Jesus prayed earnestly in agony at Gethsemane but the Father didn’t answer at all because He had decided to sacrifice His Son in order to save the people. Jesus was sorrowful and troubled so He asked the disciples to pray for Him, but they fell into a deep sleep, far from praying.
Aren’t you the disciples who were sleeping, unable to overcome the fatigue of the flesh while Jesus was praying for the matter that will happen tomorrow until His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground?
While the Pastor prayed hard every day and night when the church has faced problems, didn’t you as office bears just sit by without anything? The church is His body. (Ephesians1:22-23) If you ignored and didn’t care when the church is facing hardships, you are the same as the disciples who were asleep close to Jesus while He was praying in agony. For whom did he pray at Gethsemane? Wasn’t the prayer for these people?
Jesus returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. He said, “Could you not keep watch me for one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)
It means that you don’t want to share some of my painful heart, which is about to die on the Cross the next day, with me and I feel sorry about it. Jesus prayed hard because he was going to be wounded and bleed to death for them and me, but that means, how can you, the disciples who have to pray, be indifferent to Jesus’ suffering and to the matters that happen in church?
We all have to work together for the Church which is the body of Jesus. We need to take part in the mission entrusted to the Pastor. That is how we work together with the Lord.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #643
