"Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, 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."
Today's lesson, as does every lesson in the New Testament, contains some very important information for the bible student.
This part of Matthew twenty contains two distinctly different parts. We will cover the first part today, and the second part tomorrow.
In this first part, the mother of the brothers Zebedee had asked Jesus if her sons might be allowed to sit beside Him at His throne in heaven. Jesus answered by asking the brothers, "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?'
It should be noted that when Jesus herein applied either the term "baptized" or "baptism", His application could not have been in reference to the type of water baptismal ritual that John the baptist had performed. Rather, both the terms "baptized" and "baptism", as Jesus applied them herein, were in reference to the soon to come death, burial and resurrection, whereby through faith, the entire lost world might gain salvation and everlasting life.
Remember that in Matthew 3:11 John the baptist said, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire". By making that statement, John very clearly separated the importance of his water baptism and the soul redeeming baptism that was, and is still, performed by Jesus Christ. John's baptism was a tradition of Hebrew law and was required of all Jews before they entered into the temple to pray or make a sacrifice. Jesus, being a Jew Himself, was required to undergo water baptism in the Hebrew tradition in order to fulfill all the ordinances of the old law.
This is important to understand because it establishes that not every time the term "baptize", or any one of its grammatic variations are applied in the New Testament text, are the terms to be associated with water. This lesson will be very important to understanding how the term "baptize" is to be applied, in context, as we study many of the forthcoming lessons.~
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