Be Careful What You Ask For

Good Morning Regular Joes

I have a pretty brief devotional this morning.  I am off to have a mechanic do work on my truck which I can not do myself.  Don’t forget to thank the Lord for the skills of others that you don’t have.

A Mother’s Request

Matthew 20:20-24

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

21 “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.”

22“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.

23 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.”

24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.

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James and John were the sons of Zebedee, so their mother is the one who came to make the request of Jesus.  We don’t know why their father didn’t come to ask.  I think that everyone was, at this point, still expecting Jesus to set up an earthly throne. Whether James and John knew what their mother was going to ask is debatable but I think they probably did.   Even when Jesus tells their mother that she doesn’t know what she is asking for, notice that when asked if they can drink the  cup, the answer is “We can”, so definitely at this point John an James are included in the response.

If they could see a few short years into the future, the events at the cross I am sure they would not be eagerly wanting to join Jesus on his right and left hand.  They were seeing themselves on the right and left hand of Jesus on his throne as ruler of the world.  They did not see the whole journey to get to that point.

The application for us Regular Joes I believe is that we should be circumspect in what we pray for.  Since we are limited in our view of the future, and have only a veiled image of the Heavenly Kingdom, we should temper our wants and desires that we request of the Lord with sobriety and careful reading off the Scriptures.

And finally I think there is an application from verse 24 for us.  The other disciples were indignant with the two brothers.  I can imagine the conversations after they found out and confronted James and John!  I think when we are praying in public we need to be aware of the audience, or those around us who are hearing our prayer.  I think sometimes we can sound like James and John in our requests to those around us hearing our prayer.

Regular Joe