He knew her well. The whole family were now his family. The day He saw them, the willingness was astounding. They had a family business, and they left it all, to follow him. The matriarch must be a thinker, a planner. She must have looked into the future done her calculations and decided to act. Her two sons had abandoned the family business to follow this man. Sorting out their future was a must-do.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them (Matthew 4:21)
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. (Mark 1:19-20)
So, to Jesus, she went, her two boys in tow. Smart woman, she knew how to approach higher authority. Give Him what He needs, and in the case of Jesus, he was in need of worship. She bowed down in front of Him. Bowing guaranteed access to sovereignty. When you bring your head down, you were sure of a lifting. Celebrating the master would surely soften His heart.
The only issue was, though Jesus was man, he was also God and God saw through the act. He saw through man's heart. He saw the motives and in the case of this 'madam', who by the way knew that her destiny was tied to those of her two boys, (her identity as recorded, is that she is the mother of James and John) her motives were off course.
She was doing a good thing with an evil heart. Trust the master. He put everything in their proper perspective. The boys, through their mama's calculation, incurred the indignation of fellow disciples. Thinking about it, they must have been in on the whole thing. Letting their mother do the presentation must have been calculated to give their matter more credence.
Beloved, how many times have you worshipped so that you could present your request to God. Like this mama, you understand you cannot just throw your request at Him. You ought to worship or in today's practice, sing a few solemn songs. Wait for a sombre time and slot in the very reason for which you came in the first place.
How so? Money, sometimes we give to impress God enough to grant the request. We may even pray and fast, all the 40, 70, 100-day fasts, to what intent? Serve in church, in groups. Exactly why are you doing the things that you do? What do we learn? God sees it all! He sees our hearts and weighs our motives. He knows our thoughts afar off, and God cannot be fooled. We cannot use our supposed positions with Him to get Him to change His programme.
Even though Jesus did not let them get away with their scheme, he did not throw them out either. He helped them out by showing them a kingdom way to do things. The way up with God is the way of service. Do not seek to lord it over your fellow man. Let God lift you. What should we do?
* • Watch our motives.
* • Tell ourselves the truth.
* • Stop the manipulations.
* • Love, serve, give, fast, pray, whatever for the sake of the kingdom of God. When the kingdom comes first for you, all you are scheming for will automatically follow you.
* • Stop looking for shortcuts in God they do not exist. Go through the process; get rid of the junk and clean up the heart.
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BOOKS BY Anne Ajadi:
YOU WILL MARRY WELL
GODS LADY IN WAITING
WALK WITH ME IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS
STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY
HEART MATTERS, LIFE MATTERS
NAVIGATING THE NIGHT SEASONS
