Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Then (tote). 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 (Matthew 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 (John 19:25), apparently prompted her two sons because of the family relationship and now speaks for them.
Asking a certain thing (aitousa ti). "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 19:28).
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Matthew 20:20:
Matthew 18:1
Mark 9:37
Mark 10:35
Mark 10:37
Luke 9:46
1 John 5:14
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.