Holy Thoughts from the Holy Land

Following the Last Supper in the Upper Room, Jesus took his disciples to the Mount of Olives. In his Gospel, Luke says that “he went out as usual” (22:39) to that place, and John, in his Gospel, records that “Jesus often met there with his disciples” (18:2). Both Matthew and Mark say that the place was called Gethsemane.

At a point in Gethsemane, Jesus instructed his disciples to “Pray that you will not fall into temptation” (Luke 22:39b), and “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed” (Luke 22:40). Jesus prayed earnestly, “and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). As I reflected upon that, I thought: That was a miracle, but it was not. Later, I learned that it is a fact of life. Under conditions of extreme agony, the sweat glands of the human body are capable of producing sweat that is tinged with blood.

As we stood under the oldest looking olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane, we were reminded that there, or near that spot, Jesus, after his prayerful experience of agony, returned to the place where he had left his disciples and found them asleep. He said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest” (Matthew 26:45, KJV). Then, he said to them “Rise, and let us be going” (Matthew 24:46, KJV).

As I though about those words, they seemed contradictory. But they are not. A significant opportunity may be missed, and it is gone forever. One might as well sleep. Omar Khayyam said, “Not all piety and wit shall lure it back.” But one failure is not final; that’s not the end of everything. After a tragic failure, Jesus said to his disciples, “Rise, let us be going.” Another opportunity, maybe even more significant, is present. Don’t sleep. Rise up and seize it.