The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Luke 22:39-46, “And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him.

40 And when He arrived at the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’

41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,

42 saying, ‘Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done.’

43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.

44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

45 And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,

46 and said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”

Jesus had long known His mission. He had willingly come from Heaven to Earth to die in the agony

of the cruel Cross. Having completed His ministry, the time had come. Now, for the last time, He came

to the Mount of Olives to pray. The comfort He might have felt from the company of His disciples was

not to be, however. His agony was His alone to bear. His only message to them was to pray that they

might not enter into temptation. That is His continual prayer for us. We are so humanly weak, that we

fall easily into what is wrong. We must avoid that wrong! And it is avoided only by prayer.

Jesus own prayer was a human prayer. He humanly wanted to avoid the agony of the Cross; yet, He

was willing to endure it if it be the will of His Father. But what was the agony that He faced? Despite

the physical and mental suffering of the crucifixion, He faced the greater experience of “becoming sin.”

He was indeed as human as He was divine; yet, He had never known sin. Becoming sin was His greatest agony.

The disciples had been warned to pray, yet they were found sleeping –sleeping from sorrow. When we

are in deep sorrow, we seek sleep –as an escape. It’s as if when we then awake, everything distasteful

would have passed. But sleep only evades sorrow for a moment. Jesus needed His disciples to pray

for Him in this agonizing moment. Still, they slept to escape His sorrow and theirs. Are we not like the

disciples? He needs us to pray about the sinfulness that pervades our world. But we choose to sleep.

“Wake up,” He says, “and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not

found your deeds completed in the sight of My God” (Rev. 3:2 NAS). Does what we are bother you?

We are lovingly prayerful for you every day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”