Week 38: Day 4

Intro: Hello and welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites - I'm Sarah Yardley. Each weekday we share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it, and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today.

Bible: Today's reading comes from Mark chapter 14, verses 32-42

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Thoughts:

Have you ever been distracted when you tried to pray? Sat down for a few minutes of conversation with Jesus and found that your mind and heart wandered, and suddenly you were in the midst of the most recent Avengers film plot?

Or perhaps you’ve tried to pray either late at night or early in the morning and found yourself asleep, when you were actually trying to have a conversation with Jesus? I find it oddly comforting that even the faithful followers of Jesus, the ones who had given their lives to spend with him, sometimes found it hard to pray. As Jesus said to them:

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

In this passage, there is a reminder that prayer helps guard us from places of temptation. Sometimes, we think of temptation as the big areas of distraction or pain, but I often think we are tempted to live in ways that are less than God’s best for us. And in this story, as I have experienced my whole life long, the beauty is that Jesus calls them to live a life of prayer and attention, but he isn’t harsh with them - he just clearly reminds them that the best way to live is in conversation with Gd.

You might, like in this story, have moments where you are overwhelmed with sorrow. You might feel too tired, too overwhelmed, or too distracted to pray. But Jesus is close to us, and He is already praying for us. Our invitation is to enter into a life of prayer, even in the moments where we are weak.

Pray: Holy Spirit, we know that you are our Comforter and Friend. I pray that you would teach us how to pray, in our weakness, in our frailty, and in the moments when we don’t feel it. Remind us of how close you are to us, closer than a brother or a best friend. We love you.

Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.

Action: Every day on Orbit we give you a simple practical challenge to help you put this passage into action in your life. Here's today's:

We often think of prayer as full of words. Take some time today to sit in silence with Jesus; set an alarm for 2 or 3 minutes and sit, palms up, just listening to what Jesus might have to say to you. Start small, but carve out time to listen to Jesus.

Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - we'll be back with another reflection tomorrow.