( Mt 26, 36-46 ) - [ Deutsch ] - [ Akündigungen389.64 KB ]
Stay with us in the nursery. Please mama. And I will stay. I don't want to say no, because I like to be with them and it gives me joy to play with them. But I am tired at the end of the day. I secretly look at the clock to see when it's time for bed and I can go to the sofa. And immediately I have a guilty conscience.
Keep at it a little longer, my work calls out to me, there's still more to do. There's still so much left to do.
And I keep at it, try to think further. But I'm tired after all the e-mails and to-dos and conversations. And it's already late and I can't go on.
Stay here, stay awake, there is so much to do...everyone expects and needs something again now - and then - there is this new war. Yes, far away from us. But still close to many people.
Accompanied by so much news, information, events...
Stay here! Stay awake! Stay tuned - stay!
For your children, your parents, your partner, your friends, your students, your vocation, your work, your heart project, the people who suffer hardship in this world, the environment… All the many construction sites of your life, they need you. And you also want to do everything well and conscientiously.
And everything calls: Stay here! Be awake.
But sometimes you can hardly keep your eyes open, you are just tired. It has become exhausting, sometimes you almost feel trapped...
V 38 Then Jesus said to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death; tarry here, and watch with me.
My heart becomes sad, as if I could feel how heavy everything weighs on Jesus. We may guess how he is feeling. How he suffers and see how he drags himself away to the garden.
We still recognize his many faces today,
we know about the many who are lonely, full of sorrow and fear and loneliness, we hear about those who are persecuted and just risk their lives, who are in mortal need, whether because of hunger or because of war and persecution.
Yet we see and hear the voice: Stay awake now, stay with me now, watch, and pray!
But sometimes, I think, it is also simply an overload.
Our eyes fall shut.
40 And he came to his disciples and found them asleep.
I wonder how the disciples were doing?
At the end of their long journey with Jesus?
That something difficult and terrible was about to happen, he had told them over and over again. Sometimes the response to great fear is simply to sleep. I can understand it.
When the fear is too great, the ultimate repression occurs. And also self-protection. Our powers are limited.
I can well understand the disciples. I don't know how you feel. In the face of the world political situation and the very personal effects of the last 2 years. I hear about feelings that individuals in the community have. Besides the joy that everything is now handled more loosely with Corona and summer and many invitations to Braais there is also:
A lot of work, a lot of stress, a lot of worry about the future, high fuel prices and food prices, how will we be able to afford all this soon? Helplessness. Anger, sadness. Fear. Tiredness. Exhaustion.
And Jesus said to Peter, "Could you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
It is good that Jesus sees and knows how it is.
That sometimes even the smallest thing can overwhelm us.
That sometimes we simply can't, even if we want to.
Good also to hear what we should ask for...
...pray that you will not fall into temptation!
It is not about developing super powers in or through prayer.
To do even more. To challenge ourselves even more.
Prayer is rather the place that helps us not to fall apart....pray that you will not fall into temptation!
Anfechtung (similar to challenge, temptation) is an old word for a feeling that we may also know these days.
A feeling of brokenness, of discord.
The doubt about the good in this world, yes, the doubt if God is there.
We are not to despair. And not become discouraged!
It is the temptation to give in to these thoughts: It won't be good after all, I can't do anything after all, it all makes no sense.
That is why Jesus urges his disciples to pray:
Do not turn away now! When everything becomes dark, do not turn away from the light that shines on you from God!
Stay in His presence! Let the love and grace of God enter your heart!
While Jesus himself wrestles with his fate, with his fear of death, he asks the disciples only this: Not to turn away from prayer, from God.
The disciples are asleep at the time.
I don't know if this is entirely wrong.
Sometimes you can put yourself in God's hands asleep.
Maybe we can at least do that in these days.
Draw strength from God, who wants to give us his Spirit.
Rest in him who is our comfort and peace.
To awaken again and set out on a new path,
on our own way and yes, also on the way with others,
who are having a hard time.
We have arrived at the time of Passion.
Passion paths are walked a lot these days.
And we are on the way together. Be vigilant and pray.
For peace and for those who suffer. For those in power and those who have rules to follow.
For our new KV (church board) and the youth work in our church.
Our power is probably not much greater than that of the disciples.
When we look at Jesus, we see: He was a person like us and yet very different. He went to Golgotha and in his suffering, he exemplifies what really sustains and holds in life and death.
This strengthens me every day anew.
... yes... Easter is coming. Amen.