36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. He said to the disciples, “Stay here while I go and pray over there.” 37 When he took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, he began to feel sad and anxious. 38 Then he said to them, “I’m very sad. It’s as if I’m dying. Stay here and keep alert with me.” 39 Then he went a short distance farther and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However—not what I want but what you want.”
40 He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you stay alert one hour with me?
Reflection
When we visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum we listened to the stories of all the people who helped each other in their time of need. The lessons of 9/11 are many but the one that stands out for me is the courage to care. The people and first responders at the World Trade Center, on flight 93, and at the Pentagon showed enormous courage in the face adversity. Not just for their own lives, but having the courage to care for the lives around them. People from all over the country also helped, lining up to give blood, donating food and clothes, and volunteering to help those affected in any way they could. On this day people were united by caring for others.
Time after time Jesus modeled caring behavior by his response to the suffering of others. In this scripture, Jesus models the courage to be vulnerable. Jesus is in crisis, he knows he is about to be betrayed, arrested, tortured, and crucified-all for our sakes. Jesus knows he’s not doing this for himself, but giving himself for all humanity. This is the ultimate act of love and caring for us. However, knowing this, doesn’t make the decision easier. So Jesus turns first to God in prayer. He seeks God’s guidance and God is faithful and present in Jesus’ suffering. He then turns to his most trusted disciples and tells them exactly how he feels. Jesus reveals his anguish and suffering, his fear in making this terrible decision to give his life for us. But the
disciples, full of food and wine from the Seder, can only doze and fall asleep in Jesus’ hour of need. In a moment of crisis, they missed the opportunity to offer caring support and love for Jesus.
The hardest part of caring for others is that it makes us vulnerable. We’re invested emotionally, physically and spiritually when we make that connection. We may be able to respond with love to the big events and crises that occasionally occur, but constant everyday caring can wear us out or numb us to the constant need in the world. We need to turn to God for the courage to stay vulnerable and not dull our hearts to suffering, but respond with kindness.
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering and Prayer
As disciples of Jesus, finding the courage to care means we need to be vulnerable with
ourselves and with our faith communities about supporting each other with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service and our witness. Like Jesus, we need to go to God in prayer seeking guidance. We need to be honest with God and ask for help everyday so that the Spirit can sustain us with life giving power and the peace of God, rather than to go it alone. And God will continue to sustain us as God provides us the courage to care.
Look for opportunities today to have the courage to be vulnerable and to show love and caring support for others.
Prayer: Holy and Loving God, fill us with your love, teach us to have the courage to be vulnerable and the courage to care for others as Jesus loves and cares for us. Amen.
