Most people believe vulnerability is weakness. But really, vulnerability is courage. We must ask ourselves… are we willing to show up and be seen? -Brene Brown
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It’s easy to fake a smile or blurt out “I’m good.” It’s easy to pretend and keep others at a distance so they don’t catch a glimpse of the brokenness swirling underneath our skin. The world is full of suffering people feeling alone, weak, and different. How do we change this? How do we go from a culture who seeks approval and desires perfection? I think the answer is found when we read through the account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. On the night before he died, Jesus vulnerably shared his agony and transparently sought the comfort of his friends.
Join me and lets read Matthew 26:37-38 together,
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them,
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Like lightening piercing my soul, I heard Jesus pouring his heart out through these red-lettered words. His vulnerability in this moment reached through the pages of time and drew me in. As he pleaded with his friends to draw close, I felt him extending an invitation for me to come and share in this moment with him too.
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”
As I pictured Jesus weeping aloud to his friends my heart broke for him. I imagined him faint, struggling to stand, knees buckling before falling face to the ground. There, on the hard earth and in the darkness of night, God himself was inflicted with the deepest anguish possible.
I wonder in that moment if Jesus longed for Peter to wrap his arms around him in a comforting embrace? Did he desire for James and John to plead with God on his behalf? Did he yearn for them to cover him in encouraging words?
His verbal vulnerability as God fully human is breathtaking to me. The Son of Man desiring comfort from those he loved. His words echoed in my ears.
“Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Keep watch with me.
With me.
Just stay with me.
Have you ever felt the despairing need for companionship? Ached for someone to offer sympathy when your world is falling apart? When you needed that friend the most, did they keep watch with you?
Jesus’ best friends didn’t. After he told them to stick close, he walked a stones throw away and fell to the ground in prayer. When he finished praying, he returned and found them sleeping.
“Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?” Jesus asked Peter. (Matthew 26:40)
I can almost hear the exasperation in his voice. He requested their friendship and they let him down.
It grieves me to picture Jesus baring a heavy heart alone. Yet knowing God allowed himself to experience the disappointments of humanity has held me together in my own season of pain. By speaking with transparency in the garden, Jesus reminds us he is a real person with feelings of sorrow. Remember this in your suffering. He knows.
While Jesus’ friends couldn’t offer him the comfort he needed, he faithfully returned to the one who could. Three times Jesus resumed praying to the ultimate source of peace. And if we read in Luke 22, we know that God the Father was listening to his every word. With all authority on his throne in heaven he sent his beloved son comfort.
An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. (Luke 22:43)
God will never fall asleep on you. He hears every cry and desires to draw your wounded heart close to his. When the world abandons you, God does not. When we rely on the world to comfort us, encourage us, or tell us who we are, we’ll always come up short. We’ll be left disappointed. No one can ever be to us what God is intended to be. You are never alone in your suffering. In those moments of deepest despair, God hears your cries and in ways you cannot always see, he is drawing you close. Jesus’s was strengthened in his suffering because he depended on his Father, not his friends.
This weekend as you reflect on Christ’s journey to the cross, I encourage you to consider if you’re willing to be vulnerable and share your brokenness with someone. Living authentically can bring healing to your heart and spark meaningful relationship you never knew possible. Who are you willing to be transparent with? Is it a friend, spouse, counselor? Are you willing to bare the rawness of your grief or is pride hindering your ability to share yourself? No one is perfect and everyone is broken. Someone is waiting for you to brave the first step of authenticity so they can too.
Perhaps there is someone in your life desperately seeking you to keep watch with them. Someone desiring the comfort of your embrace and the compassion of your prayers. Think about this for a moment, who is in need your friendship?
My friends, keep watch with me. I am working to keep watch with you. Together we can share the weight of our burdens, we can bring strength and courage to one another just as Jesus wanted his friends to do for him. The enemy seeks to distract, overwhelm, and exhaust you from engaging in relationships with those around you. He’d love for you to succumb to sleep instead of sharing in the needs of your neighbor. When you are crying out for support, he seeks to isolate you. He wants you to feel rejected and alone. But the truth is, even when the ones you love have disappointed you, you are never, ever alone.
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So do no fear, for I am with you;
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10