“An old and familiar ‘friend’”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, December 12, 2022
Luke 22:39-53 (Forward, p. 44) CEV p. 1094
I think that all of us know what it’s like to be tested or tempted. Indeed, it is like an old and familiar ‘friend’, not willingly perhaps, but oh so familiar. In fact, I don’t think that I would be amiss in suggesting that such an experience is almost habitual with us.
Well, we are not alone in this. Twice in today’s passage Jesus tells His disciples, ‘Pray that you won’t be tested’ (verses 40, 46). So, in what ways might the disciples have been tested or tempted such that Jesus has to warn them about it? Our passage doesn’t say, but let me offer some suggestions:
a) The temptation might have been the temptation to use force to prevent Jesus from being arrested, as evidenced by Peter’s action of drawing a sword and attacking the High Priest’s servant. Afterall, perhaps grudgingly, He did give them leave, to give them than simple permission to go ahead and obtain some weapons. However, in reality, to use those weapons in such a way would ultimately have been an attempt to go against God’s will.
b) Or, the temptation might have been to give in to fear for their own lives and flee the scene, as actually did happen. (And sad to say, fear can often prompt or lead us into doing some very strange and unnatural things—at least for ourselves.)
c) Or, the temptation might have been to be so weighed down by their sadness and grief as to basically make them unable to function, as also seemed to happen. (Luke describes the three friends, Peter, James and John as being ‘asleep and worn out from being so sad.”
d) Or, perhaps the temptation was to be weighed down by shame and remorse in having let down Jesus in His hour of need, of having wronged Him. And indeed, whether by deserting Him, denying Him or betraying Him, all of the disciples had done just that.
e) Or, perhaps the temptation was that of the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, who basically ‘wrote off’ the whole business as a ‘done deal’, as an enterprise gone wrong and now finished for good.
The sad truth is that all of us are tested, tested over and over again, and tested every day. And sadly, unfortunately, we don’t always handle this testing, this temptation, in the way that we should. (Indeed, because of our tendency to fall, to fail in this regard, the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘lead us not into temptation’, is quite appropriate.)
Fortunately, just as with the remaining eleven disciples, a return to Jesus, a restoration, a forgiveness, is always available to us. Jesus is always more than ready to have us return to His love and fellowship, but we must be willing to accept it. Amen.
Forward notes: “’Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’ Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength” (verses 40b-43).
“The time of trial is real. My first experience was when our infant son experienced failure to thrive. We found the right specialists, and the time of trial passed. My next time of trial came 40 years later when my husband and I were both diagnosed with cancer in the same week. This time passed as well.
“During those times, I walked through the world like a sleepwalker shrouded in grief. Looking back at the first experience, healing began when I read Frederick Buechner’s book, The Sacred Journey, with friends. Forty years later, anxious about our diagnoses, my husband and I heard theologian Barbara Brown Taylor speak about her book, An Altar in the World.
“Our prayers in the times of trial were answered by God’s leading us to places of refreshment and spiritual growth.”
MOVING FORWARD: “What books or resources have given you strength in times of trial? Share them with us at #ForwardDaybyDay.”