In the Garden...the Wayfarer 5/21/16

In the Garden
 5/21/16

Matthew 26:36-38 King James Version (KJV)

³⁶ Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

³⁷ And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

³⁸ Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

Prayer, the open line of communication between man and God, was never overlooked nor neglected by Jesus, yet was overlooked and neglected at times by those closest to Him, and is overlooked and neglected far too often by far too many still today.

Each of the gospels, from Mathew through John, details prayers given by Jesus, for his disciples and for those of us yet to come to belief through them.

Each of those gospels, the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Prophetic books of the Old Testament, and in fact each and every book within our bible details the necessity of prayer on the part of man to remain in communication with God.

Today’s title song chosen celebrates the fact that that prayer does not go unheard, does not go un answered, and is not neglected nor forgotten by God when given in Spirit and in Truth.

In the Garden

“I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses;

And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.

He speaks and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing;

And the melody that he gave to me, within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him, though the night around me is falling,

But He bids me go; through the voice of woe,

His voice to me is calling,

And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share, as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

Given to us by C.  Austin Miles who copyrighted it in 1940, this hymn reflects the peace of soul attained when that precious communication with Christ is properly maintained and continued.

Jesus often chose isolated places, away from the throngs of humanity that beset him at every juncture of His ministry, to allow the closeness and concentration required for His communication with the Father.

While the garden of the song is not the garden spoken of in the opening scripture, the need for that conversation to be one on One is reflected within its words.

Each of the gospels describing the particular prayer given this night details that the request was made by Jesus for those closest to him to watch over him as he took that precious time with His Father, and that they too seek that communication with God.

The failure to meet that request is also detailed, as is the prayer itself that was given for the sake of those failing to meet that request, and those of us to follow, who all too often still fail to meet that request.

Those same scriptures that detail the necessity for prayer, even denote the time taken by our Lord to give us a model prayer, one memorized by children and adults alike, too often without comprehension of the meaning of its words, that if truly meant, encompasses all needs, all aspects of any trial faced, and opens hearts to the means of hearing the answers that are given to the requests that are made.

Christ’s prayers were expended on the behalf of others, expressing the love He sought to bring us from the Father, and expressing the desire that that love be returned by us for each other as well as for the Father.

Too often, when we come to the garden, we come on behalf of self, instead of on behalf of others, and the need to find the means to show them the joy that may be shared, if it is only sought.

The needs of self, should be addressed, and I strongly stress the word needs, that word being defined by God, and not self.

The needs of others must also be addressed as well, the primary and paramount need being that they recognize and accept the fact that there is a need for them to come to Christ as well, first for salvation, then for solace that may only be found through that salvation that is granted by means of repentance, which alone provides the redemption given us through the intercession of Christ Jesus.

Any and all other needs are secondary, temporary and temporal.

The prayer offered by Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane should be carefully considered when we go to the garden ourselves.

Attention to what was asked for the disciples and for those to follow needs examination, and continual remembrance.

John 17 King James Version (KJV)

17 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

² As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

³ And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

⁴ I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

⁵ And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

⁶ I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

⁷ Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

⁸ For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

⁹ I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

¹⁰ And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

¹¹ And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

¹² While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

¹³ And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

¹⁴ I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

¹⁵ I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

¹⁷ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

¹⁸ As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

²⁰ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

²¹ That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

²² And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

²³ I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

²⁴ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵ O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

²⁶ And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

When we come to the garden, let us echo this prayer of our Savior, and when we depart that garden and return to our sojourning, let us shine the light of the answer given that prayer  to all around us willing to accept that same answer given.

The last line of the song need not be the final line.

None other, should be all others, who receive the grace granted by the life, ministry, sacrificial death… and most importantly the resurrection of God’s only begotten Son, all given; not on behalf of self, but on behalf of US, and behalf of ALL who find that grace through faith in HIM.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen, and Amen

the Wayfarer