Day 4: Experience the Man
Experiencing the Upper Room - A Good Friday Devotional Series
Rest.
Take a moment to breathe and settle in your seat. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the Scriptures. “Come Holy Spirit.”
Read.
The warm breeze blowing. The dark clouds marching in. The lighting ricoceting through the sky. I sat reading our passage for today as a storm rolled in. And it so captures the heaviness we of our passage today. Jesus has left the Upper Room and spends the night in the garden of Gethesame.
The pressure amongst Jesus and his disciples is palpable. The anticipation of whats to come has Jesus unhinged. The anguish is rolling in like a dark, ominous, unnerving storm.
Today we will pull out three passages and strive to place ourselves in the shoes of our Savior.
“He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, he said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch” (vv. 33-34).
In our particular global climate, it isn’t that far-fetched to related with the feelings of deep distress and trouble. But push yourself. Go to a place you don’t really want to. What situation right now would lead you to say and feel, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”?
My desire is not to dig our-selves into a pit of depression but to relate to the deep anguish Jesus felt at the events forthcoming. What would lead you right now to say that, out loud? Because Jesus was there – mind, body, and Spirit – troubled, distressed, and grieved to the point of death.
”Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’” (vv. 35-36).
Jesus knew who his Daddy was.
Everything is possible for you, Dad. So could you find a way out for me? A short cut? Maybe something a little less painful? But hey Dad. I trust you. Not my will but yours be done. (a loose paraphrase)
Can you imagine being the Father? Hearing your son talk to you like that? Asking for help? Begging? Pleading?
I can’t.
I can’t imagine my oldest son, Cole, who has a huge heart of compassion, coming to me and asking for help but not coming to his aid.
The tension was real. The pain was present. Yet the Father and the Son moved forward together. Somehow. Someway.
“Returning the third time, he said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer’” (vv. 41-42).
And with the resolve and determination of William Wallace from Braveheart, Jesus calls his disciples to rise and go Now that is what you call transformation. A changed heart. The wait is over, he is ready and sees his betrayer coming.
Jesus got an answer to the question he asked his Father. It didn’t seem like the one he wanted to hear. But he chose to trust and follow the Father. No turning back.
It is critical for us to realize that Jesus was a man. With feelings. Wishes. Desires all his own. Who felt pain. Anguish. Joy and yet deep sorrow.
Then what is astonishing is to see his focus. A focus that was fixed the plan of God and the people his Father was after. He knew the cost. But he also knew the reward. The restoration of his creation.
This might be a stretch, but if God knows the amount of hairs on your head and your name is engraved in the palm of his hand, would it be too much to think he might have flashed your face in the mind of Christ as he carried the cross?
His focus. Our faces?
You decide.
Reflect.
Place yourself in Jesus’ sandals, what would you be feeling as you anticipate what is to come?
Imagine being the Father? What would you be feeling as you listened to your son cry out to you?
Do you feel guilty or loved after relating with Christ? Expound on why. And remember our experience isn’t complete. It isn’t finished.
Respond.
There are no words in me today. Only worship. Enjoy.