Matthew 20:20

τότε (in Mk. the vaguer καὶ), then; let us hope not quite immediately after, but it need not have been long after. How soon children forget doleful news and return to their play; a beneficent provision of nature in their case, that grief should be but a summer shower. Or did James and John with their mother not hear the sad announcement, plotting perhaps when the Master was predicting? ἡ μήτηρ : in Mk. the two brothers speak for themselves, but this representation is true to life. Mothers can be very bold in their children's interest. αἰτοῦσα, begging; the petitioner a woman and a near relative, not easy to resist. τι : vague; no verbal indication as yet what is wanted; her attitude showed she had a request to make, the manner revealing that it is something important, and also perhaps that it is something that should not be asked.