hi Friends; this is chelsea contributing. I have a conundrum, so if anyone can help me out, that would be lovely.I'm involved with helping plan the Good Friday and Easter services at neXt church, and I've signed up to come up with an interactive way to explore the topic of the disciples falling asleep when Jesus asked them to pray in Gethsemane. But this is turning out to be much more difficult than I thought.
Are the disciples having a moment of apathy when they fall asleep instead of praying and waiting?
Or, are they just overwhelmed with distress, and fall asleep out of despair?
Are despair and apathy the same thing?
Did the disciples miss out on something Jesus wanted to show them by being apathetic?
I'm not sure what to think about the disciples; is this section of scripture meant to warn us against not listening to God, or is it simply the way things were meant to unfold in order for Jesus to go to the cross? How do we explore this in an interactive way?
If anyone has any ideas or insights for me, please click the comment button just below.
love
chelsea
4 comments:
i'm more prone to think that they were just sheep without a shepherd. i think they'd come unraveled as most of us do when facing tragedy. overwrought with devastation. that's my take on things at least.
I don't think they were being apathetic because in order to be apathetic you'd have to not care at all about what happens to someone and I would think that after following Jesus around for about a year they would at least care a little bit about him. Peter at the very least was very attached to him (based on his sudden sword waving a bit later in the passage) so I don't think it was apathy, I think it was just an inability to recognize the seriousness of the situation. I often wonder if they really got what was going on at this time because I'm sure if they had known they would have tried to stay awake.
I wonder who say Jesus agonize through prayer? One of them must have been awake enough to tell what happened. In spite of wanting, when I am praying I often fall asleep. I think that is because, for me, I am totally at peace when I am talking to my Father no matter what is going on in my life.
Rick Gresik
OOps, I ment to say "Who saw Him agonizing..."
Rick
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