Matthew 20:21
“What
do you wish?”
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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