Prescription: Prayer

Dr. Luke, an insightful physician, brings us to the very heart of the Passion, the Garden of Gethsemane. We stand with Jesus, trembling on the precipice of his sacrifice, and we see, laid bare, the frailty of the human will, a diagnosis, if you will, of our own spiritual condition. Pray that you will not fall into temptation, Jesus implores his disciples. Pray that you will not fall into temptation. Simple words, simple words, yet they pierce through the ages and even into our own hearts. For we know, don’t we, the truth of those words. We know the weakness that lurks within us, that subtle pull of sin that can drag every one of us who believes sometimes in our own strength, can pull us into a pit. Look at the scene before us that Dr. Luke describes. We see first, that Jesus, in agonizing prayer, submits to his Father’s will. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. Do not misdiagnose this. This is not weakness. This is strength. This is the ultimate strength, the strength to surrender, to trust, to obey even when the path is shrouded with darkness and pain. Compare that with the disciples. They burdened and exhausted, give in, give in to sleep. Their bodies, weak and weary, betray their hearts. And how often don’t we fall asleep when we should be vigilant? Think of the early alarm you set so you can pray and read scripture because you’re resolved, I’m gonna do this. And then the snooze button is hit repeatedly to the point where you run out of time. Or consider a diet. You got this plan to eat healthy, but then, ooh, you smell the aroma of the cookies. Or you succumb to the convenience of fast food. You know how easily we give in in our resolve. Or students, maybe this hits a little closer to home. You make a promise to yourself or to your parents that you’re gonna study for this exam. That one class that you’re really struggling in this time when it’s coming up, you’re gonna get at it, right? And you start out well, but there’s suddenly some social media there and some friends. And before you know it, you’ve been dragged away from your intentions completely the day for the exam comes. And you’re woefully unprepared. Just as the disciples’ bodies betray their spirits, our daily routines can reveal our spiritual drowsiness. We need to fight actively, not to sleep, to fight against the sleep of complacency and distraction. Then there’s Judas. He is so certain of his understanding, so convinced of his own kind of righteousness, or the rightness of his actions, that he seeks to betray the Lord with a kiss. He thinks he is strong, acting according to his own twisted logic, but he’s a slave. He’s a slave to his own self-desires, and he’s a puppet of the evil one. He is weak in the true sense, blinded by his own self-deception. But we like to deceive ourselves. No one very often does what’s evil knowing, well, I just wanna do what’s evil. They come up with some reason within their own mind or heart that makes it seem all right to do what if they really wrestled with it they know is wrong. Like a person who is just obsessed with their social media feed, you know, they’ll do anything, twist any relationship, proclaim anything, even if it’s not true, just to get more people to think there’s something special, but they’re self-deceived. Or a businessman who is so anxious to get up the corporate ladder that they’ll cut the corner wherever it’s necessary, maybe even justifying it in their own heart, it’s not wrong. Everybody does it till they get caught, and they lose everything. Judas’ betrayal is not merely an evil act. It is that, no doubt, but it’s also a symptom of his own self-deception, and we don’t like to admit it, but we can easily convince ourselves that our own selfish actions are justified, declaring and proving our own spiritual weakness. Too often we do the same as Judas. And then what about Peter and the others? Their misguided zeal, well, in their misguided zeal, they resort to violence, striking the high priest’s servant. They mistake physical force for strength, and they fail to trust the power of Jesus’ love and his own willingness to suffer. And how many times don’t we like them trust our own strength? Maybe like a young athlete who thinks, well, I got so much talent, everybody tells me I’m so great, but they don’t really train very hard because they think they can do it. And it’s all great until they actually meet an opponent who has put in the work, and they fail. Peter’s denial shows that he is relying on his own strength, and that’s a very fragile foundation. True strength actually comes from acknowledging our weaknesses, and then having to gain strength from someone besides ourselves from our Lord. Finally, in this scene that Dr. Luke describes, Jesus is led away, seemingly powerless, a prisoner in the hands of his enemies, but it’s in this very moment that he shows his greatest strength. He willingly walks the path of suffering because he knows that that is where the cure is to our weaknesses, our sin, our desperation, our salvation, it’s the way of the cross that he’s willing to take. He, like no one else, was willing to do what we could not. And then we have Peter, as we end this scene, who begins to fall into the three denials that will follow. Peter, again, relying on himself, discovers the weakness of his own will, the hollowness of the promises that he’s made to Jesus when they come from self-reliance. So, Dr. Luke gives a diagnosis of Peter. It’s a will that is weak. Dr. Luke, with his keen understanding of human nature, shows us the stark reality that our wills are weak. We are prone to temptation, easily swayed by our own desires and fears. We trust in ourselves all far too often, in our own strength, and when we do, we only find that it crumbles beneath us. But the diagnosis, and it’s a real diagnosis, is not the end. It’s actually the beginning of hope. For in our weakness, Christ’s strength becomes what we need, and in Christ’s strength, we’re made perfect. Jesus, our savior, did not succumb to temptation. He did not yield to the weakness of the flesh. He took the full weight of our sin, the full force of the devil’s attack, and he prevailed, and he did that for you and for me. So, will you heed Jesus’ words? Pray, pray that you will not fall into temptation. What does that mean? It means to confess, to confess honestly our weaknesses, to be real with ourselves about our tendency to stray, to look honestly into the mirror and see how many times we’ve tried to rely on our own strength, and then to turn, to the Lord, to our Father in heaven, trusting his unfailing love and mercy. So, let’s put that into practical terms for everyday living as we can make the choice to actually say, God, I’m gonna trust you, that we can turn to him in prayer in our times of temptation and weakness. If you’re a parent facing something with your children, like a child who has an illness, you feel helpless, you feel a lot of fear and pain, I get that, but isn’t that a call? Isn’t that a call and an opportunity to trust, to pray, and to trust God’s plan for your family? When someone deeply wrongs you, and who among us does not have someone who, in our mind, we could easily think of, has wronged us and maybe grievously? Well, it’s an opportunity to not be led about that, but to pray, to pray and to forgive, choosing love over resentment. When you face persecution, or when you face suffering, if you stand up and actually say the right thing, or do the right thing in your peer group, will you pray at that point when you know you’re facing it, and then trust that God will give you what you need? If you lose your job, or you have some downturn in life, whatever it is, trust God’s promises that he is with you. Pray, pray that he’ll even give you a better opportunity, that he can heal what may not seem solvable. Remember, Jesus’ submission in the Garden of Gethsemane wasn’t a passive surrender, it was an act of choice. It was an act of choice to obey God’s word. True strength is found in surrendering ourselves, surrendering our desires to God’s perfect plan, even when it involves pain or uncertainty. A person struggling with addiction, who relies on constantly praying to God, and wrapping themselves around a support group that can hold them up, and getting into God’s word, that’s the person who’s actually gonna overcome their addiction, whatever it is. Not the person who thinks somehow, I got this one, because they found how many times that doesn’t work. Or students, the way to overcome when you’re tempted to cheat or to somehow not be honest on whatever it is, when there’s a temptation to cheat on a test, and instead, as you know the temptation comes, you pray, and you trust that God, despite what preparation you’ve given, whether you think it’s enough or not, you can trust that God will give you the grade you deserve, and you can accept the reality of it because you’ve done the right thing. Just as Jesus urged the disciples to pray, we actively seek God’s help to resist temptation, and prayer isn’t a magic formula, but it’s a vital connection to the one who can answer that prayer. The one who gives us his word, that helps us remember his promises in those times of temptation, that reminds us of who we are as our status in Christ, because we’re his baptized child, and in all of that, that’s the cure that Dr. Luke would point us to. Here’s a prescription for a will that is weak, that Dr. Luke could provide. Pray, pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen our wills, to guide us in the path of righteousness, to empower us to resist temptation, cling to Christ, our rock and our salvation, who has conquered death for us. For in Christ, we are not defined by our weaknesses, but his strength. In Christ, we are not condemned by our failures, but forgiven by his grace. In Christ, we are not left to ourselves, but he wraps himself around us, embracing us with his love. And walk then, in the light of his love, trusting his promise, the promise he once made to the Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Take that prescription to your local spiritual pharmacy, on bended knee and with an open heart, for a cure to a will that is weak. Amen.