In the Garden of Gethsemane

In a little over a week, we will be celebrating the most important day in the history of Christianity.  As Christians, we should make everyday a celebration of Easter – walking in the knowledge that Christ died for our sins so that all who believe in Him would have eternal life.  But even so, we mark Good Friday and Easter on our calendar to memorialize what Christ has done for us – it is a great time for us to reflect, to realign our walk with God, and to renew our commitment to Him.  So I decided to commemorate this time in history with a study of the last days of Jesus Christ.

The Catholic Church has marked the last days of Jesus Christ into fourteen highlighted moments and they call this the Stations of the Cross.  I’m not Catholic but I figure the Stations of the Cross is Biblical so why not take a closer view.  So I started my study at the first station, which is The Garden of Gethsemane.  But as I read Matthew 26, I decided to back track a little further to Matthew 24-25.  Here Jesus speaks of the End of the Age. 

In Matthew 24:4-8, ⁴ Jesus says, “WATCH OUT that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.  ~ The rest of Matthew 24 describes what the beginning of the end is to look like – wars and rumors of war.  But He reminds us To Be READY, To Be WATCHFUL, for we don’t know when the day will be.  But we can recognize its nearness by the signs of the time.  In verse 34, He also says that when these things start happening, that generation will not pass away until all of it has been completed.

So now I find myself once again in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26).  It starts out with Jesus completing His message on the "end of days."  In verse two He clearly states that He “will be handed over to be crucified.” Then in verse 36, Jesus goes to Gethsemane with His disciples.  He tells them He’s going to pray but He takes Peter, John, and James further with Him and He was clearly troubled and filled with sorrow ~ His disciples knew this without a doubt.  He even tells them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep WATCH with me.”  After praying, Jesus returns to His disciples and found them sleeping.  In Jesus’ desperate time, the ones who claim to love Him were found sleeping.  But Jesus in great concern for them says, “WATCH and PRAY so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

As we turn the corner into the Holy Week, I am reminded that the signs of the time is clear – we are near the end of days.  This generation may very well be the generation that will not pass away.  But the great message that Jesus gave just prior to Gethsemane and at Gethsemane is to WATCH and PRAY – our Master will be returning soon.  I don’t want to be found sleeping.

Check out these sleeping positions.

UPDATE:

Half way through week 6 into my running experience.  I've been taking small steps - but the main thing is that I'm still taking the steps.  I have set a goal - to be able to go on runs with my friends who have inspired me in the first place.  Right now I am walk/running 45 minutes.  Going average 2.58 miles.  In the 45 minutes, I'm able to job 8 minutes straight without stopping and have been able to do two other 6 minute steady jogs before ending the workout.  Goal for next week is to sustain a 10 minute jog.  Once I get here, I will work on running the entire 45 minutes.

Weight loss - 5lbs.  Not much but I am toning and so my clothes are fitting better.