Celebrate Jesus

Yesterday I got enough time to go back to what I’ve been reading this past week. The book is called The Day Christ Died by Jim Bishop. Copyright © 1957, I think this book is as timeless as the Bible. Jim Bishop captures the last hours of Jesus with his disciples, and gives insights on each disciple’s personality traits. The book is loyal to the actual Bible texts regarding the events before and during Christ’s death, but it makes me see Jesus and his disciples more vividly, because it uses techniques from fiction. I can vividly imagine how the disciples interact even with each other, and I am more amazed at how Jesus put all these men together, considering their wide differences, both in status in life and in training. From the naïve to the street smart, from the impulsive to the cautious, from the young to the old – I wonder at how the Lord Jesus came up with so eclectic a mix.


This thought takes me to a deeper understanding of how we fare before Him. Our training and our economic status are not the major qualifications which will give us the privilege of serving God. But it’s amazing how God knows each of our basic gifts, even if we ourselves are reluctant to admit that we have those gifts. In high school, I didn't have the confidence to say that in college, I would take up something that would turn me into a writer. After all, I wrote only one poem and one short story during my sophomore year. In those days, after graduation in the province, you wanted to take up accounting, engineering, medicine, or architecture. (In fact, a lot of my former classmates are now financial or accounting managers in banks, and prosperous engineers and architects. But unlike today, not “everybody” in those days wanted to take up nursing. It’s amazing that my youngest sister, who used to teach psychology at the Lyceum of Batangas, did not have many Liberal Arts students. In the meantime, blocked sections of nursing students were sometimes exceeding 60 students per section.)

In God’s view of who we are, everything is included. Sometimes I think that I am as impulsive as Peter, who will eagerly jump at an opportunity that will allow me to have a part in His work. But often, I am also as cautious as Thomas, always asking questions and making sure I am fully satisfied with the answers before I plunge into a new adventure.


The same book, The Day Christ Died, also reminds me that God knows my limitations. In the garden where He prayed, Jesus told three of His disciples to keep watch and pray because He said, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” In those instances, He always found them sleeping. I think that maybe, a 'weakening of the flesh' was also true of Jesus’ experience. He prayed that “this cup be removed” and in His prayer, His sweat were like drops of blood. He needed that intense prayer in order to fulfill His father’s will: “But let your will be done.”

I believe that He wants us all to know that our zest for the Kingdom is not enough. We always need Him, His strength, His guidance, His wisdom, His timing, His resources. Prayer has always been what God wants from us. And the more we “abide” in Him in prayer, the more we will be filled with His love to move for the Kingdom according to His will. Let us all celebrate the Lenten Season through prayers that will move us closer to Him.