Rise! Let us go!
— Matthew 26:46
In the
garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’s disciples fell asleep when they were supposed to
be keeping watch. When they awoke and realized that Jesus was about to be
taken, they were filled with despair.
We might
imagine that this kind of despair is unusual; in fact, it’s a very common human
experience. Whenever we realize that we’ve done something we can’t undo,
whenever we let a magnificent opportunity pass us by, despair is the natural
response. Sometimes, our feeling of despair is so deep we can’t lift ourselves
out of it. At these moments, we need Jesus Christ to come to us and say, “Rise!
Let us go!”
When our
Lord comes to us in this way, he tells us to accept the reality of our
situation. “That opportunity is lost forever,” he says. “You can’t change what
has happened. But rise now, and go on.” In Gethsemane, the disciples had done
something they felt was unforgivable. Jesus came with his spiritual initiative
against despair, telling them to move on to the next thing. What is the next
thing? If we are inspired by God, the next thing is always to trust him
absolutely and to pray on the ground of his redemption.
Never let
a sense of failure alter your new plans and actions. Let the past sleep, but
let it sleep with Christ. Step out into the irresistible future with him.
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