Thirtieth Day of Lent

Thirtieth Day of Lent

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
Stay here and keep watch with me. . . . 
Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?
Matthew 26:38, 40

Jesus has told the disciples in every way possible that he is going to die. His feeling that he is overwhelmed with sorrow surely showed in his face. And what does he ask of the disciples? One hour of prayer. But the small request was more than they could give. Perhaps they got distracted. Perhaps with good intentions they began to pray but fell asleep. Whatever the reasons, he returned from his agonizing struggle in prayer and found them sleeping.

What’s our first response? How could they? Why didn’t they pray together so that they’d be focused? Were they so oblivious to his needs that they did not see his grief? Why didn’t they offer to go with him and to pray with him? Whatever the questions, we find no answer. So let’s question ourselves.

Have there been times when we have promised ourselves – someone -- the Lord – that we would pray about something and didn’t? Have we begun in good faith to pray as we were lying in bed and waked in the morning to realize that we had not completed the prayer and had gone to sleep? Have we sensed some great need in the world – in our family -- in the church – and known that the Lord wanted us to pray but we did not?

Guilty! We’re no better than they!

Prayer: Father, forgive us that we are so insensitive to the pain of Jesus, not only as he faced death but as he views the pain in the world around us today. Make us a people who will watch and pray. Amen

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator