MATTHEW 26:36-46
MARK 14:32-42
LUKE 22:39-46
This night was unlike any other. The tension was palpable, everyone seemed on edge. There was bickering among them, and Jesus was in a strange mood. Their conversation had gone from death and betrayal to joy and peace. He kept telling them to love one another.
As they walked together through the cool spring night, Jesus spoke with a strange sense of urgency. When they got to the entrance of the garden overlooking the city, Jesus told everyone to wait for Him, silently tapping James, Peter and John. The four men went deeper into the olive grove until they came to a familiar place. There was a giant press nearby, and the fragrance of ripe olives hung in the air. How many olives had been crushed there, the heavy stones forcing oil from pulp?
Jesus looked at His closest friends in this world and said, “Wait here for Me. I’m going over there to pray.”
They sank down, heavy from the accumulated stress of the week. Before they realised what was happening, they were asleep.
Jesus went farther into the garden and began to pray. But it was unlike any prayer before or since. It was a desperate, howling prayer. It was a begging, pleading, wrestling kind of prayer. He had always sought and done the Father’s will. But now, in His darkest hour, He was — what? Uncertain? Hesitant? Maybe there was another way. Anything is possible.
He needed to be alone to sort this all out. But He also needed His friends close by. And they needed to be here, there were lessons to be learned, even in this. But the lessons could only be learned if they were awake. Jesus came back to them. “Wake up! Stay alert! There are important things happening tonight.”
“Yes, Jesus,” their mouths said, even as their eyes were beginning to close. In the brief glimpse they got of Him, He looked strange. Sweaty. Almost bloody—at least that’s how one of them would later report it to a doctor friend.
Again He went, not more than a stone’s throw from them, to pray. The sweat began pouring off His forehead like blood oozing from a freshly opened wound. The heavy stone that is the sin of the entire world, forcing blood, sweat and tears from this Man who would soon be beaten to a pulp.
“Still asleep?”
“Sorry, Jesus. It’s been a long week.”
And then He went back to talk to His Father again. This time, He was resolved. His face was as hard as flint. If it must be done, it must be done. If there is no other way, then so be it. He took a deep breath and, gathering His strength, stood up. He heard something in the distance and could just begin to see the light of torches approaching.
Prayer
Lord of hosts, I acknowledge that Your will is good and acceptable and perfect. Yet I often find myself wrestling with it, because I have my own ideas about how to order my life and what would be best for me, my family, my friends and my career. But I know that when I try to determine the content of my life, I set myself up for disappointment, because the only criterion I can use to see how well I am doing is comparison with others. And when I do that, it leads to a lack of contentment and the temptation to covet what other people have that I do not. I confess that it is only when I look to You to determine the content of my life that I know the contentment that comes from the realisation that only You know what is really best for me, and that You are committed to bringing it about for my own long-term good.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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