It’s been said that the most fervent prayers are those that are prayed at the bedside, especially at the beside of those who are dying. I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate, because often the bedside prayers for those who are dying, at least in my ministry, are about being okay to let go, and praying for a peaceful transition, and praying into the unknown. They are often more praying for God’s peace, not necessarily for a changed situation. I certainly know of some that do, but more fervent are those with an accident or sudden illness or terrible diagnosis. Prayers when things are totally unknown, or when the outcome might be known, but dreaded. Or simply about our greatest fears. As I said before, at another church one woman whose son was deployed in the bomb squad in Afghanistan told me she now knew what Paul meant when he said to pray without ceasing. Those are prayers of fervency. An impassioned prayer to God, for answers or for a change of potential outcome, a prayer of deep intensity, of profound emotion, or zealousness. These are prayers that are markedly different than the normal prayers we offer, and so as we look at traveling the prayer path of Jesus, of learning to pray like Jesus, we have a fervent prayer being offered in the Garden of Gethsemane.
But, before we look at that prayer, we should notice that Jesus goes off by himself to offer this prayer. First he leaves most of the disciples behind, taking only Peter, James and John and then leaves even them behind and pray by himself. And so this is a reminder that the first way we follow Jesus’ prayer paths is to go off in quiet to be in prayer by ourselves. In Luke’s version of this story, he says that Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, “as was his custom.” And so to be engaged in reconnecting with God through prayer, we need to take time to be by ourselves in prayer. One of the other instructions that Jesus gives to the disciples in the passage is that they are to pray, although it doesn’t appear that they do. And, if you remember, they had the same problem in the story of the healing of the boy with epilepsy, that they tried to heal him, but weren’t able to, but Jesus des, and when they ask what the difference was, Jesus says that it could only be done through prayer. And so our second step was to engage in prayer throughout our day, especially in praying for others, and then in praying for God’s help in accomplishing the things that we think are impossible. And we’ll come back to that story in a little bit, so keep it in mind. And then last week we looked at what comes immediately before Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, which is the last supper, and the fact that even in the midst of what was going on, of Jesus’ proclamation that Judas would betray him and Peter would deny him, that he stops and gives thanks to God. And so it was a reminder to us to always be practicing prayers of thanksgiving, even in the worst circumstances in our lives, and to give thanks not for the situation, but in the situation, but also recognizing how difficult that can be. But in giving thanks, it reminds us that we are never alone, never abandoned, never lost, for God is always with us and God’s love and blessings are forever with us.
