What do I really want?

Sunday July 25th is the Feast of St James, the Apostle some suggested readings are Jeremiah 45; Acts 11:27-12:3 ; 2 Corinthians 4:7-15 ; Psalm 126 ; and Matthew 20:20-28

The map alongside is the famous pilgrimage journey to Compostela in NW Spain (El Camino de Santiago) where traditionally pilgrims have gone to venerate St James at the great cathedral shrine. Traditionally pilgrims journey for weeks or months from Southern France.

Tarted up
I always find Matthew’s version of the story we read in the Gospel today a little amusing
it has James and John’s mother
asking Jesus
to grant her sons the privilege
of being his chief lieutenants when everything starts to happen

In Mark’s more direct version (probably therefore the earlier, less politically corrected and hence more likely to be accurate) it is the boys themselves that ask Jesus.
Is Matthew trying, as some commentators suggest (eg John Drane), to make the apostles look good by making their mother (rather than them) seemingly crassly ambitious on their behalf.
There is a sort of childish naïveté about the exchange
which makes us suspect that this theory is correct!
Jesus asks them:
what do you want?
It’s probably significant to note that he does not ask ‘what do you need?’ or even ‘what can I do for you?’
The naïf story is a question about what motivates them
What do you WANT?
It is not always nice

and we do not always like to admit
that we would like to be the boss
or that we are seeking our own advantage
or that we are bit selfish
(which is why Matthew is trying to make the apostles look good by blaming their mother)
But God is responding to us where we are
and though we might like to look good in the eyes
of others
or not look as bad as we really are…is perhaps another way of putting it
God responds to us where we are
and as we are
not to some game we might play.

Advice therefore
So some advice therefore is to be authentic.
In reality God knows all about us
so there is no point playing games.
If you feel angry then pay attention to that,
if you are sad or excited
then that is what God is going to be dealing with

Jesus is able to warn James and John
what we all know to be inherently true
that there is no privilege
without responsibility
and that there is no responsibility
without personal cost.
he himself demonstrates this in his own life
they will be required to demonstrate it
if they really want to go this way.

This is important stuff
So it is necessary to be keenly insightful
about our real wants
(as opposed to our politically correct needs,
or what we might blame our mother for)



What do you really want from God?
Can you this week try to tease that question out?
To be a little bit more honest and open
and therefore to maximize the chance
that we might hear what Jesus might be actually speaking into our lives

How do you feel God has treated you so far?
Does this encourage you, disappoint you?
What do you want God to be for you?

The message, we can hear on this St James Day
is that we are “earthen jars” not stunning jewellery.
We, by and large, are dull and flat,
lifeless and characterless.
Yet…we are not without promise and potential
For we are filled with treasure.
But the treasure is not what we imagine
it is how Jesus meets us,
so it is not about unreality
or political correctness
or what our parents might want for us.

This week
What do I want from Jesus?
What is he asking me to be and do?
Can I…will I do it and be it?

Saint James, pray for us
that we may be willing
to leave everything to follow Jesus
as you did.
Help us to be the true friend of Jesus

What do you want me to do for you?

If we were really honest with ourselves, which is often not the case, we would find that we spend an awful lot of time and energy on things that are not terribly satisfying...or even what we want

Readings for Pentecost 21, Sunday October 25 include Job 42:1-6, 10-17, Psalm 34, Hebrews 7:23-28, Mark 10:46-52

Most of us have only a fleeting glimpse of what we really want out of life, relationships or from God

What do you want me to do for you?

If we were really honest with ourselves, (which is often not the case)

, we would find that we spend an awful lot of time and energy on things that are not terribly satisfying…

really not even what we want

Yet it is, of course,

what we really want

that drives us.

We may want to be liked.

To feel financially secure.

Or even just to be left alone!!!

Bartimaeus

The gospel shows us what we sometimes experience

-that in crisis, or difficulty, at a time of great stress

that “what we want”

may be clearly focussed

This perhaps gives us an insight into one of the benefits of those tough times

that it is at moment of our greatest need

or difficulty

that we can be particularly receptive to God’s grace

We are often not inclined to think like this.

For Bartimaeus, he can see very clearly (interesting for a blind man)

what he needs from Jesus

and he will not be silenced.

Can we get that very clear focus?

It is particularly of note that Jesus is able to respond to Bartimaeus in his genuine need.

THIS WEEK

What particular troubles do we have on our plate at the moment?

What might God be able to give us if we allow him?

Can we have the courage to cry out, and the determination to not be put off

Fruit of the vine

Readings for today, Easter 5, May 10th 2009 , can be taken from Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22: 26-32, 

1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8

South Australians in particular appreciate this image of the vine that Jesus uses in John 15

It is a sumptuous and engaging image

and bears much thinking about, with reflection and prayer.

God wants us to be fruitful

he wants us not to have meagre lives

but abundant lives.

Some times we need to understand that fruitfulness comes about by a process of pruning

that is by cutting back

by curtailing ourselves

This process is for long-term fruitfulness

even though in the short term 

it may limit or even seem like it hurts

The passage from 1John reminds us that God’s sole motivation is  love for us

We are not the puppets of a dictator

we are the lovers of a God

who wants only our welfare.

DEEPER RATHER THAN SHALLOWER

All this prompts us to think that what is being suggested here

is deeper rather than shallower.

It is long-term transformation

rather than short- term titillation.

So when we read (as we do twice in this chapter) 

“ask what ever you wish and it will be done for you” 

we should realise that this is more than just wish-fulfillment.

God is seeking to respond to our deepest need.

I suspect that our deepest need is not to have more stuff or money

It is about attending to our need to be loved

and to love

In the end ...this will always be what we want.

However we name it, even if we have to begin with 

               “But I really want a new car!”

God is offering more than just to be Fr Christmas.

We know this because of John’s assertion over and over again

               God loves me! God loves you! God loves us!

So much so that he is prepared to confront death for us.

There is more being offered here than a new bike, a big house or a pile of cash.

THIS WEEK

Can you sit with the question...what do I really want?

Can we wrestle about that with God? (Why do I want more? Why do I need trouble to disappear)

What, God, are you offering?

Probably much more than we think!