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Gethsemane. What a dark moment in the life of Jesus. Knowing his time on earth with his closest friends is coming to an end, he goes off to…pray. Not to have a last bit of fun. Not to get drunk and ride it out. He goes off to be alone with his thoughts and prayers to his Father.
Despite knowing the beginning of the end is nigh, Jesus opts to include his buddies; His wonderfully flawed pals. They’ve been there for his ministry. He knows them and their ability to disappoint. He knows they will disappoint him again. And yet he allows them to come along anyway.
And boy did they disappoint! Tasked with keeping watch they do what – they fall asleep. Three times!! The God-Man who performed miracles in front of their very eyes asks them to do nothing but keep watch and they couldn’t even do that. And then, when the time comes and Jesus is captured, they desert him.
Now, we know that Jesus did not need his disciples to watch out for him. He did not need them to come to his defense when soldiers came to arrest him. And even when he was deserted, it ultimately didn’t matter much to his situation. He was submitted to the Father's will.
Jesus didn’t need their company, but he wanted their company. He needed to commune with his Father but, for goodness sake; he was a human who knew he was about to die and needed some friends!
I don’t know if Jesus was intending on making this dark moment a teaching moment, but in true Jesus fashion, it was anyway.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. How easy is it for us to isolate during the dark moments of our lives! What if, instead of hiding during these times, the best thing to do was for us to open ourselves up, all of our ugliness, to the friends God has given us?
2. How can you, trusting Jesus, take a risk and let your community love you, warts and all? There is, of course, the chance that they will fall asleep and you may have to wake them up again. It happens.
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