Matthew 20v23

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.

This verse immediately follows the previous one studied {14 }. Here, Jesus reveals that the disciples He is addressing, James and John, will be baptized as he is going to be. Again this verse is suggestive of his coming death and burial, as discussed in the previous section.

The disciples and their mother were lead by the Holy Spirit to ask for more, and expect more from God. They were stretching their faith, and believing that more was possible, and wanting to see that ‘more’ taking place. While this is a good thing in most circumstances – after all, our God is one of more than enough – it needs to be carefully directed so that the desired outcomes can be achieved. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, one of the hindrances to prayer can be asking amiss, for selfish gain, as we see in James 4v3 – possibly written by the very same James that we see learning the lesson in this passage.