I am reading through the book of Matthew at the moment and last week I came across this beautiful story in Matthew 20:29-34 that seemed to jump out of the pages at me! It is such a beautiful example of Jesus journeying well with 2 people with additional needs but it gives us some helpful and healthy challenges too that are great reminders as we begin this new school year!
Why not pause for a moment of stillness, grab a coffee and read the passage …
Read Matthew 20:29-34
There is so much packed into this tiny little story – I wonder what curiosity bubbled up for you as you read it? Here are 2 things that stood out for me!!
- Jesus asked the question ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
In some ways this seems such a strange question – because surely it’s such an obvious answer! It feels like one of those questions that, if asked in my house, would immediately be met with the kind of eye roll that only a teenager can give – the type that portrays such frustration and even contempt because surely the answer is so obvious!
But Jesus gives us a beautiful example of the empowering importance of bringing curiosity – of not assuming that we know the answer or that we know what is needed or what might be helpful.
I wonder how often I have decided I know what a child or young person wants or needs or is thinking or feeling – without ever asking them. Bringing curiosity and asking the question AND, crucially, making space to listen and to hear the answer is a really empowering approach … and that is so important – particularly for children who may have experienced trauma or who may have additional needs and who may have damaging experience of being disempowered.
Sometimes the obvious question may get the obvious answer – but we can then move forward in an empowering and collaborative way. But sometimes, the answer may be entirely different from what we expected – what a joy to enable a child to feel seen and heard!
- They dared to ask big.
There is no beating around the bush with these guys! When Jesus asks them what they want Him to do for them – they jump straight in with ‘we want to see!!’ Their response is so big, so bold, so audacious— and their confidence in Jesus is so sure.
They could have brought a more realistic response … confined Jesus and what He could do by asking for something more ‘do-able’. Perhaps asking for better support – someone who could care for them, or maybe asking for financial resources so that they could live more comfortably. But not these guys! They jump straight in with expectations that smash through realism!
And why not??!! Ephesians 3:20 tells us that our Father God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
As I step into this new school year – what are my prayers like? Am I confining all that God can do with my ‘realistic’ expectations – or am I daring to ask big?
I want to step into this year zooming in and zooming out!
Zooming in by asking God to remind me to bring a curiosity that makes space for every child I am journeying with to feel seen and heard and valued.
Zooming out as I ask God to remind me that He is bigger than the confines of my down-to-earth realism that I try to squeeze Him into!
I want to dare to pray bigger, bolder, audacious prayers!