Mark 14:27-42
Jesus’ prayer in the garden is, as far as I’m concerned, the most difficult prayer to offer. According to Mark Jesus prayed, “…Yet, not what I want, but what you want” (Mark 14:36b). The depth of obedience, the amount of faith required to utter such words–and to mean them–is staggering. Jesus, grieved almost to death, had already expressed a desire to avoid the passion that awaited him. Then he said, “Yet…,” and with that one word Jesus was able to dismiss his own desires and to embrace God’s will. “Not what I want, but what you want.”
“Yet” is the key to this prayer and the source of the difficulty. It reflects the other path that one would prefer while at the same time resigning oneself to go where God sends. “Yet” is about letting go of who we are and wrapping ourselves in the identity that God holds out to us. “Yet” means turning away from the culture and the society while grasping the cross of discipleship. “Yet” is a word that Peter would not be able to utter that night, for he would ultimately cling to his own view of things. “Yet” should probably be the way we begin all our prayers, but in truth it figures into very few of them.
I wish I was able to pray the word “yet” and to mean it. I wish my faith was that strong and my obedience that total. Meanwhile I take comfort in what Jesus was able to do for, letting go in order to accept the “yet” that God was holding out to him.
Prayer: Lord, help me to be more faithful and more obedient to you that I might accept your will for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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