Often Jesus asks the simple, disarming question, “What do you want?” Seldom do people know themselves well enough to answer honestly. In John 1 when some friends of John the Baptist get tipped off that Jesus is The One, they awkwardly show up nearby him. He asks them what they want and they mumble something about wondering what Airbnb he’s at instead of actually naming what they want. The same thing happens in this passage:

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

“What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. - Matthew 20:20-23

God bless this woman - she’s out there trying to make a way for her boys to succeed in life. But she didn’t realize that by asking for the seats of authority next to Jesus was a little bit like asking for them to be up on the crosses near him, right? Jesus’s kingdom is just that upside down. Jesus points out that suffering lies ahead for those who want to have power.

So what she’s really asking is, “Can my boys have power like the world has power?” (perhaps in part to provide for her own future - this woman is wise, in that sense). But it’s hard to come out from behind yourself and ask for what you really want.

So often what we want is control - what Brene Brown calls ‘power over’ - the kind of power that gets things done (namely, the kinds of things that benefit us). Jesus was about a different sort of power.

Take a look at your prayers of late. Are some of them veiled power grabs or attempts to control others?

What do you think would happen if you took off the veil and were super direct with Jesus about what you really wanted?

Radically Welcoming. Jesus Centered.

What Do You Really Want?