No Shortcut With God
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.
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)
From his acts, it was apparent He was a powerful man. He had connections. From the way He had been dealing with her boys, she was sure He liked them. They found favour with him. He took them to his private meetings. He changed their names, renamed their destinies signifying that He planned to take them with Him for the long haul. As they journeyed through every day, He even confided in them.
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:37-38)
Her whole family had related to the man. She studied him well. She knew his needs; she had followed Him around even at His lowest times. She knows Him well; women know things. His need was worship and that she knew how to do very well. Her motive, secure a future for her boys.
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favour of him. “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
(Matthew 27:55-56)
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...
