READING: Matthew 26, Mark 14
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: I cannot number the times I’ve said something I’ve later regretted. I try hard to listen and think before responding, but that strategy hasn’t always stopped me from saying something stupid. Sometimes it’s an unwarranted defense for my actions. Sometimes it’s anger. Sometimes it’s blame rather than confession. Sometimes, I just talk too much.
Simon Peter and the other disciples were that way, too, at times. They argued about who was the greatest. Peter himself rebuked Jesus when the Lord talked about His death, and the disciple spoke quickly at the Mount of Transfiguration even when he didn’t know what to say. In today’s reading, though, was a time when the disciples were silent.
Jesus had told them in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, but instead they slept. Emotional and physical fatigue overwhelmed them, and they did not do what Jesus asked them to do. In fact, more than once He found them sleeping. When He confronted them the second time, “they did not know what to say to Him” (Mark 14:40). They were exhausted, but it’s also likely that shame and embarrassment kept them quiet.
I’ve been there when pain over my sin was so great that saying anything to Jesus seemed unwarranted. I cannot imagine what it was like for the disciples to face Jesus Himself and have no words to describe their failure. Sometimes, the silence of disobedience and shame is deafening.
ACTION STEPS: Live in such a way that you never have to be silenced in shame before Jesus.
PRAYER: “Father, forgive me. Forgive me for not listening to You or obeying You.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Luke 22, John 13