Thursday, March 9, 2006
Mark 14:34-35 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch." He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed . . .
FAITH UNDER PRESSURE
How can we begin to comprehend the depth of Jesus agony of soul? Any comparison we might make is so far removed from His.
Jesus knew what was coming. He had told His disciples on several occasions previous to this night in the garden what would happen to Him. He would be betrayed, arrested, tried, condemned to death, put to death on the cross and die. Yes, He knew He would rise again, yet to get there Jesus had to go through the suffering and death. Nor was His death just a physical dying. It was a death in which the burden of guilt of sins of the entire human race would be placed squarely on Him. He would bear the guilt and He would bear the punishment for those sins. He knew this. He knew that within the hour of their entering the garden the events would unfold as Scripture and as He had said. What would our prayer be? How would our faith deal with it? Thank God we will never be put to that test.
Yet tested we are, and how is it we deal with it? How quickly bravado flees in the critical moment and leaves us without a defense. But we see Jesus faith in action. He prays. And how He prays is our instruction. Yes, Jesus asked the Father to let the cup pass from Him. However, Jesus faith left that decision to the Father. "Thy will be done." Jesus trusted that what the Father willed, the Father would see Him through it to the end, as dark as the road may be.
Faith trusts, faith places itself in the hands of the Father and leaves it to Him, going forward in that trust.
