Monday, August 05, 2013

On Line Bible Study - For the Week August 5-11, 2013

Lesson 570

Scene One:  The Garden

We have spent 18 lessons giving background information and painting with broad strokes the picture of Jesus' passion.  With that canvass established, we will take this one scene at a time, acknowledging at the outset that we still will only be seeing a cursory snapshot of what is actually there.
We are going to consider this scene as presented to us by Mark/Matthew.  You recall from looking at the Gospel Parallels that John simply tells us the disciples and Jesus went across the Kidron Valley and entered it.  Luke goes into a bit more detail.  Jesus instructs the disciples to pray.  He then withdrew from them and prayed: Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.  Jesus then returned to his disciples, found them asleep and told them to get up that you might not enter into temptation.
Mark and Matthew offer us more details with regard to what happened in the Garden.  We are going to focus on the movement that these two evangelists record.
The disciples enter the garden with Jesus.  But then, Jesus chooses three of them to enter deeper into the experience with him.  Peter, James and John (the two sons of Zebedee) walk more fully into the "sorrowful and troubled" experience with Christ.  Finally, we read that Jesus goes even deeper - and this time, he has to go alone.
Mark and Matthew paint a picture of motion - back and forth between the darkest recesses of the garden and the places where the disciples are.  We read of the disciples' struggle even to stay awake in all of this, to say nothing of being empathetic with the suffering Jesus is undergoing.
Are the evangelists trying to tell us something?  Trying to teach us something about the spiritual life?  Where in the gospel narrative does Jesus tell us following him will be easy?  What is the difference between "ease of life" and a "fruitful life"?  Which has the stronger pull on us?
Jesus told a story of a man who leaves his house in the care of the servants (Mark 13:35-36).  The servants are warned to "watch".  If he [the owner of the house] comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.  Spiritual wakefulness is a discipline, and not one that comes easily.
We are invited to follow Jesus, to walk with him, to be "on the way" with him.  It is a journey that promises amazing joy; but it is fraught with peril.  There is no immunity from sorrow.  The presence of God is also the guarantee that we will be most human.  The "glory" that Jesus experiences is not the result of a life of ease; it issue forth from a life of obedience.  The Garden of Gethsemane is the scene in which the evangelists paint with vivid colors the reality of what it means to be called to walk with Jesus.  How far are we capable of going with him?

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