THE GREATEST THING

 

THE GREATEST THING

READ: MARK 14:32-50

     (³²  They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed."³³               And He *took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled.³⁴           And He *said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch."³⁵     And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.³⁶               And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will."³⁷ And He *came and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?³⁸     "Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."³⁹  Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words.⁴⁰      And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.⁴¹  And He *came the third time, and *said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.⁴²            "Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!"⁴³  Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, *came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.⁴⁴                Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard."⁴⁵         After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, "Rabbi!" and kissed Him.⁴⁶     They laid hands on Him and seized Him.⁴⁷    But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.⁴⁸     And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber?⁴⁹        "Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures."⁵⁰  And they all left Him and fled.)

    Distractions come in all shapes and sizes. For Martha, distraction took the form of cooking and cleaning – trying to serve Christ instead of listening to him and talking with him. Mary refused to be sidetracked. “Mary…. Sat at Jesus feet and heard His word”. When Martha grumbled because Mary wasn’t helping her, Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her”

     Jesus words remind us that our relationship with Him is more important than any of good things that might temporarily capture our attention. It has been said that good things are the enemies of great things. For followers of Jesus, the greatest thing in this life is to know him and walk with Him.

 

Mustard seed of wisdom: Teach me, Lord, to get to know You, for that’s when I’ll learnt to love you more than everything.

 

Prayer point: Lord, don’t allow the worldly cares drift me away from you.

 

 

 

Message by: Rev. Samson Oyewole Ilo