20^th March

“On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered’.””

Mark 14:27

As Jesus was on His way to pray in Gethsemane, so much must have been going through His head. He was going to pray for strength to persevere through the oncoming suffering He would face, and pray for His disciples whom He knew would desert Him shortly. Can you imagine the weight upon Jesus’ shoulders? Not only would He carry the world’s sins on His shoulders but would be abandoned by well meaning but scared friends, friends whom He had poured into for the last three and a half years, friends who had left behind even their families to follow Jesus. Can you imagine how alone Jesus must have felt? Yet Jesus, despite knowing they would abandon Him, was already making a reconciliation plan for after His resurrection, “But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” Isn’t that incredible grace?! That same response is Jesus’ words for us. Even though He knows we will make wrong decisions and do things that abandon or even bring shame to His name, He still says ‘I will go ahead of you and wait for you to come back to Me.’ What grace, what love and what mercy.