Reading:
Matthew 26:36-56
"Remain here and watch with me"
They disciples have just finished receiving the first Eucharist, where Jesus promises to come to them under the veil of bread and wine with His very body and blood. Now Jesus is continuing to prepare for His crucifixion. Seems like such a small thing, watch with me.
It is so easy to blame the disciples at this point. What is wrong with you? Here is God in the flesh asking you to watch with Him as He enters His darkest hour and you could not do it. You must be so weak that you could not do this. But before we jump on the disciples, shouldn't we look at ourselves, do we spend time with Jesus like we should? Do we spend time in His Word everyday? Do we desire to be with Him at the Lord's Supper? Do we spend time in quiet conversation with Lord? We will most likely have to admit that no we do not. Jesus tells us the problem, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
The problem for us is that we are weak, our faith is dim. That is why we do not cling to our faith, but we trust fully in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, who is everything that I can not be. He is the one that is faithful, when I am faithless. He is the one that is perfect, when I am so much less than that. He is the one that is merciful, when I can't find love in my heart for my neighbor. He is the one that intercedes on my behalf with my heavenly Father because I don't know how to pray.
So we pray that God's Spirit will enliven in us a love for His Word and Sacrament so that we will desire to spend time in God's Word and seek Him in the Sacraments. With God's love producing our faith and fanning it into a flame, it can be accomplished. Watch with me.
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