Mat 20:20 | RWP | e4.org | Then ( τοτε ). Surely an inopportune time for such a request just after the pointed prediction of Christ's crucifixion. Perhaps their minds had been preoccupied with the words of Jesus ( ) about their sitting on twelve thrones taking them in a literal sense. The mother of James and John, probably Salome, possibly a sister of the Master's mother ( ), apparently prompted her two sons because of the family relationship and now speaks for them. Asking a certain thing ( αιτουσα τ ). "Asking something," "plotting perhaps when their Master was predicting" (Bruce). The "something" put forward as a small matter was simply the choice of the two chief thrones promised by Jesus ( ).

‏ Matthew 20:20

Then ( τοτε ). Surely an inopportune time for such a request just after the pointed prediction of Christ's crucifixion. Perhaps their minds had been preoccupied with the words of Jesus (19:28) about their sitting on twelve thrones taking them in a literal sense. The mother of James and John, probably Salome, possibly a sister of the Master's mother (Joh 19:25), apparently prompted her two sons because of the family relationship and now speaks for them.

Asking a certain thing ( αιτουσα τ ). "Asking something," "plotting perhaps when their Master was predicting" (Bruce). The "something" put forward as a small matter was simply the choice of the two chief thrones promised by Jesus (19:28).