What's Up

So Christ has risen, it's the Wednesday after EASTER Sunday and our crosses have all been put away - presumably to collect another year's full of dust and cobwebs. Where strength and faith are increased are in the moments between the realization that Jesus was crucified on Friday for my sins and the glorious victory celebrated the Risen Savior on Sunday.

It's so much easier (and fashionable) to quietly put my cross away, just as I do with every other holiday trinket each season. The lights and the trees must come down after Christmas, the costumes must go back into the closet after Halloween, the thanksgiving decorations must be put away for another year, and so on, and so it goes for my cross after Easter. It's barely three days gone and all I have to show for my celebration of Easter is a few uneaten jellybeans, some egg shells and a new suit that'll never see daylight from within my closet...unless somebody dies before I gain too much weight.

I should wear my cross out, man. I should have splinters so bad people think I'M a carpenter! I should be having to order a new CROSS every Easter instead of a new Easter shirt! But the truth is... I've had this cross for many years and honestly, it doesn't look to be wearing out any time soon. Until I come to the place where I can squarely address myself honestly, I'll stunt the growth of my faith by continuing to fool myself into believing that I'm making sufficient strides. And in so doing, I'll not only grow, I'll lay the seeds of bitterness and death through this false perspective.

Hebrews says that God has set before us a race. We can only run it and endure it by keeping our eyes on Jesus. He ran His race with a purpose, a conviction...and He ran it with a Cross. My Cross. Your Cross. Humanities Cross. I want to have a deeper understanding of God - of my Savior - of my own purpose and destiny. I don't think I'll put my cross away...just yet. He has Risen, you know. And because He rose, I could then rise, too, in order to be set free. Now, I'll pick this thing back up and be about the difficult task of trying to stay that way. And that's today's blog about nothing... Peace -

SAG

What Now?

It's really quite a simple olive grove and not that fantastic. Yet, in it's simplicity I can imagine Christ wanting to come here to pray...often. This was probably, like...His special spot, you know? Just outside of the temple gates and away from the noise of the city - a quiet spot, a secluded spot. A serene spot. I've been here before. There is an unexplainable quiet peacefulness in this place.

We know Jesus prayed to God that if there were any other way... to please "take this cup of suffering from me." But He knew, didn't He. Jesus HAD to know. More amazingly, though knowing He still determined to follow the course which His Father in Heaven had placed before Him. It says He felt crushed with grief and sorrow to the point of death and this was no alliteration. He was beginning to see the weight of the world's sins, He was beginning to feel the coming pain. But I wonder if the greater torment for Jesus wasn't the approaching physical pain but rather the emotional pain that He felt. Even now, His closest friends were starting to fade away. He needed someone to pray for HIM so that He could have the strength He would need to endure the coming hours ahead. Luke's account (chapter 22:39) says finally an angel from heaven appeared and gave Jesus strength. "And they slept..." If you look at Mark's account of what happened here, the prayer seems to suggest the desire Jesus had to NOT go through with God's ultimate plan, if there be any other way. Who could blame Him; yet look at John's Gospel account of Jesus praying in the olive grove called Gethsemane. You find an all together different account and feel. Each Gospel account is accurate, of course, but each also offers a different perspective and insight into the frame of mind of Jesus at this profound and critical moment in God's Master plan. However, it is John's account that we get a deeper look into what Jesus was praying for in the olive grove called Gethsemane.

It takes up an entire chapter (17) in John. Jesus knew what was before Him. Even more telling, however, is that Jesus KNEW what also lay before His friends. And He begins to intercede in prayer for them. So often, we pray but we do not hear who God puts before our hearts to also pray for. At the very moment Jesus was praying for His disciples, He needed them to be praying for Him as well. This is the mindset of Christ at His MOST critical moment: NOT focused on what was before Him, but instead understanding how short His time truly now was and how much strength and courage His friends were going to need. We find, in this mindset, that we can then DO those difficult things that God calls us to. We are hearing His voice. We are understanding His purpose. We are concerned no more with worldly problems...we are simply worried for those still trapped in the world whom God has brought before us. Are the things and the distractions in your life crushing you? Or are you being crushed by the absolute desolation of those around you? Are we so far ahead of God that we've already built our own crosses only to find no direction in which to carry them? It does me no good to carry the cross if I cannot find those places for where His cross must go. I fade and fall asleep because I have not prayed... I have not prayed for my own strength - for God's Spirit to give me clearance and guidance - I have not prayed for YOU to have strength...nor have I prayed for a compassion well beyond myself for those who do not yet even KNOW my God. And I fade away...quite easily.

This is Jesus' final prayer before setting off for His last leg of the journey. He has done all He can do to establish His Love and the Love of His Father for the world to witness. His ministry is coming to an end even as His disciples ministries are just about to begin in earnest. Jesus was so attuned to what God wanted that I think perhaps He maybe wanted to be sure that this indeed WAS the right time for Him to go. He may have wanted a little more time to teach His disciples, sleeping a mere "stone's throw away." But look at His demeanor and resolve once the "Amen" has been said. There is determination - boldness - confidence... There is NOW absolutely NO doubt about what He feels must be done AND...exactly HOW it must happen. In both Matthew and Mark, He says "Come on, let's go. The time has come." even as He spots Judas, His betrayer approaching with the soldiers.

Be ready for the Lord... always. Be ready and you will never have to ask yourself, "What now, Lord?" But we will never be ready until we learn to become ready like Christ. And we can only become ready FOR Christ by praying in the same manner AS Christ, Himself, prayed in that simple, tiny yet quiet olive grove called Gethsemane. The quiet isn't always peaceful... and that's not always such a bad thing, either. Where will we be found in our most critical of moments? Asleep a stone's throw away...or weeping in deep prayer before His feet?

And THAT... is something worth blogging about! Have a good EASTER, my friends! Peace -

SAG