Meeting an old friend
Tonight I went for a VCF event and I happened to meet an old friend, more of a mentor, really, who introduced me to the campus ministry in HC. Remembering those days where we huddled at the basketball court once a week (and avoided the ants on the floor), sung hymns and prayed together was nostalgic. That was when the sweetest taste of Christ in my younger days came into being, when my faith was very raw and every little thing seemed a delight. But these days, I'm entering into a new season, not necessarily a notch worse than those days, but more vigorous, with greater dips and much greater climbs by His grace.
She couldn't recognize me at first, but she quickly questioned me about how I'd been for the past 4 years. When pressed to summarize in a few sentences, 2 things came to mind. I had been greatly humbled to the point that I realized Christ was all, and my mind had broken out of the boundaries imposed on me by man.
It was a sudden epiphany, that God had been with me all this while and for 4 years He had watched me hobble and crawl towards the finish line, my knees scraping the ground. Then He picked me up, and I started walking. I did a few sprints, but then I fell. I cried and with my head bowed down to the ground, I wallowed in the station I was in. Then He lifted my head by the chin and I saw the finish line and the beautiful scene at the end. He applied balm on the cuts and grazes and wrapped the broken bones, and I continued on with the race. I still fall down, but the difference is, I look up faster now, and I notice Him by my side.
Tonight is Maundy Thursday. The night where Jesus broke the bread for His disciples; the night of the last supper. The night where He prayed on the Mount of Olives.
While reflecting on this, I note 2 scenes.
"After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.' The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom He was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to Him, 'Lord, who is it?' Jesus answered, 'It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.' So when He had dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, 'What you are going to do, do quickly.' Now no one at the table knew why He said this to him. "- John 13: 21-28
I think it's just mind-numbing to know that my Saviour knew exactly how He was going to die. So much so that even before the betrayal happened, He knew the identity of the betrayer and asked him to carry out the act of betrayal as fast as possible. Christ was alone on this, with no one in the room who understood who it was...
"And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, 'Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.' And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." - Luke 22:41-44.
This is an oft-quoted passage in churches, especially when a preacher prays that we will align our wills with the Father's. But no one on earth can and will pray it as earnestly as my Lord, sinless, who had to bear all the sins of mankind on His shoulders on that cross. He acknowledged that the task was of surmounting difficulty- 'Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me'. But yet, He ended the prayer with, 'Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.' The ultimate act of submission, incomprehensible, yet worthy of our emulation. (:
The promise? An angel from heaven strengthened Him to do the Father's work, that marvelous, complete work. The work that caused the Father's love and justice to meet. I can barely imagine the scene in my mind...