What difference does it make?

Good Friday Ecumenical Service
April 3, 2015

At our ecumenical service this year, we read the passion story according to Mark’s gospel. Each of six pastors took a portion of the reading and preached a homily. Then we sang and prayed together. This is the first of the six:

^14:26[After the Passover meal,] when [Jesus and the disciples] had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. ²⁷And Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ ²⁸But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” ²⁹Peter said to him, “Even though all become deserters, I will not.” ³⁰Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” ³¹But he said vehemently, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And all of them said the same. ³²They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. ³⁴And he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” ³⁵And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. ³⁶He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” ³⁷He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? ³⁸Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ³⁹And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. ⁴⁰And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. ⁴¹He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴²Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.” – Mark 14:26-42

What difference does it make? What difference does it make if the disciples stay up to watch and pray?

Jesus, God’s very self in human form, is distressed and agitated according to Mark’s account. If Jesus, who most of the time we consider to be fairly calm and collected, or at least fully in charge…if Jesus is agitated and distressed, what good is it going to do for the disciples to pray with him, to pray for him?

And to the extent that Jesus in his humanness knows what might be coming, what good will it do for the disciples to keep watch? They are fishermen and tax collectors, mostly from rural Galilee. They likely have little with them in the way of defense, though other gospels mention a knife. Their keeping watch will not prevent what is about to happen to Jesus. Their keeping watch will not save the world, or Jesus, or even themselves.

Don’t we sometimes wonder what good our watching and praying might do for us and for this broken and hurting world? If we truly believe that God’s heart already aches – that God’s very self is distressed and agitated at the injustices of the world, what good will our prayers do? For refugees pouring out of Syria and Iraq, for all of us under renewed awareness of the possibility of nuclear war, for 147 students and others killed in Kenya, for people of color who live with daily micro-aggressions and too often even worse, for people denied basic rights. For people who are unjustly killed, as Jesus was, for people without access to food and water. For these things God is already distressed and agitated. Will our prayers somehow move God to swift and heavenly intervention? Will they somehow invite the deus ex machina solution for our world’s ills?

And sometimes we even begin to wonder what power we have in the face of so much that needs doing to bring in the reign of God. Against the powers of corporations bigger than we can fathom, and governments that sometimes turn more slowly that we might like, against the powers of wealth – our own or others’, against the pervasive and systemic injustices that lead to so much pain and heartache. It seems even a lifetime of effort sometimes yields only small changes. Against all that, what are we, as disciples of Jesus, able to do even if we manage to keep watch for a few hours as Jesus cries out in anguish?

And yet. And yet in the garden as this whole passion narrative begins to unfold, as the very salvation of all the cosmos rolls toward the cross and empty tomb, Jesus asks the disciples – asks us – to watch and to pray. Jesus asks a group of people he has just confirmed will desert and deny in a matter of minutes to hours at the most – Jesus asks them – asks us – to watch and to pray.

Because in the foolishness of God’s wisdom, God invites us into the story. In the upside-down world of the cross, the very people who will betray, deny, and desert are the ones God asks to watch and pray. Because God refuses to be God without the company of broken people who cannot hold it together even for an hour, even when it counts the most, even with reminder after reminder. God refuses to leave us behind because of our failure and incompetence.

And even more, through what is about to come God chooses us to be the body of Christ in the world. Through all that is about to unfold from this garden, God chooses the lost, the broken, the hurting, the lazy bystander, the sleepy disciple, the betrayer, the denier, the deserter, the soldiers who preside over crucifixions – God chooses us to be the hands and feet of God in the world. God chooses us to be the ones to carry forward the work of justice, peace, and mercy.

So let us watch and pray together, as the body of Christ, not because in doing so we will save Jesus. And certainly not in doing so will we save the world or even ourselves. But let us watch and pray in joyful response to God’s repeated invitation to us, broken and imperfect as we are, to be the body of Christ. To be the hands and feet of God moving our broken and hurting world toward the reign of God that is already assured for us and for all by the power of Christ’s victory over death.

-Pastor Steven Wilco