Thursday of Holy Week

It’s Thursday of Holy Week. Mark writes: “On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed…” (Mark 14:12). What a day. The meal, betrayal, Gethsemane, arrest, disciples fleeing and denying. Maybe you are reading or listening to Borg and Crossan’s The Last Week, going day-by-day in that last week of Jesus’ life through the text of the Gospel of Mark. If you are great. If not, read Mark 14:12-72.

Regarding Jesus in the Garden praying, Borg and Crossan write: “The prayer reflects not a fatalistic resignation to the will of God, but a trusting in God in the midst of the most dire of circumstances.”

My question for this Thursday: How is prayer for you a trusting in God even if and as you know hard times are here and are coming?

My answer to my own question: God is not the Great Explainer or the Great Helper. If God is anything Great, and yes, God is all things Great, then God is the Great Presence (not incidentally, in the person of Jesus Christ). Prayer is then the privilege of sharing my despair and hope and everything in between with the One who is Present.