May the mumbling commence!
Distress often brings us to our knees in prayer. In the last day before his crucifixion, Jesus was brought to his knees in prayer. Read from Luke chapter twenty-two:
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."
While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour – when darkness reigns." (Verses 39-53)
Pray not to fall into temptation. That was Jesus’ message to the Twelve. What temptation was most immediate? The most immediate temptation was to try and alter the plans and commands of God – to try and fulfill God’s will in any other way. We see this struggle in the prayer of Jesus. “Take away this cup. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
These words of submission were heart wrenchingly difficult. Jesus sweated great drops of sweat – like drops of blood hitting the ground. It is now scientifically known that when a person is in great duress, they can physically sweat blood. Some people believe this was the case with Jesus. Knowing what he did about what awaited him, I can understand why Jesus would be in such duress. I could not stand with the knowledge that he had. I would have fled for my life – and lost it.
I take some comfort in the disciples’ failure. They caved into the temptation to try and fulfill God’s will in another way. “Shall we strike with our swords?” There is and never has been any force in our relationship with God. You and I are free to choose. So were the religious leaders of Jesus’ day free to choose.
We too often choose poorly. We choose the easy path of hurt and destruction and violence. That is not the God sanctioned way. God seeks to heal and restore. God dwells among us in easy reach. Will we choose to embrace our Lord or hurt him with our own agendas and pettiness?
Help us, O God, to embrace a life of obedience to you.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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