As we lead up to Easter and reflect on the moments leading to the cross, I’m drawn to the scene after the last Supper, where Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane. This is recorded in all four gospels. Jesus withdrew to the garden to pray, fully aware of the impending events that lay ahead. In this quiet moment of prayer with the Father, He willingly embraced the path laid out before Him. When He goes back to check on the disciples, He encourages them to pray because He knows that without prayer and the connection it gives us, we are weak and cannot follow God’s path that He has for us.
One of my favorite tellings of this is in John 17:20 – 23. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
In that prayer, Jesus prayed for me and you. Pause for a moment and let that sink in. He prayed with you in mind. Even as He faced the weight of the cross and all that would unfold, His heart was turned toward us, towards you.
He is praying for the unity of all believers so that we will have a real relationship rooted in Him, so that the world may see His love reflected in our lives, so that they may know and experience His love.
So, as we get closer to the Cross, take a moment and think about the fact that Jesus supports you and your walk in prayer. Spend time thanking Him for the love he has for you. May Jesus’s prayer be our prayer for others so that they may grow deeper in their understanding and relationship with Jesus this week and be brought into complete unity with God and each other as they look toward the Cross.
Amy Laden
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