Sunday, July 8, 2018

Mark 14:32-36

They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’

Wakefulness          

Stay awake to who you are, to what you are called to be and do, for you are a word, a life, spoken by God as a partial expression of God’s own being.

Suffering and threat, discouragement and resistance from others and within yourself dissuades you from being that which you are. This is the central temptation of life, to be something other, something less than the soul you are.

An easier road appears that sidesteps the pain of speaking and living the truth of your life, of being the particular soul of love you are created to be and ever more to become. No human soul avoids this temptation, and everyone (except one, I suppose) falls under its sway at least sometimes.

Jesus does not fall to the power that opposes him and each of us. He prays. He stays awake to the power that tempts him and even more to the depth of his soul where he knows and hears the Voice of Love who tells him who he is and calls him to his mission.

He does not lose himself. He does not turn from the Love who lives within him to an easier way, but in suffering reveals the fullness of the divine heart, the Infinite Love who goes into death to break its power.

Staying awake is about knowing this Love, taking it in with every breath, sitting in silence and knowing you are not your mind, your thoughts, your accomplishments, failures nor even your hopes. 

You are not what others think of you nor the opinions you have long held about yourself.

Let it all go, and know: You are an expression of Everlasting Love. All that most matters is knowing this and living each moment in the freedom only such Love can give.

Life’s busy distractions and entertainments, its inevitable compromises, conflicts and pleasures, too, make it easy to lose yourself, to fall asleep and be so much less than you are. The best thing that can happen then is to feel the ache of incompletion within your heart, for that is the voice of Jesus calling you again to wake and know.

Pr. David L. Miller