In the fourteenth chapter of Mark's Gospel, the evangelist writes of Jesus's ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane. (v.32-42) He and his apostles have eaten the Passover meal, the traitor has left them.... His hour is approaching...darkness comes. Jesus wants to pray to the Father, and brings Peter, James and John with him to keep watch. It is, for me, the most poignant moment of Jesus's humanity. We see His Divinity over and over: at His Baptism...in His miracles...in His Transfiguration at Mt. Tabor. Here, in a garden, He truly shows us His human nature, His complete emptying of Himself for our sake.
In anguish, He accedes to the will of the Father over His own wish to have this "cup taken away from me" (v.36). Then, after he prays, he approaches his apostles, and finds them sleeping. He goes off to pray again, returns, and still his friends sleep. A third time he prays, and again....
I dare not assign blame. Who am I? How much of my waking life have I spent sleeping? As Good Friday nears, and once again I come in abject humility, face-to-face with His sacrifice, I pray to Jesus: AWAKEN ME!! Let me sleep no more. How often have I missed your Presence? Kick me awake! Douse me with water, your living water! Open the eyes of my heart so I may see the essence within the vessel, the Divine within the worldly! I have slept too much...too long. Please forgive me, my Lord and my God. Help me to see...
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