Prayer in suffering
Mark 14:32-42
32 They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 34 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
35 He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 36 “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
37 Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 38 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
39 Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. 40 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.
41 When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”
In this passage we are privy to a deeply intimate prayer between Jesus and his Father. And it’s heart breaking. As a parent I remember the heartbreak when my son turned to me in the hospital the first night after he’d been diagnosed with diabetes and begged me ‘mummy no more needles’. I would have done anything to take the needles for him, but his body was the one that needed them.
I imagine God the Father’s heartbreak in this moment, seeing Jesus’ suffering, knowing that this was the only way to save us. And Jesus’ heartbreak, asking his Abba if there was any other way, but in the end trusting himself to his Father’s plan. When I see inexplicable suffering here on earth I often come back to this prayer of Jesus’. It reminds me that we follow a God who knows what it is to suffer. And He did so willingly on our behalf.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saying yes in that moment. Seeing your anguish here, you knew exactly what it would cost you, but you trusted your Father and loved us enough to say yes to the cross. Help us to pray this way in the midst of our own or others’ suffering – asking you to bring change whilst also trusting you, the God who chose to suffer on our behalf and whose kingdom belongs to those who mourn, hunger and hurt (Matt 5:3-12).
Written by Rhiannon Mellor