What You Will

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

WHAT YOU WILL

Mark 14:32-36

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."  35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." 

NIV

This is a well-known and often told story about the time Jesus prayed and his disciples fell asleep and we are only looking at the first half of that whole story for now. The truth within this portion, which again is a well-known truth about Jesus is about his distress and his prayer. Most often the focus is on the fact Jesus tells the Father nevertheless not my will but yours. We see that even Jesus is not looking forward to the hour of his death. He knows he is going to be killed, and perhaps even in the horrible way he was, including being beaten, tortured, mocked and then nailed, not tied, to the cross. But at the end of his prayer he resigns himself to the will of the Father. It does seem that many believers really are not looking forward to the hour of their death either. Many believers spend an enormous amount of effect to live as long as they can, taking extraordinary measures when faced with what appears to be a terminal situation. It seems many believers fight with every ounce of energy to stay alive as long as possible prolonging the hour of their death. Nevertheless it is not our will but the will of the Father. He has our days numbered as is explained in Job, in fact, a number of days we cannot exceed, so why do believers try so hard to exceed them? Jesus said that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow; he was deeply distressed and troubled. Perhaps it is not an uncommon feeling to be overwhelmed with sorrow and deeply distressed when facing death. It is the end of all we have ever known, which of course was not the case for Jesus, as he has always been, even before the beginning and all things were created by him. Yet he was at the end of spending this kind of quality time with people he drew onto himself, made deep relationships with some of his creation, loved and cherished the times he had with them, even if he knew that one day they would be with him again in paradise. For Jesus it had was about those relationships because he did not own any material goods, no home, no car, no closet full of close, no hobbies, no investments as he did not have attachments to things, but to people. It may not be easy for some believers to say goodbye to their lives, because of the things they have spent the entire life accumulating and it is not easy to say good-bye to those who we love, even if we know someday we will once again be together, yet we will not be in the same kind of relationships. As we are not like Jesus, this life is all we know, the other side, even though it has been clearly explained for us, is still really unknown to us. We believe in faith that it is there, we have written evidence of it, we have the sense or confirmation of it because of the Spirit within us, but in reality, in our humanity, we have never actually had anyone come back and tell us it is truly there. This may be why some are distressed and overwhelmed at facing death, saying goodbye to what we know, stepping into what we believe we know. But nevertheless it is the will of the Father which will be accomplished.