Then all the disciples left him and fled.(Matthew 26:56 – ESV)
Some were coming to seize Him; some were as good as a mile away, and some were near but falling asleep. Three had been with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration and were now closest to Him in the hour of supreme crisis. But we don’t know what happened to James that night, he seems to have disappeared. Peter followed along, but betrayed His Lord when the tempting came. Only one, John, made it to the cross the following day. When the persecution happens, will you keep following Jesus? Will you make it to the cross on the “following” day?
The road to the cross leads through Gethsemane. In the silence of that night the greatest temptation and spiritual battle of all time took place. In the morning hours as Christ was about to be taken away to stand trial and to die on the cross, there were several scenarios playing out among His followers. The crowds had already gone away (John 6). The twelve were separated, the three were sleeping, and the One was suffering.
They had been told what would happen but didn’t grasp its significance. They believed in their Master but could not follow Him where He was going. They trusted in Him but didn’t realize what was happening in those moments. He was about to be taken but they weren’t anticipating it to be right then.
If you are compelled to write out a reflection or meditation you had while pondering scripture, or you are convicted about something, and that is why you talk of it to people, but no one shares in this, or they seem unresponsive, does that mean you were wrong to write or speak it? If God is leading you towards Him, but no one follows, will you turn back?
God must bring you to "feel" the silence so as to foster your sense of His being with you no matter what, when all else fails, when everyone else leaves, and when nothing else can help. Will you call on Him in the calm before the storm, or by your wandering, stopping short, or sleeping will you simply deny that a storm is coming? You’ve been with Him to Gethsemane; will you follow Him all the way to the cross?
3 comments:
God help us!
In my reflections about that part of the scripture, I can't help but think that if it were me, I would be ashamed of my behavior in not living up to His expectations. Then I think it would have been denial. "Jesus surely won't die. Maybe this time He's wrong. It just can't happen." Then you get the news and realize that you've reached a new low. And that's when you grow the most. Through the most inexplicable pain that you failed the one you love the most and they knew it before you even did it. Then it's just between you and Him.
I guess I'm just rambling some on my own thoughts, but it's easy to read these Scriptures lightly and to boo on the 12. Who am I to think that I would have done so much better??
Truth...of course, it was a part of redemptive history, just as we would have eaten the forbidden fruit, we would have rebelled again and again like the Jews, and we would have run away in this scenario...knowing all that we can still pray the the Holy Spirit within us would allow us to know the times we are in and to stand strong in the Lord and the power of His might...deeper and deeper humility with bold confidence at the same time, neither swaggering not sniveling...
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