"Then [Jesus] said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me' " (Matthew 26:38).

"Just stay with me." That's what the little child begs when she is sick in the middle of the night. That's what the frantic woman trapped in the wrecked car begs of the police officer who arrives at the scene of the accident. That's what the dying old man begs of his daughter who asks what she can do for him.

WE DON'T STAY WITH JESUS

"Just stay with me." That is what Jesus begged of his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Things were so bad for Jesus that he said, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." This was a sorrow that you and I can't grasp. It was the sorrow of the collective guilt of all mankind draped around Jesus' soul.

A few years ago, a young man in my town partied with his buddies all night, only to wake up the next morning in jail and be told that he had stolen a pickup truck and killed a father of two when he rammed into him without his headlights on in the predawn darkness. Jesus was feeling that young man's guilt, your guilt, and the guilt of everyone who has ever lived or ever will live. The despair, shame, and fear of it all was bad enough that Jesus felt it would kill him. And in the end, at the cross, it did.

No wonder Jesus begged his disciples, "Just stay with me." The very human Jesus longed for the support of his disciples in his overwhelming sorrow. What Jesus asked was not that difficult. Just stay conscious. But they fell asleep. Just stay. But they ran away when he was arrested. Their failure to do these simple things for Jesus shows an astonishing lack of love.

How do we show an astonishing lack of love for Jesus? It is not in the big things we fail to do for him. It is in the little things, the simple things: staying awake to finish a prayer to Jesus, paying attention during 20 minutes of a sermon where Jesus is talking to us, making a five-minute phone call to a friend having a rough time to show him Jesus' love, walking away from a temptation instead of giving in to it so Jesus can be glorified in us.

GOD STILL STAYS WITH US

Are you shocked and ashamed and worried that you love Jesus that little? Then take a second look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knows that his disciples will not show him the love he deserves and that you will not either. Yet the very shame and guilt that should blanket your soul blankets his. The punishment that should come to you along with your guilt will be his to bear on the cross. And he suffers it all willingly for you, because that is how much he loves you. He suffers it all gladly for you to set you free from your guilt and shame and fear with his forgiveness.