Dear Friends of Carmel Mission,
The phrase “Be careful what you ask for “may well be applied to James and John, the sons of Zebedee, in today’s Gospel. They asked for seats beside Jesus when He took His seat in glory. They wanted to book the best seats in the house, in advance!
No doubt Jesus probably thought to Himself – these guys still don’t get it! He tried once again to explain to them that He came to serve and that His disciples are similarly called to serve.
One can imagine if Zebedee’s boys were running in the mid-term elections, they would be the first to have the posters up and their election literature printed and mailed.
Sometimes we go to God and ask for things on our terms, just like James and John.
We are often disappointed when God doesn’t respond as we had planned and according to our timeline.
The truth is that no prayer of ours goes unheard. God always responds to our prayers, but oftentimes in ways we don’t expect. It’s sometimes the case that it’s only much later, and with the benefit of hindsight, that we realize that God did answer our prayers.
It was only after the Resurrection that the Apostles began to understand that following Jesus was not about sitting comfortably, but rather getting up off our chairs and serving others, especially those in need of some Good News.
Sure, it would be great if we could say to God, “I want you to do whatever I ask of you “
But that’s not the way it works. We think that we know what we want, but God knows what we truly need.
Fr. Paul
Pastor at Carmel Mission