The Man, the Mystery, the Meaning, Part 2: He prayed all alone

At every turn throughout the life of Jesus, those beside him misunderstood him. No time was this truer than in the hours before his crucifixion and after his resurrection,

Last week we read the protests of those closest to him as he washed their feet, showing them how to serve. This week we see them sleeping while he prayed in agony about the horrible death he was soon to suffer.

Scenes like these from the life of Jesus are familiar to many Christians who have heard them repeated again and again. Sometimes we turn away from these pictures: maybe because we’re shocked by how some saw and knew him and yet couldn’t grasp who he was, maybe because we can’t face the stark reality of his agony or the injustice of those who bound him to die.

Today’s story is particularly mysterious. Nowhere do we see the humanity and the divinity of Jesus combined in sharper contrast. He knew he would die, and he understood why. Soon he would feel the executioners’ whip and the nails piercing his limbs. He foresaw as only God could, even as he experienced the dread that would grip any man.

It was his hour of great need, but the disciples were exhausted at the end of an emotional day. Although Jesus the man longed for their consolation, Jesus their God gave them grace.

Comparisons with our own experience threaten to trivialize the significance of what we read in today’s text. We will never be faced with a cataclysmic drama like the one unfolding here. But as we see the disciples sleeping while God’s purposes were playing out beside them, we can ask him to protect us from a similar shortcoming—and to forgive us when we let it happen.

Of course, God is not saving the world through our suffering or that of anyone close to us. He may have no singular purpose for our trial or pain. The drama in the Garden of Gethsemane happened—and needed to happen—only once.

And yet we believe God is still active and alive in our world. Some see him at work every day. And while we sympathize with the exhaustion of these men, we imagine the longing in their Master’s voice. And we can ask him to help us hear what he wants from us.

Read: Matthew 26:36-46
Pray: Father, we struggle to grasp all that was happening in the incident we’re reading about here. And we sometimes wonder what you may be doing through the difficulties we’re facing today. Help us not to miss you amid weariness that some days threatens to overwhelm us.

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