what you’re asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” Remember what they said? Yeah, we’re able. He’s like, you got no idea what I’m about to drink. So he responds to their ignorant display of prideful self-assurance and says, “Yeah, you’ll drink a cup of suffering, too.” But he understands at that point, and they have no idea.

So this is not a new argument among the disciples. This is not a new problem amongst the disciples. They’ve been disagreeing and debating about who’s the greatest for a long time. You know, parents driving a long road trip and the kid is always like, when are we going to get there? When are we going to get there? I got to go to the bathroom. When are we going to get there? I’m hungry. When are we going to get there? When are we going to? Right? It makes for a wearying journey. Children, you want to bless your parents? Whenever you come to a rest stop, go to the bathroom, number 1. Number 2, just count it as an opportunity to fast and if they give you food, it’s okay to break the fast. And number 3, you get there when you get there!

But for Jesus, the greatest among them, walking in humility and always serving all the time, walking down the road as they make their way on those dusty, long journeys to Jerusalem, and he’s always hearing behind him, I’m the greatest. But he’s the Lord and he’s not like me, so he’s not thinking that.

Jesus had been predicting his betrayal, and he’d been predicting it repeatedly. And now we come to the very night of his betrayal. And Jesus even said, “‘One of you will betray me, one of you who eats with me.’” He said, “‘He who dipped his hand with me in the bowl, that’s the one.’” And then in our text, verse 21, “‘Behold, the hand of the one betraying me is with me on the table.’” It’s happening right in front of them. And not only do they fail to recognize that what Jesus predicted is happening right before their eyes, but that same spirit of pride rises up again. I mean, talk about failing to read the room and not discerning the moment.

It’s fun to make fun of them, but I, when I think about it, if I put myself around that table, I’m going to do the same thing. I’m made of the same stuff. I’m going to be just as dull, just as thick, just as prideful.

J. C. Ryle says, “This was the last quiet time that they would spend with their master before his death, and they argued over which of them was the greatest. Such is the human heart: always weak, always deceitful, always ready, even at the best of times, to turn and engage in evil.” End quote.

So if we pause for a moment and ask the question: What does this teach us? What, what should we learn from just this single verse? First, we should learn that pride is the very stubbornest of sins, isn’t it? It’s deeply penetrating, pride is, and so thoroughly saturating that it blinds us while telling us that we see clearly.

Pride strokes our egos, soothes us with flattering words, making us wise in our own eyes. Pride encourages us, but falsely, assuring us that there just isn’t any other way to see this. I’ve got this, right? Stuart Scott used to say, “It’s not a matter of if we have pride, but how much pride do we have, and where is it?” So true. So first, pride is the stubbornest of sins. Another thing we learn is that pride is the cause of so much strife and sin and jealousy and envy and argument and disunity. Pride and unbelief, they’re two sides of the same filthy coin. Pride and unbelief are the twin sins at the root of every single other sin.

Again, J.C. Ryle said it well. He said, “There’s something very instructive in this fact. Of all the sins, there is none which we need to watch and pray about more than pride. No sin is so spacious, that is unfounded and deceitful. It can wear the clothes of humility itself. It can lurk in the hearts of the ignorant, the ungifted and the poor as well as in the minds of the great, the learned, and the rich.” End quote.

So beloved, watch out. Watch out if you think pride is not in you, and you fancy yourself to be quite far from pride and exceedingly humble. You’re just self-deceived. Again, Ryle, “Ambition, self-esteem, self-deceit lie deep at the bottom of all people’s hearts. Not some. Not most. All people’s hearts, and often in the hearts of those who least suspect it. Countless people imagine themselves to be humble, but cannot bear to see an equal honored or favored more than themselves. Few heartily rejoice in a neighbor being promoted over their own heads. The amount of envy and jealousy in the world is glaring proof of the prevalence of pride.” End quote.

The disciples’ error provides a warning for us, doesn’t it? It’s a cautionary tale, that we must be on our guard at all times against this insidious and blinding sin of pride.