In the Garden With Jesus - a Lent Journey for TeensSample

Jesus’ life and hope

Jesus gets up and something happens to Him. He is filled with energy, with conviction, with clarity, and He is captured and handed over. According to tradition, the passion of Jesus starts intensely at this point. He can’t choose anymore what He will do, He can only choose how He reacts to what others do to Him, but He has peace. He has courage.

The writer of Hebrews gives us insight into what was happening within Hiim. He says, “He bore the cross.” In other words, He drank from this cup of suffering. Because He saw the joy that was set in front of Him. He had a conviction about what would happen through what He was doing. That’s why He could endure the shame, contempt and reproach He had to go through.

Jesus dies without blaming anyone. He didn’t go the cross and send a bill to everyone to pay for it. It’s not Herod, it’s not Pilate, it’s not my disciples, it’s not the government, it’s my Father’s cup that He has given me. No one is in debt. He acquits everyone and His death is good for others. He leaves a great gift for others.

We get to places where we are handed over, but within the struggle, God gives us His strength. It’s the same strength and energy that raised Jesus from the dead that He gives us through His spirit. In that moment we can experience light shining in the darkness. Angels tend to us in the presence of demons. We have hope in a hopeless situation. We set our foot in the new Jerusalem while living in Babylon. We experience the resurrection power of Lord Jesus and our lives mean something to others as well.

Prayer:

I ask for a deep consciousness of Your love and work in my life.