Matthew 20:20 28
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In this scripture we can read the story of how the mother of James and John approached Jesus with a request. She asked for her sons to be accorded places of honor in Jesus’ kingdom, that they might sit on his right and his left hand. Jesus said (to the brothers) that they didn’t know what they were asking. Were they able to drink of the cup that Jesus himself was about to drink? They proclaimed themselves able. Jesus agreed that they would drink of it, but that he could not grant their request. Such a thing was only for God to give.
Both Mark and Matthew make it clear in the long run that the brothers were responsible for what happened. In fact, when Mark tells the story, he doesn’t even mention the mother. And Jesus identified them as the originators of the scheme because he addressed them alone. "Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?"
The other disciples were angry with the brothers.
Anger could have come from many sources.
Some may have been angry because this broke their sense of community. When some people want to be more important than others in the group, true community is lost.
Then again, some of the disciples may have been jealous, wondering if Jesus might actually give James and John favored status. Some may have wished they had thought of it first.
Whatever the motives and feelings on either side, the reputation of James and John’s mother has been mixed. She is sometimes dismissed and barely noticed by the scholars. Or she may be dismissed as though she was just like a “stage mother” or a “sports father,” i.e. seeking to succeed through her sons.
Her name is usually not given. She is mostly known in the Bible in two ways--as the mother of James and John and elsewhere she is known as the wife of Zebedee. But Mark does give her name as Salome. Some scholars believe (from John 19:25) that she was a sister of Jesus’ mother, Mary. Other scholars do not agree. If she was Jesus’ aunt (which makes James & John his cousins), the gospel writers did not consider this necessary to specifically mention. Either it was so well known the information was considered redundant, or it was viewed as unimportant.
Salome’s husband, Zebedee, was a fishermen. There may have been some partnership with the brothers Peter and Andrew. Zebedee ran a business large enough to employ not only his sons, but servants as well, at least in the busy season. He was probably not wealthy. However, he seems to have been fairly prosperous.
James and John were working in their boat mending their nets when Jesus saw them. Mark tells us how Jesus called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.
What is not recorded at the time of the call, but only mentioned later in passing, is that the wife of Zebedee also left her daily activities and traveled with Jesus through the countryside of Judea. We have no way of knowing whether her discipleship was before or after her sons decided to follow Jesus. She was one of a group of women who contributed financially to the traveling ministry of Jesus. Most people think of Jesus going about Palestine with the twelve men that we know as his disciples. But there was actually a much larger group of men and women (at times at least seventy), who were also disciples. The twelve were those chosen for special education and leadership roles. The fact that both brothers, James and John, were chosen, would seem to indicate a talented and dedicated family trend.
Zebedee seems to have remained behind. We are not told that he made any objection to his family's decision to follow Jesus, although some scholars speculate he may have done so. Such an episode, it is suggested, may have included some "thunderous" arguments. Jesus called James and John "the sons of thunder." Scholars are undecided on whether the "thunder" referred to Zebedee or to the volatile nature of his sons.
So, the wife of Zebedee was a follower of Jesus. We can speculate, a little, about her personality. She was a brave and courageous disciple. She apparently didn't hold grudges. Jesus was more important to her than personal feelings.
This can be speculated about her because we also know she was one of the few disciples who stood it out at Golgotha. She was one of the women who watched and grieved and remained faithful to the end.
It seems possible that the wife of Zebedee was the spiritual force in that household, the formative influence on her sons. We can speculate this because of how her sons reacted and by the faith of the mother herself.
Salome is probably remembered best (and somewhat negatively) for the time she asked Jesus to honor her sons. But she also stood at the cross. This involved considerable risk. She was also one of the women who went to the tomb and first heard the news of the resurrection.
Salome stepped out of the traditional role for women, embracing religious life in a way that her society did not see as necessarily appropriate for her gender. Jesus himself did not appear to care or concern himself about the restrictions placed on women.
What can you imagine Salome told her sons about those hours at the cross?
How does human ideas of honor and status fit with the Christian life?
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