Jesus’ Call to Action

What comes to mind when you think about the Last Supper and Jesus’ time in the garden?

For me, I’ve been trying to give it more thought this year since I’ve had more time to really appreciate Easter now that my regular life has been disrupted, as I’m sure yours has too. In a way, it’s a blessing, because although I miss getting to go to church for Easter and celebrating, it makes me spend more time thinking about what Easter actually means to me.

I’ve been reading through the Easter passages this week, and today I read about what happened on Thursday. Usually I just skim it and think about the overall messages. While I tried to read more in depth this time, some initial thoughts came to mind…

Who Do You Usually Turn to?

One overall message that comes to mind that I think is very important is how Jesus turned to God in his time of trouble because even His closest friends bailed out on Him. I’m sure you’ve have that moment in your life where someone near to you let you down. For me, those have been the most heartbreaking moments of my life. It makes me feel discouraged and as though I can’t trust anyone.

But those are also the moments when I’ve drawn closer to God. In a small group I’m in, we were actually discussing what benefits can come out of hardships, and the one that was often repeated was that our trials cause us to grow nearer to God. He will always be the One waiting for us when we need Him, even when His answer to our pleas is no.

Jesus asked God if there was any way for Him to not have to die on the cross. But He also said “let Your will be done”. We can ask God the tough questions, why things are the way they are, can things change…but we also have to make room for His will to be done. Sometimes, as difficult as it is, God’s answer is that He will be with you, but the suffering isn’t over. That can be hard to come to terms with, since we usually want our faith to feel easy and a way to make our lives better. And it does make our lives better because we always have a reason to feel joyful– God will never leave us.

A New Find in a Familiar Passage

I don’t know if reading this passage about Jesus in the garden with his sleeping disciples showed me different things now that I know about the Enneagram and being a Nine, but I felt compelled to respond to the section where Jesus finds that all of the disciples are asleep for the third time He’s come over to them. He is frustrated and gives them a call to action.

“The hour has come”, or “the time is near”, as different translations put it. He wants them to stop sleeping and start being there for each other.

I think that this is an appropriate call to action for us today. For me personally, it can be hard to get going and actually do something about what’s bothering me. Sometimes I feel called to reach out to difficult people or take on responsibilities that I know I should do but don’t feel like doing.

But the hour is now. The time will never be “perfect”. We need to step up and do our part for Jesus, or else we will be like the disciples, sleeping as their Lord and dearest friend was about to be killed on their behalf. I used to laugh at them and think that they were ridiculous for being able to sleep through such an event. But now I feel shame as I realize that every time I say no or “maybe later” to what God’s calling me to do, I’m acting the same way.

So today, think about what Jesus is calling you to do. Perhaps it’s something you’ve been avoiding, or maybe a new task that has yet to come to mind. Jesus doesn’t want us to sit around, even when we are quarantined. There are many ways for us to reach out to the isolated or spread God’s love through the media. The perfect time to do His will is now.

“Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.'”

Matthew 26:45