Finish these sayings: -- “You can’t get blood… out of a turnip” -- “Your goose is… cooked” -- “My life is going to hell…in a hand basket” -- “Don’t get your nose… out of joint” -- Or “your toe in a… jam” -- “Don’t get mad, I’m just busting your… chops” -- “I was to be a… millionaire” -- “Deal or… no deal” -- “I’m caught between a rock… and a hard place”
Rock and a hard place. That means there is no way out. (1) stresses that there are two forces which are restricting one’s movement. Often it is the opposite direction of these forces that causes the sticking point. One is unable for some particular reason to do something that one would like to do, such as act or not act in a certain way. "I’d like to help you but I am stuck between a rock and a hard place." To have someone between a rock and a hard place is to have them in a position that causes them to make a choice that they don’t want to make.” (1 -www.GoEnglish.com) It is a difficult place to be.
In the Bible words mean something, and so often we miss it, because we only understand the English translation, such as Bethlehem means “House of Bread”. To understand this, then, you understand the Bread of the World was born in the house of bread. “Gethsemane” is no different. A “gat” (Hebrew) is a press. A large five-foot high square stone pillar. Semane (Hebrew) is “oil”. (2) If “you lived in the first century and worked with a Gethsemane your day would be spent gathering olives, placing them in a woven fishnet like bag, and putting them on top of a stone table. This specifically designed table is round with beveled edges that curve down to a trough. The trough is angled and funnels into a pot which holds the oil. The top is designed to receive the Gethsemane. The tall square stone is lifted up and set on top of the basket (net) and for several hours its tremendous weight is left there to crush the liquid from the olive.” (2 – “The World is Crowded with Gethsemane’s” unknown www.esermons.com)
It does not surprise me then, that this is where Jesus went: Between a rock and a hard place – you pray
A place where the rock (weight) is pressing down
Let this cup pass from me (get me out, take it away)
At some point it produces results (oil) “But not my will”.
I always glad doesn’t answer every prayer, at least not with a “yes”. If God let you win the lotto “we might not ever see you again’. If he always healed you your way, you would never struggle with faith issues, and likewise you would never grow. Sometimes weight has to push us down (a little) to get the good out of us. A rock and a hard place (Gethsemane) is where we move from demanding our will, to “not my will, but yours”. Suffering can force us to look outside ourselves, to look at others and will especially cause us to look for God. It is in Gethsemane’s that we grow the most. We don’t want to be there long, but long enough to get the good oil out. It forces us to pray.
In March of ’06, just two years ago, the San Antonio Express News told about Janet Jackson. Her name was not unfamiliar to me. She was a friend of Cindy Harrell Wimberly (of Junction). Janet had been on our prayer chain, as well as many prayer chains. I had asked the church for specific prayers that had been relayed to us by Cindy. She laid in a coma for 27 days with a bad heart. She was waiting on a transplant, that without Doctors assured her family that she would not live. She was waiting for a match and to move up the transplant list. Then something happened: her heart healed! Did I just say, her heart healed? The by-line of the paper read “Patient needs no transplant. Was it the pumps? Was it prayer?”
Gethsemane is not always a fun place. It is not always the place we want to go. But under the weight of the rock… rather than succumbing to the pressure, we can let the good oil out. We can find ourselves that depends in faith and prays “Not my will, but thine”.
Jesus so often retreated for prayer. One of my favorites is in John 17, where John records Jesus praying for his disciples and those who will come after him. He prays for us to be protected, and kept. He prays for us to be safe from the world, and safe for the evil. Not just his close personal disciples, but “vs 20 “…but also for all who ever believe in me through their message…”
Recently, on a vacation ski trip with a bunch of guys, a friend of mine wanted to go over the pass to eat Elk Steaks at The Pickle Barrel in Silverton, CO. The weather wasn’t the best that day, and most of us didn’t want to go, but my friend insisted. He used to live in that area and wanted to show us the local culture. After a wonderful supper he then wanted to take us to an old rustic saloon attached to an hotel. Again, I didn’t really want to go, and luckily when we pulled up, it was closed.
Down the street was an American Legion Hall, and my friend wanted to stop there. Another friend, Charlie, and I really just wanted to go back to the Condo, but soon we found ourselves sitting in the back of the ALH. Our other friends were mingling around, when a man I’ll call Juan came over and sat down with us. He explained in broken English he was a Mexican immigrant trying to take care of his family. He had been drinking heavily. The long and the short of this story is that he soon told Charlie he looked “angelic”. And he turned to me and asked “Who are you, and why are you here?”
I explained that I was a Pastor, a Reverendo, and that I guess I was here to talk to him. He immediately started crying and said “I need help”. After just a little discussion about the help he needed, which I assume was help with alcohol, his wife walked over and said “Why are you crying?” I explained he had just asked for help, and we were going to pray, and I asked “Would she join us?” She agreed, and the four of us held hands and prayed for Juan to get help. After saying “Amen”, Juan placed his head in his hands and sobbed for a long time. Sometimes, when are in the midst of a Gethsemane, the oil just has to come out. And some of our best prayers get said. (Of a personal note, I didn’t really want to be there that night, but I recalled a sermon by Bishop Owen that said sometimes “you have to go where the fish are”. And so I was needed in an ALH for prayer, because that is where God wanted me to meet Juan).
(2) The following is a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox entitled “Gethsemane”.
Down shadowy lanes, across strange streams
Bridged over by our broken dreams;
Behind the misty caps of years,
Beyond the great salt fount of tears,
The garden lies. Strive as you may,
You cannot miss it in your way.
All paths that have been, or shall be,
Pass somewhere through Gethsemane.
All those who journey, soon or late,
Must pass within the garden’s gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say,
‘Not mine but thine,’ who only pray,
‘Let this cup pass,’ and cannot see
The purpose in Gethsemane.
