MATTHEW 20:28 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. The christological grounding of the servant-leadership teaching: the Son of Man's own coming was not to be served but to serve — and to give his life as a ransom for many. The ransom (lytron) is the redemption price paid to free someone from bondage. The giving of his life as a ransom connects the servant-leadership teaching to the passion that the third prediction (verses 18–19) has just announced.
Church Fathers on Matthew 20:28
So long as the judgment of Christ upon this request was in suspense, the other disciples were not indignant; but when they heard Him rebuke them, they were sorrowful; whence it is said, 'And when the ten heard it, they had indignation against the two brethren.'
They do not lay it upon the forwardness of the mother who spoke the request, but upon her sons, who, not knowing their measure, burned with so immoderate desires.
But as the two had asked carnally, so now the ten are grieved carnally. For as to seek to be above all is blameworthy, so to have another above us is mortifying to our vanity.
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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