Her Demand ---------- Salome was ambitious for her sons, and ambition is commendable when it is in full agreement with the mind and purpose of God. Ambition, when divinely directed, can lead to the heights of honor but when selfishly pursued can cast one down to the depths of degradation. Salome knew she was an honored mother because her two sons, James and John, were two of Christ’s best-loved disciples and along with Peter formed the inner circle among the Twelve. On different occasions, Peter, James and John are grouped together. Salome knew that Christ was the Messiah, but as a millennialist could not separate Him from Israel’s temporal glory. Feeling that the kingdom would soon be established, she requested that her sons be placed one on Christ’s right hand and the other on His left when He inaugurated His kingdom. Although such a demand arose from maternal pride and jealousy, it did not arise from true faith. She knew not what she asked (Matthew 20:20-24; Mark 10:35-40) when seeking seats of honor for her sons. In His rebuke of Salome for her misguided ambition Christ did not reject the request of the mother for her children, but corrected it, and accepted it in a way mother and sons did not anticipate. To be intimately near Him on His throne meant fellowship with Him in His sufferings. Our Lord did not treat Salome’s ambition as if it were sinful but he was compassionate because of the ignorance behind the request. Salome did not know “what manner of spirit” she was of (Luke 9:55). In effect, Jesus asked if her sons were prepared to drink the cup of martyrdom, and implied that James and John would share His throne of suffering. This they did, for James was the first apostolical martyr and John, the last. Salome’s dreams of the kingship of Christ with her sons sharing His rule were rudely shattered as she saw her much-loved Messiah dying as a felon on a wooden gibbet. Along with others she thought that it would have been “He who would have redeemed Israel,” but there He is, hanging on a cross in agony and shame. Salome came to learn that the only way to sovereignty is through sacrificial service. “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:26, 27). The mother sought earthly crowns for her sons, but through losing their lives for Christ’s sake, they gained greater honor in heaven. As we leave “the mother of Zebedee’s children,” it is with the realization of the influence of a godly mother in, and over, the lives of her children. So often it is from a mother’s tender affection that her child imbibes the love of God, so that it becomes almost part of the child’s nature. Further, there is no more potent antidote against sin within or without than faith in God generated by the holy life and teaching of godly parents. Salome and Zebedee were the Lord’s and both of their sons became His followers and died for His cause. Happy and grateful are those Christian parents who live to see their offspring wholly dedicated to the service of the Lord.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 01:58:57 +0000
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