Praying with Jesus this 4th Wednesday of Lent

March 17, 2021

I don’t know if it’s old age, the change to Daylight Savings or some deep sin in my life but some nights my mind is like a circus without a ringmaster. Sleep interrupted by strolls to the porcelain altar leaves my head quiet on the pillow but my mind spinning with people, ideas, questions, memories or whatever – and half the time I don’t know if I’m asleep or not.

Our activities have been restricted but our imaginations and emotions are still free to roam – expressing hopes, fears, concerns for others, plans for the future, imagining hugs with kids and grandkids. And in all this we are praying and engaging in conversation with the God we know loves us even when the presence of the divine hand seems hard to see sometimes.

We are a couple of weeks from Easter and we have been engaging with the life of Jesus as he heads towards his arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection. I’ve been thinking about what his sleep patterns must have been like after a busy day with people and problems – with yet more on his plate the next day.

Perhaps one morning you can take a particular day in his life as he heads toward Jerusalem, meeting Zacchaeus and the blind man in Jericho and the masses of humanity seeking healing, teaching, comfort or grounds for his assassination.

What would his sleep be like knowing that the next day he would be walking with the disciples and needing to teach them about a new way of servant leadership while they are jockeying for position in his organization – preparing them for the shock of his death and then their continuing his work in ways they’d never imagine. At the same time there would be religious professionals challenging him at every turn and plotting against him. They demanded truth while being unwilling or unable to face it.

We know that near the end he prayed with such intensity that he shed drops of blood as he committed over and over to his work of redemption and reconciliation through suffering, death and resurrection.

We know Jesus’ prayer book was the Psalms. When he went to sleep maybe this was on his mind:

“Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’ But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.” (Psalm 3:1-6 NIVUK)

I can pray “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me” when the circus comes to my mind. But I can’t pray the first part of the Psalm the way Jesus did – he had real enemies that I don’t have. But many around the world do.  As we journey with Jesus toward Easter may we pray a Psalm with him and imagine what events and pressures made it his prayer. And we can pray with those whose struggles are much more dangerous and severe than ours. Jesus prays with them. So can we.

 Goodness of friendship grow among us,

Norm

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