As the sun sets on the night before Good Friday, when we remember Jesus’ crucifixion, I am pondering what He might have been experiencing. I think it was a night He felt His humanity perhaps more than any other time while He was on earth.
In the garden, the garden where You went so many times to pray and spend time with Your Father, but this time was different. Your time with the Father was filled with anguish and pleading for another way. I don’t know if You were ever more human than in the garden that night.
You needed Your friends – already feeling the weight of what was in front of You, wanting companionship and partners in prayer. But what You found were sleepy humans oblivious to Your pain. Of course they didn’t know what was coming. You tried to tell them, but they just didn’t get it.
They didn’t get it at supper either. Again, they didn’t know their worlds would soon be turned upside down, but they spent that precious time together arguing about who was the most important and where they would sit in Your eternal kingdom. They boasted and bragged about how much they loved You and would defend You, not knowing they would soon fail at showing their love and devotion to You.
I shouldn’t be hard on them though, Lord. What about me? How many times do You call me to sacrifice my time to intercede for others, but I am too tired or preoccupied with my world? When have I been more concerned about proving my devotion to You through words and service but missed the person next to me who needed a touch from You through me?
Help me to remember more often, Lord, and not just on this Thursday once a year. Help me to think of the garden, Your prayers, and consider Your plans for me and how You want to touch others through me.
Paula Davis 