Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives
45When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46"Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."
Jesus Arrested
47While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"49When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" 50And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
52Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns."
Now that I'm on spring break, I have a lot of time to myself and I must admit I have never been so tempted in my life to do whatever I please. In this passage, I see how Jesus, the son of God, as perfect as He is had to pray to His Father so that he would continue to do His will. I, not anywhere near Jesus' perfection, need to be in prayer ALL the time so that I could fight these temptations and also continue to follow His will for me.
I pray that I will have the strength to fight off any temptations and come to Jesus instead.
3 comments:
thanks esther for a wonderful reflection. you are so right to remind that us that we must always pray, "lest we fall into temptation". i've heard many godly people warn that we most often fall into grievous sin during times of leisure or idleness, when we are unguarded and have a lot of time on our hands. we're on spring break too so it's a much-needed reminder! the passage also made me realize how much Jesus did not want to go to the cross--how He struggled to find a way out. He did not want to bear my sins on the cross and receive the full fury of God's wrath that MY sins deserved. we could understand how Jesus felt because we hardly want to be associated with our own sins. i'm so thankful that Jesus did eventually submit Himself in full obedience to the will of the Father, took my sins upon Himself and died in my place. it is wonderful beyond words to know that "in Him there is now no condemnation for us who believe."
Thank you, Esther!
We need to be aware and fight againt temptations with prayer.
from these passages, i am reminded of the humanity of Christ: Jesus said, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me..." and that He was in "anguish!"
it must have been so awful to know what was before Him... the weight of it all!
but being in anguish, "He prayed more earnestly!"
so, i hope that i can respond in humility (since He is going to the cross for me) and spend time in prayer as He did and hope that i will not fall asleep...
Post a Comment