Day 44 - “God, thy will is hard”

When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray before his arrest, he asked his disciples to pray too but they fell asleep instead. Too often, Christians do that instead of focusing on God, Susan Mountin wrote. Lent is a time to try to pay more attention to prayer; we need to wake up, she continued. Perhaps her most important advice about prayer is: "You need to be open to God's answer, not just your answer”.

This video clip is a tough listen or watch; imagine how tough it really was for Jesus! Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lyrics are not that dissimilar to Scripture: “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26: 41); “he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me”. (Mark 14: 35-6a.) Webber’s words are: “surely I've exceeded expectations, tried for three years, seems like thirty…” which later becomes, with dramatic hyperbole, “After all, I've tried for three years, seems like ninety…”

As Susan Mountin suggested we need to be open to what God desires: “not what I want, but what you want.” (Mark 14: 36b); “not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42b). But, as Webber wrote: “God, thy will is hard”.

Jesus spelled it out: “He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it’.” (Mark 8:34-35)

When Jesus took up his cross, literally, he was carrying it to his death.

Maundy Thursday is, and always was, a day of contradictions: the Passover feast becoming Jesus’s last supper – “And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God’.” (Luke 22:15-16 NIV) Jesus was betrayed by one of his chosen apostles; Jesus predicted Peter’s desertion (Matthew 26:31) and he talked repeatedly of his coming suffering.

Father God, we all think we have faced our own Gethsemane experiences; times when we have been broken and come to you for healing and consolation, yet you asked so much more of Jesus, for our sakes.

Jesus, you knew what you were going to face all through your ministry; each of those three years must have felt longer and yet you wished those days of preaching, teaching and healing could continue. Be with us as we make tough decisions in our lives.

Holy Spirit, Luke records that an angel ministered to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and strengthened him. Send angels to us as we near the end of our time on this earth. Amen.

Elaine Kinchin