Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground
and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet
not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.
“Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and
pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is
not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be
done.”
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because
their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the
third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Matthew 26: 36-45
I saw a program on TV that I have thought of in light of
Jesus’ Passion. This particular program
is “Babylon 5” on which a group of monks from a monastic order came through the
Station. These brothers were followers of “The Teacher,” (a clear reference to
Jesus). There was a crew member on
“Babylon 5” whose family was murdered and the crew member felt that one of the
monks was the murderer. The brother had
been sentenced, re-programmed to forget the crime, and part of his sentence was
to serve as a brother who followed “the teacher”. As time went by, the crew member was able to
bring some of the brother’s memory back and recall the horror of the crime.
The
interesting thing is that the commander of Babylon 5 spoke to the brother who
was struggling what to do with the memory and be faithful to “The
Teacher.” He recalled that “The Teacher
was in a garden praying what to do about a life-or-death decision he had to
make: stay and teach or leave. The
brother monk had a decision too - to leave or stay and face up to his crime
and seek forgiveness. The crew member and brother monk meet at which the crew
member beats the brother leaving him for dead. The commander finds the dying brother, whose last breath is, “Like the
Teacher, I stayed.” He acted in faith to
the teachings of “The Teacher.”
Interestingly, the crew member who had murdered the brother was sentenced to be a brother and follower of the Teacher himself. The commander was upset, but the Abbot challenged him saying that “The Teacher” was forgiving and gave everyone a second chance.
We are called upon now to make a decision of faith. Can we make the decision to stay because Jesus stayed? May the example of Jesus be our example to dare to live as the Teacher lived for us to face the Cross and beyond to the Resurrection. Amen
Prayer: O God, we
thank You for Jesus, who stayed and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that
Your Will be done even as the Cross looms ahead. May we have the courage of faith to live with
a faith the encounters the cost of the Cross, but which brings us to a renewal
of faith, life and resurrection in Jesus’ name. Amen
Rev. Dr. John J Duling
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