Matthew 20:21
“What do you wish?”
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I wanted to be a doctor. But I know that my parents don’t have the money to sustain me through college and pre-med. So, one evening, my father asked me, “what do you want to become”. I knew then that he is not asking me what I want to finish in college. He is actually asking me what I want to become as a person. I remember that my only response was “to be a successful man”. Then, he responded, “then follow your dream”.
Twenty years after, I would consider myself successful – having a wonderful family that is God-fearing, properties that I can say are product of hard-work and a job where I learn more and more each day. Would I be more successful if I am a doctor? I don’t know. And I don’t care. I like the life I have now, knowing that God is with me, forever.
What do you wish in life? Are we like the mother of John and James who asked Jesus to make her sons “sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom”. Perhaps, she thought that as a Messiah, Jesus is destined to be the King of Israel on earth, leading an army to overturn the Roman empire. But His Kingdom is not on earth. And taking up His chalice means suffering and following Him. In the end, James and John did dedicated their lives to God. And they gained the Kingdom of Heaven with Jesus. James was beheaded by King Agrippa, and John was exiled to Pathos (a Greek Island) and heard the persecution his beloved community was experiencing.
If we wish, I believe God will not hold back what he has promised to do. This is the season to ask what we desire – the desire to serve Him for the betterment of others. God is ever ready to grant us this desire and is not just fulfilling our needs. Let Him found grace and favor in you. For to those whom He is pleased, He will ask, “What do you wish for?”
Almighty Father, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility. May we be with You in Your Kingdom, this is our wish. Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of Your Son’s suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen +
Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.
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