Kerri Allen

April 10, 2011

Prayer for Illumination:

Holy Spirit, You who breathes life into us. Empty our minds from the clutter that consumes us;
tear open our hearts that they may beat Your name; pierce our ears with Your voice; and nail
your Word to our lips that we may proclaim Your love in this unforgiving and hostile world.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Mark 14:32-42
32They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I

pray.” 33He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and
agitated. 34And he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep
awake.” 35And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it
were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are
possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” 37He came
and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep
awake one hour? 38Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39And again he went away and prayed, saying
the same words. 40And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were
very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. 41He came a third time and said to
them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of
Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at
hand.”

I recently connected with a young family friend on Facebook. I have known her
since she was a child and had not seen her in many years. After becoming “friends” on
Facebook I noticed that her page was adorned with many pictures of a little girl toddler
who looked remarkably like my friend Lisa.
I sent Lisa a message, asking, “Is this your daughter, she looks JUST like you!”
“Haha,” she replied, “Unfortunately she does look just like me.”
And, as time progressed Lisa and I developed a new relationship on Facebook and
she started to open up and share her story with me.
Lisa is in her early 20s – she had barely made it from childhood when her daughter,
Jessica, was conceived. Lisa was a smart young woman, she had everything going for her,
she had just began college, was in a stable relationship with another respected young man.

That is, until Lisa learned that she was pregnant. She was scared; she was, in fact,
terrified. She had her whole life in front of her and, in an instant it was all changed.

Her boyfriend was likewise young and sacred. He was smart and on his way to
having a successful life; this pregnancy was disaster for him. You know, I often think of

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Quinn and Finn from Glee—perfect cheerleader girl with the perfect quarterback
boyfriend. They were, by all accounts, the “perfect couple.”

“I have morals,” he told her, “we’re not married and we’re not going to get married,
you must have an abortion.” They were Christians after all and I imagine in his mind that
the only sin worse than engaging in marriageless sex, was the sin of the entire world
knowing that he had engaged in marriageless sex – sex that resulted in a child.

This news was not received well by Lisa’s family and before she knew it she had
been abandoned by those closest to her. Lisa was suddenly alone. Alone, isolated and in
despair. Scared and vulnerable, not just at the idea of being pregnant, but in knowing that
there her future was unclear. I get uncomfortable even trying to imagine what it would be
like to walk in Lisa’s shoes.

This Scripture lesson also leaves me uncomfortable. And, on many levels. Because
in many ways it raises more questions than it offers answers, but the mystery of the
Scripture is endless and the time we have in worship is not, so hopefully we can explore
just a couple areas of the discomfort together.

For starters, we are confronted head on with the idea of abandonment. In fact the
Gospel writer seems to use the idea of desertion as a way of offering contrast between the
deeds of the disciples and those of Jesus. It was just last week, in our Mark lesson, that we
saw Jesus sharing a meal with these same disciples. And now Jesus knows that he will be
denied and abandoned by his followers. And worst yet he will be betrayed in a way that
will cost him his life. We see the depths of Jesus humanity and the vulnerability that comes
through this humanity in this passage. A different translation, from the Message Bible,
written by Eugene Peterson says this:

“Jesus told his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James, and John
with him. He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony. He told them, ‘I feel
bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with me.’
Going a little ahead, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: ‘Papa,
Father, you can—can't you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me.
But please, not what I want—what do you want?’"

We see Jesus turning to God in a very human way. In a way that we might be able to
relate with, turning to God, “get me out of this.” Three times Jesus prayed. And I imagine
my friend Lisa had many of those moments: praying – turning – seeking – yearning for God
to remove the cup from her… She was vulnerable and she was alone… She didn’t know
what the future held for her.

Remember Lisa didn’t start alone – she had a family and she had a boyfriend. She
had the perfect life that many young women long for. And remember Jesus wasn’t alone in
Gethsemane. In fact, Jesus was there with Peter, James and John -- three of his disciples --
his followers. Well they are doing a pretty lax job of following in this passage; they’ve even
gone to sleep.
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 Again if we read through Peterson’s translation, it says:

Jesus said to Peter, ‘Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can't you stick it out
with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don't enter the danger
zone without even knowing it. Don't be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for
anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the
fire.’"

Interesting. Jesus is comparing his followers to a lazy old dog. This helps me to
imagine what Jesus might say to the good Christian boy who walked away from his
pregnant girlfriend and child: “Don’t be naïve. You have morals, you want to follow me, so
don’t get lazy and fall asleep.”

But Jesus went to pray three times and each time followers fell asleep; asleep over
and again. That’s what this passage tells us about the disciples; that’s what Lisa’s story tells
us about what happens all the time in our contemporary setting. They abandoned him and
left him alone.

I’m guessing there were all kinds of reasons this happened. In this passage, they
continued to fall asleep. Is the text telling us that they were literally and figuratively tired?
Is it telling us that they weren’t paying attention? Can they even begin to grasp what is
about to happen to Jesus? Jesus who is now praying alone in Gethsemane, on his way to
being betrayed, denied, and crucified?

I’m not sure that we can fully grasp what that all means. I was just thinking earlier
today that it’s only one week until Palm Sunday and only two weeks until Easter – Lent is
rushing by. It’s so lovely to rush through Lent and go straight to the resurrection. It is so
lovely to bypass the abandonment, the loneliness, the human vulnerability of the Son of
Man and run – run straight to the risen Lord on Easter. I think we try to rush through this
because we have been to Gethsemane and prayed to God, “God, remove the cup if it is your
will.”

But making our way through Lent means that we live in the darkness with Jesus and
reflect. We live in the darkness with Jesus before we celebrate in gladness the Easter
resurrection. We live in that tension of the human Jesus in this Scripture passage and the
divine Christ that articulates that the empty tomb doesn’t have the last word. It is this very
human Jesus that shares with us that although Jesus has been abandoned, he is not alone.
Jesus has been abandoned, but he is not alone.

Jesus falls to the ground and calls out to God “Abba” “Father.” Scholars have paid a
lot of attention to the choice of Abba in the text and many conclude that it implies a
uniquely and intimate relationship with God. This Scripture passage is not only
highlighting a relationship that he shares with his disciples, but his intimate relationship
with God. It is further articulating the vulnerable human Jesus, the Son of Man. In that full

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humanity Jesus is grieved to the point of wanting to die and he turns to God and suggests,
“not my will, but your will.”

Some Christians point to this statement by Jesus and say all that happens is the
“will” of God and so we’re supposed to accept everything that happens in that way, even the
suffering. I’m not sure that’s what the text is saying here.
As a pastor I would have a difficult time going to Lisa after she learned of her
pregnancy, after she was abandoned by her loved ones, and told Lisa that this was God’s
will for her so she should just accept it.

Perhaps we should look more careful at the actual prayer and we might see that
maybe it is more of a statement about divine love. Divine love as it is experienced in the
context of relationship. Jesus prayer may say more about the consent of divine love to
participate in the suffering, than it does about Jesus’ blind obedience. In other words it
may not be frail resignation to the will of God, but the vulnerability of divine love. A love
that is both opened and shunned by the whole world; a love that implies both freedom and
risk.

Maybe this is why Jesus is so grieved, maybe he is not just afraid of suffering and
dying on the cross but Jesus is grieved that he’s been abandoned— maybe Jesus is sad
about the lost of relationship.

Three times – three times we are told, he prayed, and after each time he returned to
the disciples, who were sleeping. The disciples did not understand; their eyes were heavy;
they did not watch; and abandonment was not far off. These followers who claimed to
leave everything—everything behind to be with Jesus will leave Jesus alone to die on the
cross.

Abandonment. I don’t know about you but I’d rather not go to Gethsemane. I’d
rather not go to the cross. I’d like to get to Easter as quickly as possible – I’d rather skip the
darkness and the abandonment – the uncertainty and the unknown. I’d rather not imagine
what it would be like to be Lisa with no father for her child and no family for support.

But sometimes it is unavoidable. In spite of all our human efforts we may

experience abandonment and suffering. We may experience the pain of loss of relationship.
But there is more to the story – Jesus prayed and God was present with Jesus. God was
present with the very human and vulnerable Jesus who had been abandoned by his closest
friends – his followers. Jesus was abandoned, but he was not alone. As we are never alone,
even in the midst of our own abandonment or suffering. All thanks be to God. Amen.