She was a mom and like any other mom, all she really wanted was for her kids to do good. And the fact that her kids were both grown men really wasn’t all that relevant. She still wanted them to do good, and she would do whatever she needed to do to make sure they did good. Including talking to their boss if she had to.
Her name was Salome and she is only mentioned 3 times in the bible . The first was in the scripture that Karen read this morning. You know the story, it’s the last week in Jesus ministry, his twelve apostles have followed him for three years, they’ve watched as he preached about the coming kingdom, they saw him heal the lame, they watched him restore sight to the blind and they were there when he silenced his critics. And now in the final days, Salome, the mother of James and John comes with this request that her sons would have places of honour in the coming kingdom. By asking that one would sit on the right, and the other on the left she was asking for the two highest positions under Christ.
Now we’ve all heard Salome criticized for what she asked. Some have said that it was a worldly request, and that she was overly ambitious for the boys, and it was selfish that she should want a better positions for her sons. But let’s back up just a little bit and ask what mother wouldn’t want the very best for her children? Or for that matter what parent wouldn’t want the best for their kids.
Anyone catch the news from Sydney Australia concerning the summer Olympics? It seems that the Kevan Gosper the senior Olympic official in Australia was given the opportunity for his 11 year old daughter to be the first Australian Runner to carry the flame on it’s way to Sydney. The public was furious, Sydney’s tabloid Daily Telegraph devoted its entire front page to a blistering attack featuring a bold, six-line headline playing on the letters of Gosper’s name.
The headline, to the left of a photo of Gosper, spelled out Gosper from top to bottom in the first column but, reading from left to right, it said: "Greedy, Obstinate, Selfish, Pompous, Egotistic, Ruffian."
But listen to Kevan Gosper’s response: "The bottom line is it was my responsibility to protect my daughter’s rights. She had been offered, without any interference from me, to be the No 2 torch bearer."Who was I to take that away from her?" “I was looking after the best interests of my child.”
That was all Salome was doing, looking after the best interest of her children. And while the other apostles may not have understood that, certainly as parents we should be able to.
And do we know her motives? Was she asking so the boys would be in position of authority and power or was she simply asking that they would have the closest possible spots to Jesus. Something which each one of us would covet, if we were truthful.
How can we criticize Salome when Jesus didn’t criticize her? All Jesus did was question if she was aware of what she was asking for?
So who was she? Well let’s look at the three times she was mentioned in the bible. The first time was read earlier from Matthew 20:20-21 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked.
She replied, “In your Kingdom, will you let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one at your right and the other at your left?”
So in that one verse we know that she was James and John’s mom. And that she was Zebedee’s wife. James and John you will recall, or maybe you won’t were among the first disciples and like Andrew and Peter were fisherman. It would appear that they were partners with their father Zebedee and had done very well at fishing because the day they decided to follow Christ we are told that they left their father fishing with the hired hands.
And so here is a woman who while she may not have been rolling in dough was probably comfortable for the point in history in which she lived.
The next time we see the lady is at the cross during the crucifixion listen to Matthew 27:56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and Zebedee’s wife, the mother of James and John. So according to Matthew who do we have here at the cross? Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Zebedee’s Wife, the mother of James and John
A similar list is given in given by Mark Mark 15:40 Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. So who is Mark listing as being there? He tells us that it was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Salome
The third account about that fateful day at the cross is given by the Apostle John and this is how he recorded the events in John 19:25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. And so John adds Mary the Mother of Jesus and then he confirms that Mary Magdalene was there as well as Mary the wife of Clopas, who earlier was identified as the mother of James and Joseph and then he adds Jesus’ Mother’s Sister.
It’s interesting that if the last person is in fact the same person that she is identified three different ways. Why? Why would the same woman be mentioned three different ways? I wonder if Greg might be referred to by Mike and Sajonna as Shera’s Husband. For three years after we were married my in-laws referred to me as the boy Angela is seeing. Angela might refer to Greg as Denn’s associate and Doug might just refer to him as Greg.
And so perhaps through elimination and conjecture we could speculate that Zebedee’s Wife, the mother of James and John, and Salome and Jesus’ Mother’s Sister were all the same lady. Which would make her Jesus Aunt and would make James and John his cousins. They were kin.
And if that is the case the next time we see Salome is in Mark 16:1 The next evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased burial spices to put on Jesus’ body.
The three women who stood by Mary the mother of Jesus as she watched her first born, the one she had so much hope for die on a cross. The same three women come to the tomb as soon as the Sabbath ended in order to prepare his body for burial. Mary Magdalene we understand, She had been demon possessed and the bible tells us that Jesus delivered her from seven demons. How many saw the clay-mation feature “The Miracle Maker?” She was the one that everyone referred to as Mad Mary. But the other two Salome and Mary the wife of Clopas, they were just the mother’s of his friends.
What can we learn from Salome on this Mother’s Day 2000?
Her Dedication To Her Children Salome it would appear was first of all a Mother. The first way she is identified is “the mother of James and John.” Probably in Matthew’s eyes that exactly who she was. Maybe as a stretch he would call her “Mrs. Z” but for most of the time she was just John and Jim’s Mom. Do you remember the Mothers of you friends? Were they real people or were they just kind of peripheral people in your life at the time. Always there, but never really there kind of like benovelvent spirits. Growing up with Reg Thomas, especially after I had my drivers licence I was at their house, in and out. And Reg’s Mom, referred to me as her other son, always had milk and cookies or cake for us. Invited me to stay for supper from time to time, or I’d sleep over. She was always Mrs. Thomas when I spoke to her, but always your Mom when I talked to Reg about her, or Reg’s mom when I spoke to other’s about her. I’ve known Mary Thomas for 27 years and she’s still Reg’s Mom. Angela and I were watching the news the other night and there was a feature about Hayward and Warkwick, a gift slash china shop in Saint John and I said “Reg’s mom used to work there.” Not Mary Thomas or Gren Thomas’s wife, no Reg’s mom.
And so first of all Salome was a mother and as a mother she did some thing that we can learn from, I think the first thing was that She Was Willing To Let Them Do God’s Work. I wonder if there were late night discussions about the change in career choice that the boys had taken. I mean it had been a family business, John and James had worked with their father on the boats and all of sudden they just walked away.
Now you gotta understand that I’m coming at this with a little personal experience. The year that I accepted Christ and embraced the forgiveness that he offered I was working with my father, fishing. And I knew right from the very point of salvation that I would be in some type of full time ministry. And the next day, at the breakfast table I had to tell my father that when we headed back to the Gaspe to pick up the boat that we would be he because I wouldn’t be going. And there were a few minutes of consternation. I could sense that Dad was not overly amused by his son, deserting him. But when my he discovered why I was deserting him it became better. My folks were very supportive of my studying for the ministry, I remember during my second year at Bible College I gave serious thoughts to chucking it all and finishing my private pilots licence and when I mentioned it to my mom, she thought about it for a few moments, and then asked “Where would you live?” a fair question so I answered and told her that seeing the flight school was in Saint John and home was in Saint John that I assumed I would live at home, and once again you know what happens when you assume, right? Sometimes you’re wrong. Because she informed me that I was called into the ministry and if’n I left Bible College not to bother coming home.
Parents, Mother’s and Father’s, don’t get so concerned about your kids having a great career that you move them out of the will of God.
She Was Willing To Go To Bat For Them This is a Mother thing, and it’s not bad. Can you just imagine the conversation between Zebedee and Salome when she said, “you know Zeb, I think I’ll go and talk to Jesus about the boys, see if I can put in a good word for them.” And Zebedee being a man and a father saying, “Salome, let it alone, if the boys wanted you to do that I’m sure they would have asked, and besides they’re big enough to talk to Jesus them selves, when are you going to let them grow up?”
Aren’t you glad that mom’s still do that, and Mom’s if you don’t you should. You should be your kid’s biggest fan club, you should let everyone know just how great they are and that they are the most important people in the world to you, and they should be to everyone else as well.
You can say that Salome was out of line, or that she was selfish or worldly but realize she was just being a mom. And I think that Jesus realized that too. There are dangers there though. Her request was that her sons would be the two most important Apostles you understand that don’t you?
So, ten years later John would be the head of the church in Jerusalem, the most powerful position to be held by any apostle. As a matter of fact his position is probably the reason that in his later years he would be exiled to the prison Island of Patmos where he would spend the last of his days secluded from his friends, family and church. And James, James would be dead, put to death by Herod Agrippa. The first apostle to be put to death, I’m sure that his friend Jesus was waiting for him and in a very real sense at that point he was the closest apostle to Christ. A mother’s prayer answered.
She Was Willing To Be There For Them As I worked through this message I wondered about the presence of Salome at the crucifixion, why was she there? Was it because Jesus was her nephew? Or was it because James and John were her sons and she was there to support them? I don’t know, but I do know in my life that my mother has been there to support me when I needed her there. And if anything were to happen to my best friend that mom would be at the funeral, for me.
This was not a good place for Salome to be. Her nephew had just been tried and sentenced for blaspheme and treason, his followers were being viewed as co-conspirators and yet here she was, whether for her nephew, her sister or her sons we may never know but there she was. And I’d like to think that if Jesus hadn’t been her nephew, and if Mary hadn’t been her sister she still would have been there for James and John. It was Rudyard Kipling who wrote: If I were hanged on the highest hill, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! I know whose love would follow me still, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! If I were drowned in the deepest sea, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! I know whose tears would come down to me, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! If I were damned by body and soul, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
Her Dedication To Her God. I think one of the most telling statements about Salome was her presence at the tomb the day after the crucifixion. Remember from Mark 16:1 The next evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased burial spices to put on Jesus’ body.
When everyone was basking in their self pity or wondering where the death of Jesus left them or hiding from the authorities, Salome, Mary the Wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene have made their way through the chill of the early morning air to do final preparations to the body of Christ.
Mom’s this is the bottom line, regardless of how well you’ve done as a parent taking care of your children’s physical needs or how well you’ve done meeting their emotional needs there is a much bigger need that needs to be filled in their life and that is a need for God. And as a parent you have an incredible obligation to introduce your children to God. Because what good will it do your children if they grow up physically and emotionally healthy and then die and go to hell? And you will never be able to introduce them to God if you don’t know God personally yourself. Because here more then anywhere else in your life does the old adage old true more is caught then taught. Cause if you aren’t living the life then it doesn’t matter what you say your kids won’t be able to hear it. You know that not only do you have to walk the walk and talk the talk you gotta walk the talk and talk the walk.
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