For tonight's reason why this actually happened: If you were going to make it up, would you include verses 51-52? This is thought to be Mark, and he records himself running away naked when caught by the group coming to get Jesus. He flees for his life, leaving all else behind to save his own skin. Probably not his finest moment, right?
Did you notice how they showed up for Jesus in the dead of the night? They brought swords and clubs, brave behind their weapons in the dark of night. Would they have been so brave in the middle of the day? I doubt it.
I know anxieties well, and they were always the worst in the middle of the night. I'd lie awake in bed at 3 am, contemplating my own death, asking big questions and terrified of the answers (or lack thereof). By morning, they were never as intense as they were at night.
This is how evil works. It waits until you're alone, isolated, and at your weakest. Evil often doesn't come attack us when we're in the midst of community, when we're feeling confidant and grounded. Instead, it waits, picking its moments, finding our vulnerabilities and preying on them, often subtly, but sometimes with swords and clubs in the middle of the night.
The older I get, the more often I turn to the 23rd Psalm. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death -- that's when evil pounces, when we're in that valley. That's when evil whispers in our ear, suggesting this or that. It reminds me of a Jenga tower -- evil taps on the blocks, looking for weakness, watching our towers, seeing what makes us sway, what threatens to topple us. Evil is crafty and patient. Modern life offers comforts, and it often isolates us from uncomfortable things, and so we forget.... and then evil creeps in, tapping away, reminding us of fears long forgotten.
I shall not fear, for the Lord is with me, his rod and his staff, they comfort me. I look to the staff, and I see the tool of a shepherd, willing to do whatever it takes to protect the sheep. I look to the rod, and I see a tool of punishment, the rod that struck the rock in the wilderness and gave water to the Israelites, the rod that strikes the Son on the cross as a punishment for sin, when grace then pours out and gives life to us.
In the darkness, in my fears, I look with hope to the hills, from whence my Savior comes, and I cry aloud in hope, to remind myself of the power of God, and to remind my sisters and brothers in Christ that they are not alone, and we need not fear evil, for we are a community of believers linked by our bold hope in Jesus Christ, our Risen Savior!!!
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