Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 20:22

"But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? They say unto him, We are able." — Matthew 20:22 (ASV)

The petition of the mother was that of the sons also, for Jesus answered and said, “Ye know not what ye ask.” As from the mother, the request was probably of better quality than as from the sons, for our Lord speaks to them rather than to her. They had asked through the mother, but they may have asked in greater ignorance than she, and had they known what their request included, they might never have presented it. At any rate, our Lord treats the petition as theirs rather than their mother’s, and as it was about themselves, He questions them as to how far they were prepared for the consequences.

To be near to the throne of the King would involve fellowship with Him in the suffering and self-sacrifice by which He set up His spiritual kingdom. Were they ready for this? Had they strength to endure to the end? “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 to Him, “we are able.” Perhaps this was too hasty an answer, and yet it may, in one respect, have been the best they could give. If they were looking alone to their Lord for strength, they were, through His grace, quite able to bear anything. But, when they thought of His throne, had they remembered the cup and the baptism, without which there would be no enjoying the kingdom?