Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 20:23

"He saith unto them, My cup indeed ye shall drink: but to sit on my right hand, and on [my] left hand, is not mine to give; but [it is for them] for whom it hath been prepared of my Father." — Matthew 20:23 (ASV)

Hearing their professed willingness to have fellowship with Himself in all things, our Lord assures them that He does not refuse to be associated with them, but He points them to the immediate and certain result of that fellowship. Our practical present business is not to aim at eminence in the kingdom, but submissively to drink the cup of suffering and plunge into the depths of humiliation which our Lord appoints for us.

It is a great honor to be allowed to drink of His cup and to be baptized with His baptism. This He grants to His believing disciples. This fellowship is the essence of the spiritual kingdom. If our cup is bitter, it is His cup. If our baptism is overwhelming, it is the baptism that He is baptized with, and this sweetens the one and prevents the other from being a death-plunge. Indeed, that the cup and the baptism are His makes our share in them an honor bestowed by grace.

Other rewards of the kingdom are not arbitrarily granted, but fittingly bestowed. Jesus says that the high places in the kingdom will be given to those for whom they are prepared of His Father. He has no hesitation in speaking of what His Father has prepared. Everything about our Lord’s kingdom is divinely arranged and fixed; nothing is left to chance or fate.

Even Jesus will not interfere with the divine appointment concerning His kingdom. As a friend, He may not be solicited to use a supposed private influence to alter the arrangements of infinite wisdom. Eternal purposes are not to be changed at the request of ill-advised disciples. In a sense, Jesus gives all things, but as Mediator, He comes not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him, and so He correctly says of rank in His kingdom, It is not mine to give.

How thoroughly did our Lord take a lowly place for our sakes! In this laying aside of authority, He gives a silent rebuke to our self-seeking. It may be that He intended to reprove not only the mother of Zebedee’s children but also all the disciples, who were constantly seeking great things for themselves.