As you know, the Lord gives us a great many exhortations and promises in regard to prayer. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.” “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” Is this what Salome did on behalf of her two sons? Christ Jesus gave us more than one parable “to this end, that men ought alway to pray and not faint.” He said, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Paul tells us to “Pray without ceasing.” “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray.” James and John may not have been afflicted by outsiders or the enemy in this request, but they had permitted themselves to be burdened, so along with their mother they came before the Lord with their prayer request. “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and (praying) Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.”
The Lord may not have directly rebuked them. It is hard to rebuke someone who is worshiping and praying. But He did reply with the words, “Ye know not what ye ask.” I think that there is a fair bit of instruction here for us. We often – frequently – ignorantly ask the Lord for things. Sometimes if we knew the consequences of receiving just what we request, we’d be ashamed that we asked for such things.
As I meditated, prayed, scribbled notes and thought about some sort of outline for this message tonight, I came up empty. About all I have are a handful of random thoughts and observations. And this will be a short message, despite being relatively important.
Let’s re-consider some things about the prayer of John, James and Salome.
The prayer of these saints was according to their own perspective and wishes. That is an observation rather than a criticism, because this is something difficult for anyone to avoid. This is a part of the human condition, and may or may not be a result of sin within us. What is missing from this request, and what is often missing from ours is the “if it be thy will, Lord.”
In John 15 our Lord encouraged our prayers with the words, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” The tiny word “if” seems to suggest that we have something to say about our abiding in Him. If, for some reason, or in some fashion, we shun fellowship with our Saviour, shall “whatever it is” be done unto us as we ask? How well does this request match the criteria that the house of Zebedee knew so well from II Chronicles – “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; THEN will I hear from heaven…..” Were these three petitioners truly humble as they prayed and sought the face of Christ? Had they turned from their wicked ways when their desire was for promotion above their peers? I’m not sure that I can honestly answer that, because I can’t see into their hearts. But I do have to wonder.
In His Sermon on the Mount the Lord gave us instructions on prayer, and the specific example that He used was closely related to the request here in our scripture. “And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” These three were quite interested in the coming kingdom, but they forgot to mention “thy will be done.” Even within the God-head, the Lord Jesus kept in mind the united will of the Trinity. “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” Isn’t this an area where our hopes and desires clash with the Biblical examples of prayer? Yes, we have our agenda, and that is to be expected – perhaps even high seats in the kingdom. But we must remember to put first God’s will in whatever matter about which we are praying.
We should forgive them, as I think the Lord forgave them, but their prayer was more earthly than Heavenly. But they didn’t have as much exhortation as we have had to “set our affection on things above, not on the things on the earth.” They were thinking and looking laterally – horizontally – rather than vertically. Again, I am not condemning them, because the Millennial kingdom really is coming up, and all of God’s saints will have a roll to play in it – apparently some more and some less. But for illustration purposes if nothing else, we are reminded here to always TILT our heads and keep one eye looking up while we continue to look forward. For example, we may be praying for the restoration of a very sick body, but sometimes our focus should be more on that person’s very sick soul. Or we are praying for our business and our checking account to prosper, while we neglect to pray for the Lord’s business of missions and His church. “Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.”
Weren’t these people praying for the GLORY, when they should have been praying for the VICTORY? By that I mean, their concern was for what they would enjoy AFTER the great upcoming battle. Again “Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.” We can only guess as to how the disciples expected the Millennium to begin. Were they expecting fire and hail stones to fall from Heaven crushing the heads of the wicked? Were they anticipating a popular up-rising from the people of Israel, overthrowing the Romans, along with perhaps the wicked leadership of the Jews? Maybe they were thinking that Christ would ride into Jerusalem on a white donkey and all the opposition to His rule would simply evaporate. I have no idea how they pictured the Lord’s kingdom to begin. But however it came to pass, it didn’t really concern them – what they prayed about was what would follow. Let’s ignore the sword and focus on the crown. “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him (praying). Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.”
How much of our prayer life is similar to this?
We know that our old car is about ready to die, so we pray for a replacement. Even though that may not be a bad request, is it the best? Do we pray for continued good health, and praise God for our employment and few expenses, which may enable us to purchase a newer car? This morning I mentioned playing a musical instrument – “Lord make me a great bassoon player.” And He replies, “How about I give you an hour a day for practice; Let’s see that you do with that.” Maybe we should be praying for diligence and self-discipline rather than for the potential results of diligence and self-discipline.. Most people want the glory of victory without the fight that it takes to produce that victory.
Related to this point is the fact that the request of these brethren was poor in its timing. Lay aside for a moment the fact that God doesn’t have to deal with time the way that we do. When I look out my window, there may be flowers, trees, clouds, birds, and mountains available to me. But generally speaking, I will focus on only one of those things at a time, or perhaps nothing at all. God doesn’t have a peripheral vision; nor does He automatically focus on one thing and then another. In fact He doesn’t have to focus at all – He takes in all things at all times – completely. And the same is true with time as far as the Lord is concerned – He doesn’t go from minute to minute. We on the other hand have no choice – one thing at a time and one moment at a time. In our limitations we often pray about problems which have already been solved – or potentially solved. Or we finally remember to bring something to the Lord today, when we should have been praying about it weeks or months ago. And now, the mistake has been made and the personal human disaster is unstoppable. “To sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”
“Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.” “Ye know not what ye ask.” Not only did they not know what they asked about the Kingdom, but they didn’t realize what they were saying when they said, “We are able.” They were not lying when they said, “We are able,” but they had no idea to what they were volunteering. They were unaware that they were praying for the opportunity to replace the two malefactors on their respective crosses.
How ignorantly we often pray. But how gracious is the Lord toward us nevertheless. He answers according to His will and His purpose. And these things, by the way are the very things which we need, even though we may not be aware of it. The Lord is always good to His people.