Be careful what you pray for
by Jordan Moore
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But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able’ (Matthew 20:22).
Read Matthew 20:20–28
The mother of the sons of Zebedee is no different from the rest of us who are parents – we hope, pray for and do what we can to help our children be successful in life. We send our children to the best school we can afford in the hopes that they will achieve a higher ATAR score. We encourage them to excel in a particular sport or instrument, or we use our own professional networks to secure opportunities for them.
But as always seems to happen in Jesus’ upside-down kingdom, our ideas of success are folly. If the mother of the sons of Zebedee had known what it would mean for her sons to sit at the right and left of Jesus in his kingdom, she would never have asked for it. That place was reserved for the two criminals crucified on either side of Jesus; the king who reigned from a cross instead of a throne, wearing a crown of thorns instead of gold.
When I was young, I remember being taught that God gives three possible answers when we pray: ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Wait’. I’m sure that the mother of the sons of Zebedee was grateful that Jesus did not grant her request. Has there been a time when you have prayed for something, and God has said no? I’m sure we’ve all experienced that. But are there times when you look back and are honestly grateful and glad that he said no?
God is always shaping us to be more like him, to be servants to one another, serving rather than being served. It goes against every way we are wired to think, against everything society defines as success. Thanks be to God that he knows best and is willing to tell us ‘no’.
Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us with the heart of a parent and for doing what is best for us in our lives. Help us to trust that you know better than us and are working all things so that we may be conformed more and more to the image of your Son, the servant of all. Amen.
Jordan Moore lives in the northern suburbs of Brisbane with her husband Thomas and two young children. She is a stay-at-home mum and part-time pastoral studies student at Australian Lutheran College. In her spare time, she enjoys solving variant sudokus and doing Irish dancing.
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