Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Honor (05/30/24)
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TITLE: Dirt on Your Knees | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
06/04/24 -
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Two young men stepped in her direction. “Did you ask him?”
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I can see the dirt on your knees,” the older one replied, stroking his beard.
“What did he say?” the younger asked, hands cupped over his mouth, eyes darting left and right.
“I’m his aunt,” she said. “I appealed to our family ties, your good reputations, the need for honor.”
“And?”
She reached out and straightened the collar of the younger before running her fingers through the hair of the older. “He wants to see you in person.”
“What about the things he said are going to happen in the city?” the younger asked.
“It sounds bad, but did you hear the ending?” the older brother said.
“He’s going to overcome it all. The time for the kingdom is near. Nothing is going to stop him.”
The trio wove their way back through the fires, ignoring the queries in the eyes of their comrades. “Salome, what’s the hurry?” one woman called. She gave a wave of her hand and continued.
A few observers, warming their hands over the flames, left their comfort and stepped into the path behind them.
“Do you think he’ll give us the honor?” the younger man queried, leaning closer to his mother. “It’s not like he’s showing favoritism. We are family after all.”
“Do we have to get on our knees for this?” the older one asked. “Do you think if we honor him that he’ll be more prone to honor us?”
“Shush, boys!” Salome said. “James, you’re the oldest. You talk for us.”
“Mother, you were already with him, you ask for his favor and we’ll respond.”
Salome knelt again in the dust. “Yeshua, we’re back. Is your favor with us?”
The Messiah laid a hand on his aunt’s shoulder and glanced into the faces of his cousins. “What do you want?”
“Teacher,” James spurted out. “We want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
Yeshua lowered his hand. “What do you want me to do for you?”
Salome smiled. “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.” The brothers joined their mother on their knees, eyes up in anticipation. James reached out toward his brother, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” John nodded.
Yeshua’s jaw was taut, his lips pursed. A sigh escaped. “You don’t know what you are asking.” He looked into the eyes of James and then John. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink? Can you be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
“We can,” they answered in unison, heads nodding. Where was his smile? The honor was assured.
“You will indeed drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
A hand grasped James’ shoulder, spinning him around. “Hey! What are you two trying to pull behind our backs? We’re as much family as you after all we’ve been through. If you want honor then get to the back of the line.”
Through the turmoil and scuffling that ensued the voice of the teacher called for calm. “Stand still and listen one more time,” he said. “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
James and John stepped back, wiping the dust off their knees. “Does this mean we don’t get honored?” John whispered.
Matthew 20; Mark 10
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I know, with you, I am "preaching to the choir," but please allow me to explain this -- for the benefit of anyone else who may read this submission of yours and the comments below. Because it's such an exciting discovery.
Luke just calls them "women who had followed Him" in 23:49.
The other three all report that Mary Magdalene was there. Mary, the mother of James the younger and Joseph was also the wife of Clopas, as John brought out in 19:25-27.
John is also the only one who records that Yeshua's mother was there and it's in this account that Yeshua gave her care to John.
However, in Matthew 27:56, he mentions "the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee" was there. We all know this was Salome. Then John records in verse 25 that Yeshua's mother's sister was there. John is referring to his own mother, Salome.
What others may not also know is that, in Hebrew culture, the eldest son was responsible for taking care of his widowed mother. But, knowing what was coming, Yeshua needed to give her care into the hands of a male family member. He (or the Father) chose his cousin, John.