Key Verse: Verse 20 – “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.”
Several things are known about Salome, but none are more important than her ambition for her sons, James and John, two of Jesus’ disciples.
On one occasion Peter, James, and John were grouped together. Salome, knowing that Jesus was the Messiah and feeling that the kingdom would soon be established, requested that her sons be placed by Jesus in the kingdom, one on His right hand and the other on His left.
Now, while Salome was wrong and filled with pride in her request, you have to admire her desire for her sons to be near Jesus. She was, indeed, a woman of ambition.
Salome’s ambition reminds me of a story I read about a student at Amherst College. Soon after entering, he put over the door of his dormitory room the letter V. Because of it he endured all sorts of ridicule and withstood questioning. But he paid no attention to either, nor would he disclose the secret of the letter. When his four years were over, and graduation day came, that student was appointed to deliver the valedictory. Then the mystery of that letter V was revealed. It stood for valedictory. That letter on the door held before him during his four years the ideal he had set for himself. Not every boy puts a letter over the door of his college room or over the door of his house. But nevertheless, somewhere, if only in his mind, there is a letter that he pastes there and that holds before him an ideal. Some put up the letter M that stands for money. Others put up F, for fame. Others put up S, which may stand either for self or for service. It is a good idea once in a while to step outside your door and look at the letter you have put there. It may be that when you realize what it is you will want to change it.
We all need to be ambitious, but with a Godly ambition and a desire to bring glory to God.
What to do:
✞ Be ambitious, but have ambition to glorify God with your life.
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