Tales from the Trail: #4 Lonely Night in the Garden

Scripture Reading:  Mark 14:32-42
Prayer:  Easter Prayer

Do you have a place you go when you need to be alone?  Or better, do you have a  place to go when you need to sense the presence of Our Father in Heaven?  The Irish would call such a place a “thin place”, a place where the veil between heaven and earth virtually disappears.  For many it is in nature a beautiful mountain overlook, a spot on the beach where you can see, hear and feel the waves, or a spot in the woods where you can distance yourself from the busyness of civilization.

More accessible on most days are special places at your home.  Perhaps you experience nearness to God on your front porch, back deck or in that comfy chair.  If you are like me God is nearest in the stillness of the morning.  If you are like Jesus in the Garden, then you find the Father when you call on Him late at night.  The time and location are not that important, but finding a place to be with the Father is vital.

Jesus’ thin place, on the dark Thursday night He was to be betrayed, was in a garden called Gethsemane.  Jesus came to the garden with is friends.  Some of them even came with him toward his favorite prayer spot, but the weight of the world was not on their  shoulders.  Jesus’ friends slept.  But not Jesus.  He was prepared to pray all night, or at least until…

He prayed with fervor, “Abba, Father”.  “Daddy,” he cried, “is there no other way.”  The appointed way would mean physical pain, humiliation and anguish.  Jesus would do it, if it was required, but perhaps there was another way.  Alas, there was not.  Jesus, with sweat drops falling like blood, committed to follow the trail all the way to the end.

As we join Jesus in the Garden, let us take time to reflect on what Friday will bring for Him.  Take a few silent moments and imagine yourself in Gethsemane with Jesus.  Join Jesus, on your knees.  Identify with His sufferings, just as He identified himself with ours.

Though He was guiltless, He would accept our guilt.  Though He was from eternity, He would die.  The sinless immortal would be sacrificed for us sin stained mortals.  Jesus surrendered when they came to arrest Him.  May the Holy Spirit help us surrender to the arresting grace of the Father as we continue on the trail marked before us.  Walking always…

In Him,
Wes

Click Here to see the original post with pictures from past Resurrection Trail and Passover events.