Suffering, resurrection and Christian love – day 4

The passage about the garden of Gethsemane begins in Luke 22:39 with Jesus’ command to his disciples to pray. At the end of Jesus’ time in the garden (verse 46), he again commands them to pray. The disciples should pray so that they will not fall into temptation. Jesus knew what lay ahead. He knew prayer would be the only thing that would keep them standing. Even though Jesus was perfect, a spirit of prayer was essential to him.

I have set apart time to pray and seek God’s wisdom, especially in times of great crisis and my faith has been greatly strengthened. I think that if people pray more, they will be able to handle the temptations of the world and the crises that come their way much better. Prayer is an attitude of dependence on God. Prayer is the way we acknowledge our dependence on him. The more we pray, the more we recognise that we are not able to achieve things on our own, but that we are dependent on God. If we always live in dependence on God and are aware of his presence, we will be far better equipped to deal with the temptations and crises in our lives. Jesus does not guarantee that we will be released from all the sorrow and sin of the world, but he gives us the command to pray that we will be handle the temptations, trials and joys of life in dependence on God.

We celebrate Good Friday – the day on which Jesus was crucified for our sins. It is a day of stillness and prayer. It is a day in the year when my family and I tell each other the story of Jesus our Saviour. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead and broke the bonds of death, once and for all. That is why we Christians celebrate resurrection day, the Sunday after Good Friday, because it is the celebration of our new life in Christ.