Kensho

Matthew 26:36-46

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.”

 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.  “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.  So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.  Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Yesterday in my Bible study we discussed one of the Hard Questions:

Why do good people suffer?

Sometimes I feel like this is one of the impossible questions set before me by my faith.  No matter what I do, I have a hard time finding what I consider a "good" answer.  Is it to strengthen our resolve in leaning on Jesus in hard times?  To lead people to Christ who realize they can't deal with their sufferings themselves?

Today I found another answer.

It is common in Zen Buddhism for a student to be given a paradoxical statement or question (called a ko-an) to meditate on to facilitate enlightenment (sound anything like what I was doing?).  The point of such a phrase is to silence your rational mind to find the deeper meaning.  When a student is meditating, perhaps on such a question, sometimes, if the student were to show signs of dozing off, their master could yell at them, startling them out of lethargy.  It was described to me as shaking a snow globe that had settled.  By disturbing the mind, it opens to new possibilities.

So, could this question not be a kind of ko-an, with no rational answer, but simply a tool with which to meditate on God and how He leads me to and out of these situations of suffering, and how I really just need to learn to surrender consciously to His will?  And also that I need to be alert in order to UNDERSTAND, to become ENLIGHTENED by seeing my suffering through God's eyes rather than my own?

I'll pray about it.  I'll stay alert.  I'll listen for God to guide me in my discoveries of His vast and wonderful will.  I'm ready.