January 15 - Isolation

First day of week three. 3 push-ups, 3 sit-ups, 3 minute run. It was such a nice day compared to the past couple of weeks. I hope you are staying active: physically and spiritually.

Mark 14:32-38

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." 35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 "Abba, Father", he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." 37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

I see two examples within this passage:

The first example is that of Christ Jesus. He understands that he will be arrested soon and his human life would soon be coming to a painful end. Nonetheless, he knows that he NEEDS his Father (yes, the same Father that betrayed him and set him up for agony and mockery). There is a plan though. Jesus chose the path of isolation to connect with his Father. He told his disciples to hang back and watch for him. They weren't on guard to alert Jesus if someone was coming because he was ashamed of praying, but they were watching for the soldiers coming to arrest him.

In isolation, away from all the distractions that were present even in those days, he was one-on-one with God. When was the last time you were one-on-one with God? For me, I honestly can't remember. I can recall prayers in which I was connected to God: praying at dinner with a TV on in the background, praying while driving to a destination, praying while running, praying while taking flight on a plane in a thunderstorm, praying while a preacher is praying...all of these examples have some sort of distraction involved. Jesus needed that isolation though. So he went away from everything and what he did next is something very few of us have ever done.

In verse 35, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed...

This is not carpet ground or tile floor that he fell to. This is dirty, soily, dry, dusty, hard, ground. He humbled himself to the lowest possible position at that time. He would later humble himself into God's will to save humanity. When we pray, we are lying in bed, sitting in a booth, chair, pew, or car seat. Sometime we choose to stand to pray and sometimes we go to the alter. It's very rare though that I will go to my front yard away from TV, PS3, laptop, comfortable couch, DVD player, etc and drop to my knees. I cannot recall the last time my face was planted into the dirt and grass just begging for God to be in control. To take this one step farther, Jesus prays that he would do what God's will would be for his life. What an example we have in Christ!

God tells us to change jobs...we ask, "why"? He calls us to do work in the church...we say, "not right now". Our Father says, "go", and we simply stay stationary, because it's comfortable. Christ on the other hand had it all together. God said, "take agonizing beatings, let them spit on you, watch your 'friends' turn away from you, suffer with nails in your hands, a spear in your side, and crown of 3 inch thorns in your forehead, while your blood drains and your body begins to fail". Christ did not say "not right now". or "I don't have time", or "pick someone else". No, he said, "okay, I'll do it. It's your will and it will be done".

Our second example is Simon Peter. Jesus comes back from praying and finds him sleeping. Jesus, trusting that he would be on guard and alert, is disappointed that he failed at doing something so simple at such a crucial time. To make matters worse, Jesus went away to pray again, and found Simon Peter sleeping again, and once again after that. Three times, Christ found his disciples sleeping instead of praying.

Does this sound familiar? It does for me. I can't recall praying, humbled in the dirt, but I can recall many times praying while slowly drifting to sleep in bed. We are called to be on guard against this world. We are to be in prayer to avoid temptations, but we spiritually and physically fall asleep. Attempt to find isolation and humbleness in prayer.

I assume it's harder to sleep praying on the dirty ground than in a comfortable bed.