2024_11_11 Insight Post- Kim Feld
This week’s reading- Matthew 20:20-28, Matthew 27:56, Mark 10:35-45, Mark 15:40-41, Mark 16:1-8
Before we dive into this week’s reading, I want to take a moment to acknowledge and express my deep gratitude for all our military who have or continue to serve and protect our country. I count the ability to practice my faith freely among my greatest freedoms. I am indebted to those who sacrifice to make these freedoms available. I am grateful for your and your family’s sacrifices, which allowed you to do what you do. Thank you, and God bless you and yours.
This week’s reading focuses on Salome, the wife of Zebedee and mother of the Sons of Thunder, James and John. In Matthew 20, we read about the request of the brothers to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand. Matthew records this request coming from their mother, Salome, while Mark 10 records it as coming from the brothers themselves. Scholars believe that it is plausible that either all three were present when the request was made or that it was made twice. Perhaps the brothers felt Jesus would have a more challenging time saying no to their mother. It has been speculated that Salome was Jesus’ mother, Mary’s sister. No matter the situation, we have a mother making a bold request for her sons to be placed into positions of power and prestige. Although we may see this request as audacious, I want to point us toward something different: Salome’s faith.
For Salome to make a request like that, she had to believe that Jesus was who He said He was. In our reading this week, we see her listed among those present at Jesus’ crucifixion and among the women who went to tend to His body. She was faithful, loyal, and present. Let’s take a look:
55 And many women who had come from Galilee with Jesus to care for him were watching from a distance.56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Matthew 27:55-56, NLT
1 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. Mark 16:1, NLT
Did Salome have ambitions for her boys? It seems that she did. She was learning how to be a follower of Jesus right along with them. Salome would later feel the same piercing of her heart that Mary did as her son James was murdered. We don’t know the rest of her story, but we know she was a mother who loved her boys and wanted the best for them.
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach