Salome, from chutzpah to surrender, Part III

How did Salome go from chutzpah to surrender? How did she change from a woman who knelt before Christ and requested special places for her sons, to a woman surrendered to the service of God?

She truly learned the lesson in humility that Jesus gave to her. She remained a loyal follower to the end. When all of the disciples except John ran away, it was Salome who stayed at the foot of the cross with Mary and John.

Salome went from being a mother with a prideful heart to being a generous and loyal woman who accompanied the other women to the tomb on that special morning when they all learned He had risen. When the others were cowering in a room, expecting the Romans to burst in at any moment, she wasn't one to sit around! She realized there were preparations that needed to be made to Jesus' body, and she went with Mary Magdelene and Mary to do that work.

She was totally surrendered in service to Him. Salome had just witnessed His torturous crucifixion and His death. She had endured the jeers of the crowds and the pain of taking His body down from the cross. She had watched as they placed His body in the borrowed tomb that Joseph of Arimethea allowed them to use. She was exhausted. She was confused. She was overwhelmed with sadness. But she was sold out to Christ -- whatever service she could give, she was ready. And so she made her way to the tomb the next morning, and received joyful news from the angels there. Salome was one of the women that raced to tell the disciples the good news.

She had sought earthly crowns for her sons, but she was now surrendered to the Lord and had learned that sacrificial service was the way to the kingdom. "Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant."

It's not those who are born of Abraham who will be in God's kingdom, but those whose faith resembles the faith of Abraham. And it's not those who want to be great and powerful who will find joy, peace, and satisfaction in His service; it's those who will surrender and serve Him, and serve others.

I wonder what was in her heart, the day that she made her request to Jesus, and heard his rebuke. I wonder how that felt . . . but then I know, for I have been "brought up short" by His loving rebuke in my own life -- haven't you? It makes us want to change, to turn away from how we've been before, and be a new person.

                This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (II Corinthians 5:17)

I expect that Salome didn't want to be the way she had been, any longer. She must have wanted her words and her heart to be different. She surrendered her life to Christ and from then on, her words came from the depths of truth within her. She learned to walk in the Light and serve, instead of focusing on who was going to be honored. From chutzpah to surrender is not a long journey when He is holding our hand!

Let's all determine within ourselves to be fully surrendered to Him, and search for ways that we can serve Him, and serve others!