WAIT WITH ACTION

Holy Saturday: April 11, 2020

Reference text: Genesis 22:1-8

Genesis 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

The text selected for reflection today is chosen from one of the seven readings read at the vigil service. Let us place this text alongside the instruction given to three of the Apostles in Matthew 26:37-38 which reads ‘He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him, and he said to them, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me.” With these two texts laid out, let us explore ‘ WAITING’.

The servants of Abraham and the three disciples were both instructed to wait at particular locations, but the kind of waiting expected in each case was different. Abraham asked his team to wait with the donkey while he went on to worship with Isaac but Jesus asked His disciples to wait and stay awake with him. The servants were thus excluded from the act of worship itself, but the disciples were given a central place to keep watch with Jesus. That was the difference.

The disciples were expected to be watching and waiting in prayer with Jesus hence, his show of disappointment when He finds them asleep on His return. Every waiting instructed needs to be action-based. The time designated as ‘waiting time’ as far as the believer is concerned needs not be spent doing nothing, but on building up reserve, raising up prayer and gaining ground in hope, faith and love.

As Christians, we hear waiting followed by a range of prepositions: wait WITH, with FOR or wait ON the Lord. All these forms of waiting are active and not just passive. So perhaps, you are in a waiting phase of your life’s journey, but what kind of waiting are you doing?

#sly