They Didn't Know What to Say!
Again he [Jesus] returned to them and found them sleeping, for they just couldn't keep their eyes open. And they didn't know what to say. Mark 14:40
Sometimes we just fail. Maybe it's because we don't understand the gravity of a behavior. Maybe it is because we are just too weary and distraught to do what we need to do. Maybe it's because we are weak or lazy.
The bottom line is that we are flawed people living in a fallen world. Despite our best intentions, our flesh sometimes triumphs over our faith. I can't think of anything that reminds us of our desperate need for Jesus to be our Savior more than Jesus' closest followers' letting him down in his moment of greatest need. Yet he dies for them and then calls them back to his service.
What a message of grace triumphing over sin, disappointment, failure, and death.
I pray in your name so often to praise, thank, and request things from the Father, that I sometimes forget to thank you for your incomparable love, mercy, and grace to die for us -- to die for me --when I have let you down and hurt you with my failure and sin. Thank you, dear Father, for such a divine plan to deal with human weakness and sin. All praise be to you, and to your Son. Amen.
1 comment:
Awesome, man! How this applies to many of us in the world today!
I recently watched the "Passion Of The Christ", only the beginning part, where Jesus sweated like blood drops of sweat praying asking the Father to remove the cup (bitter cup of suffering; cross) He is about to drink! We have forgotten all that Jesus had gone through. He went through them all for us, believers, to really keep our faith in Him. But we lose grip when we become weak and/or lazy. I don't understand that behavior either.
I love the line, "Yet he dies for them and then calls them back to his service." We are, in many ways, like His Disciples: Peter, John, Andrew, Barthalomew, Thomas... who have deserted their Friend, the Holy One of God in fear for their own lives. Christians often deserted Jesus on Sundays but never deserted from their work during the week! They are deserted from the fellowship of every Christians, but never deserted from their worldly friends at parties. They are deserted from gospel meetings/workshops, but never deserted from major sporting events and rock concerts. To most of them, the spiritual arena is less interesting than the physical arena!
One final thought, I can almost hear Jesus hearing Satan's word, "Jesus, do you really think your people will really commit themselves fully to you, to love You and Your Word, to have all the time with You? And you're going to bleed and die on that horrible cross even they will not completely devote themselves to you?"
But Jesus died anyway!! He knows many will reject Him, lose interest in Him and quit! But Jesus never left them, or did He ever quit? It accepted the first slash of the whip to the last nail through His flesh and died for us!
Thank You, Jesus!
Post a Comment