Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus persists in supplication as His disciples persist in slumber: “And when He returned, He found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist [knew] what to answer Him. And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, ‘Sleep on now, and take your rest’” (Mark 14:40-41a). This simple interaction with His disciples reveals that Jesus is unchanged by their failure (and, by extension, our failure). It would have been useful for them to have prayed, for that intercession would have better prepared them for the horrors of the next hours. Jesus, though, is fully prepared. He always has been; He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8c). His fervent prayer provides the framework for His calm confidence as He sits with His sleeping followers. We should also note His kindness to the disciples. He does not thump them and bellow, “Wakey! Wakey!” (as my youthful trophy wife is want to do early Christmas mornings). Rather, He knows of their extreme fatigue and of the confusing rush of events to come, and He considerately allows them to sleep. Had they prayed for Him, they would have had this time to rest – a blessed time of rest with no regrets. Jesus withholds no good thing from us, including the privilege of prayer and the benison of restorative rest. Even though the disciples did not seize this singular opportunity to pray, Jesus still gave them strengthening sleep. He is good to us all of the time and in every way.