Jesus Cries to His Father

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.  Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  Mark 14:36 (NIV)

There He was, the very Son of God.  He was brought to His breaking point.  He was so grieved that He said He could just about die.  What sorrow!  What grief!  What agony He must have been going through!  He was carrying the weight of the world on His shoulders!  Literally!  He had all of our sins and rejection thrown upon Him.  He was offering up His life for a stubborn and wayward people.  He was giving all for even those who do not come as close to Him as He would like us to be.

What did our Savior do?  He went to God the Father!  He did not even try to carry the weight on His own capable shoulders.  Even though He had unlimited power and authority at His disposal, He did not use those supernatural abilities.  What He did, HE DID TO SHOW US!  What He did, is something each and every believer can do.  He humbled Himself!  He went to His knees!  He took His heart in His hand and He brought it to the Lord in prayer!

It sounds so simple.  We can find help for our hard times merely by pouring our hearts out to God.  We can find strength to deal with even the most trying of times, by approaching the Lord in prayer.  What a blessing!  But wait!  Could there be more?  Is there something in the WAY our Savior came before God that put everything in the right light?  Is there some secret trick that we may be overlooking?  Is there a reason that many of our prayers seem to float up into some great empty space and time?  Is there a reason that many times we are not comforted in a very real and personal way?

As Jesus came out of the garden of Gethsemane that night, he did not demonstrate the same crushing sentiments of fear and sorrow.  Did something occur to Him when He was there on His knees?  Was He visited by a very powerful and restoring Force?  Was the heart of Jesus lifted to a proper and mighty closeness to God?  Was He somehow filled and prepared to then go and do what His Father had sent Him to earth to accomplish?

By His following actions can we safely say that SOMETHING occurred?  Could we venture to say that an extremely different Man rose from His knees that night?  Were His fears relieved?  Was the weight of sorrow lifted from His shoulders?  Was He free to now go and fulfill the will of God?

Could we examine Jesus´ attitude and what He expressed as He knelt before God?  Do we think that He was merely reciting the usual routine prayer?  Do we think that He was making His plea of supplication to a distant mysterious Figure somewhere up there in the mists of space?  Or was Jesus actually opening His heart and sharing that with a familiar and close Companion?  Did Jesus really harbor in His heart the hope of getting His wish to remove His cup of suffering?  Or did He simply state to His beloved Father that it was more than He could do alone?  Was He adjusting what was human nature inside of Him, to the Creator Himself?  Was He bowing Himself to the wishes and plans that God in Heaven had set in motion?  Is this beautiful picture of perfect submission written down and recorded to provide us with hope?

Dear Jesus, we too find ourselves in moments where we cannot see a way forward.  We may not be capable of understanding the depth of torture You went through for us, but we feel fear and sorrow.  Please assist us in finding the same comfort You found when You approached the Father.  Please show us how to come in a way that adjusts us correctly to His wishes and plans.  Let us realize and experience that overwhelming Presence when we come so honestly to Him.  Let that Presence be our strength too.

Amen