"A Mother's Request"

9.30am Sunday 10 May 2009

Readings: Matthew 20:17-28 (Cf. Mark10:32-45) TNIV

In thinking of a Bible passage appropriate for Mother's Day we are going to look at Matthew's version of the passage in Mark 10 that speaks about the request for James and John to be given the places of honour in Jesus' kingdom. The reason for choosing Matthew's version is that he has Salome, the mother of James and John and sister of Mary the mother of Jesus, as the person who makes the request. Our focus for this morning is "Looking out for ones' Children in the right way."

As an introduction let us watch this song from The Witness, sung by one of our congregation a number of years ago, entitled "My Boys."

It is natural that both mothers and fathers want to see their children do well in life and find the calling that is best suited to their gifts and abilities. The encouragement and counsel of parents can give their children the needed confidence they need to pursue and achieve their dreams. This is certainly true in the area of education. It is a well-documented fact that children are more likely to do well at school where the parents or guardians take an interest in their schooling, compared with those children who do not have this support from their homes. There is a healthy sense in which parents can look out for their children's well-being and point them in right direction in life. They can assist them in having a balanced understanding of their potential and help them explore the options this opens for them. Parents by their example and teaching can also help their children to develop the spiritual side of life, and very often be the ones who lead them to Christ and to an understanding that God has a plan and purpose for their lives. In the end it can make all the difference between living a mediocre life that achieves little and living a life that makes a difference to society.

On the other hand it is possible for parents to be overly ambitious and overly protective of their children. Some parents are guilty of foisting their own unachieved goals on their children in the hopes that their children will accomplish what they were never able to do. Putting unrealistic expectations on children can be harmful and stifle their development toward mature manhood or womanhood.

This account in Matthew of James and John's mother requesting the places of honour for her sons is an example of this. It is an interesting passage in that it comes immediately after Jesus tells his disciples for the third time that he was going to be rejected by the nation's leaders and be condemned to die, but would rise again on the third day. It shows us that James and John and their mother had not grasped the implications of what Jesus had said. On the positive side it indicates that despite what Jesus had said about his death, they still believed in him and that his kingdom would one day come into being. They had ambitions to secure the places of honour in his kingdom, and when the other disciples got wind of this they were not impressed. The whole incident does not show the disciples in a good light. We can tell from the fact that they were "indignant with the two brothers" that they all harboured desires for status and standing that was inappropriate at the time.

The fellowship between the disciples was in danger of disintegrating. However, Jesus took this incident to teach his disciples how it would be in his kingdom. Jesus was establishing a new kind of community that would be very different to that of the world around them. In his kingdom power and status would not be the measure of greatness. Greatness is to be measured in terms of service. Jesus came not to be waited on, but to wait on others. And that is how it is to be for all who follow him. One thing that is a positive for Salome is that she was not put off following Jesus by his refusal to grant her request. We see this from the fact that despite the risks of being identified as one of Jesus' followers she was there at his crucifixion, and that she was among the women that came with spices to embalm the body of Jesus as dawn was breaking on the resurrection morning.