“ABBA” WE NEED SOME HELP DOWN HERE Mark 14:31-42 32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” 35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. This is a very familiar story, and one that is not normally told this time of year. But this season is not normal, this year has not been normal for many it’s been difficult. It has been a difficult time for churches, our communities, our county and the world. We now live in a world where we are just waiting for the next massacre or terrorist attack to take place, the next scandal to unfold, the next missal to be launched. I know it’s Christmas season and Christians like to keep our Advents in order. This time of the year we want to be reminded of Jesus’s birth not his death. We don’t really like thinking about Jesus heading to the cross unless we can also celebrate his resurrection. But, this morning I would like for us to sit here in the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus if, just for a few minutes. For I believe that right here in this garden we will find a word from the Lord, a word from Jesus, to help us through this very unusual and difficult season. Jesus was in an unusual season, a time that he was expecting yes, but difficult non-the less. Jesus is headed to the cross. He has just eaten his last meal with his disciples. One will betray him, one will deny even knowing him, and the others will abandon him. And so, Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Mark tells us that Jesus is distressed that he agitated, that he is deeply grieved even to death. He throws himself on the ground and he prays “Abba Father for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me. Only in Mark’s gospel do we see where Jesus calls God “Abba,” (Daddy) a term of intimacy, trust, and affection. Abba displays a boldness, and simplicity in address to God that was not characteristic of Jewish prayers. Seldom, if ever, did rabbis presume such intimacy with God. “Abba” provides crystal clarity into Jesus’ consciousness of being God’s Son. One theologian said that the use of Abba, presents us with a uniquely human interplay between the heart of a Son and the will of a Father. There is something very intimate and familiar when a child calls their parent daddy and mama. The man I called daddy was not my biological father. He married my mother shortly after I was born. He never legally adopted me but he gave me his last name. He and my mother had three children together and shortly thereafter after they separated. I went to live with my grandmother and my dad raised my sisters. I did not see my dad very often, but he was always there when I needed him. My sisters later told me that once when I called to ask for some money, he told them that their needs would have to wait because I was the first born and I came first. I was so blessed to have such a tremendous man in my life who gave me his last name; a man who allowed me to call him daddy, whose love for me transcended gossip, secrets, and innuendoes and found its way to a young girl and gave her hope and confidence and a future. And as great of a man he was he was still limited. His resources were limited, in order to meet my needs, he often had to withhold from my sisters. His time was limited, for he had three girls he was raising so that restricted the amount of time he was able to spend with me, and although his love was bountiful it too was limited because it was imperfect. Imperfect because as much as he wanted to; his love could not protect me from the hurt and harm I would experience. Yet for me he was my hero, my daddy. When my Paige was about five, she and I had been out all day, we shopped had lunch, had a great time, Mommy and daughter time together. When we got home however, when she saw her daddy she ran and hugged him, he bent down to tie her shoes, and this child who had spent all my money, talked to me until I could hardly stand it, this child who I gave birth, she looked up at him with these big bright eyes in amazement, as if he had done some outrageous magic trick and said “he is just a god”. Her daddy was her god, the one who would make the world all better. My daughter just knew that her god, her daddy would make difficult seasons in her life better. But what happens when we are grown and when realize that daddy is not a god. What happens when the person that was to protect you betrays you, what do you do if you have never had a daddy in your life or your daddy is now gone. What do we do with the pain and the despair of living in such a mean world leaves us feeling insecure, fearful, frustrated, helpless, and hopeless. Where do we turn when the Christmas Season feels more like a Friday crucifixion with no Sunday resurrection? I believe that right here in this very text Jesus demonstrates just what we should do. With those few words “Abba, Father with you all things are possible remove this cup from me. Jesus is the first to tell us that we not only have a God in heaven who made us and who loves us but when we are distressed we can call upon God, and we can call God Daddy, Abba, and plead with him to take the pain away, remove the bitter cup not just asking but knowing without a doubt that God has the power to do it. The name Abba (Daddy is an informal name for God, for Father) It is a cry of the heart, not a word spoken calmly with personal detachment and reserve, but a word we call or cry out, it is the spirit who cries out Abba, Father from our hearts. We understand the cry of a child calling for help. The formality of father, or mother leaves us when we are desperate, when we are in despair, when there is no other help we know. Robert and I have two grandsons, Maxwell eight months old and Mason, they are the a three-year-old grandson Mason. Mason is the delight of our lives. Before he was born my Robert and I decided on our grandparent names. This is what Mason would call us. I was to be Nona and my Robert will be Poppy. We had our picture frames ready with our names engraved on them. Well, I am now mama, Robert is Baba and we have two useless frames adorning our book case. Mason named us, we have no idea where the name Baba came from, but later found out that Baba is daddy, in many languages. This child has been thoroughly spoiled by his grandparents. When he visits us, he has total control of our home. He rides his tricycle through the hallways, he sets up his train set in the living room, he places all my pillows off the sofa on to the floor to cushion his fall when he jumps from sofa to the floor. He puts up his Thomas the train tent in the middle of the dining room. He runs his electric cars where ever he so chooses. As a matter of fact, one day while beating his chest, he says “this is Mason’s house” then he saw our expression and said ok this is “Mama’s house, Baba’s house and Mason’s house.” This expression told us he felt safe, he knew he was loved and this space he visited once a week was as much his as it was ours. But this precious three-year-old of ours also has a very exasperating habit of calling us every few minutes. Baba, put my train back on the track, Mama my car will not move, Mama I am hungry, Baba come play with me. One day he called Baba and Baba decided he was not going to put another train on the track so my husband did not answer him. He called out again Baba, and again my Baba ignored him. Then we heard this loud screeching voice, Baba I need some help down here!!!, My husband knew this cry was different and he ran into his playroom only to find that his tent had collapsed on top of him and he was trapped underneath. This child knew the power of crying out, to his Baba, he knew without a doubt that Baba would come. Jesus always prayed, but this time in the garden was different, the stakes were higher, the stress was mounting, the pain greater, so he knew to cry out to God from bottom of his belly. From a child to a parent, a cry different from the previous cries. Abba I need some help down here!!!!! Theologian R. T. France says that ’Abba’ is not used in Jewish prayers as an address to God: to a Jewish mind it would have been irreverent and therefore unthinkable to call God by this familiar word. It was something new, something unique and unheard of, that Jesus dared to take this step and to speak with God as a child speaks with his father, simply, intimately, securely. There is no doubt then that the ’Abba’ that Jesus uses to address God reveals the very basis of his communion with God. I believe Jesus’s cry “Abba Father for you all things are possible, remove this bitter cup was no different than Mason’s cry, ABBA I NEED SOME HELP DOWN HERE!!!! There are times in our lives we too must just cry out and believe without doubt that God hears us and will come. Abba, I need some help down here. Abba take this bitter cup, Abba take this grief, Abba help me understand this world, Abba relieve the pain, relieve the anger, help, Abba help Abba help. Jesus was crying out for help. This season is a season that Christians should be crying out Abba, God we need some help down here!!!! Psalmist 28 says that “ What would have become of me had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.” ABBA WE NEED SOME HELP DOWN HERE. Sometimes the prayer we all know as the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thou name... Sometimes that prayer is too long, too formal, too out of reach when the tent has fallen down on top of us, when the world has neglected us, when our friends have forsaken us, when we are lonely and desperate and scared and its dark under the rubble, sometimes we must cry out Abba, Abba I need some help down here. Will crying out immediately change our difficult season, not always but what it will do is give us peace in the midst of that season. Many of us want quick fixes. We want immediate change, But look what Mark tells us; Jesus went to pray and cried out and only to find that his friends had fallen asleep, sometimes our friends, as much as they love us , as much as they want to stand by us, they get weary and they fall asleep, But Jesus went back to his Daddy, and prayed some more, went back to the disciples they had fallen asleep again. They were tired, they had eaten, they had their own concerns, Peter, Lord will I really defy you, the other two, Lord who is it that is going to betray you, Lord will I really run and leave you. Sorry Jesus, we wanted to hang with you, but you see I have some concerns of my own. But we are told that Jesus looked at them and went back to pray for a third time, Lord this bitter cup please take it from me. We can’t give up, we can quit, we must pray. We must cry out, Luke tells us that while Jesus was praying in the garden an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. When we pray must wait on our Daddy, 28  Have you never heard?  Have you never understood?  The Lord is the everlasting God,  the Creator of all the earth.  He is not like the disciples, He is not like our friends, He is not like our earthly daddy, He never grows weak or weary. 29 He gives power to the weak  and strength to the powerless. We are told that  Even youth will become weak and tired,  and young men will fall in exhaustion.  31 But those who wait on their Heavenly Daddy, those who wait on Abba; those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.  That is what happens when we cry out to our Daddy!!!!!! When we cry out Abba, we are not crying out to the God of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, we are not crying out to our mothers God or your grandmothers God, or even our daddy’s God, but we are crying out our God, our Father our Friend our confidant, the one we have an intimate relationship with, the God we know and we trust. Just like Mason knew that when he cried out his Baba would come. Just like Jesus was knew that Abba, his daddy, his God his Father his confidant, heard his cry and would come and help him through his difficult season. Young people, when you are faced with hard choices, whether to do something right or wrong, cry out Abba, I need some help down here, When you have an exam and you have studied and done all you need to do, before you put the pencil to that paper, cry out Abba I need some help down here. When your friends try to get you to take that first drink, that first smoke that first pill you scream Abba I need some help down here. When that young man or young woman wants to you give your body to them and you know God has told you that your body is to be given to another in holy matrimony, you cry out Abba I need some help down here. When life becomes confusing, and you are in college, and mom is not around daddy is not around and you feel lonely, you feel like you want to quit, you cry out to your daddy, Abba I need some help down here. Church, when we find ourselves in the darkness of Gethsemane, when we know that evil is around the corner, when our children are lost, when our love ones are gone, when we can’t get it together, and life as we once knew it no longer is, cry out Abba We Need Some Help down here. We too must know that when we cry out, Abba, will come, God will lift the tent off us, pick us up, brush us off, hold us, comfort us, kiss us, wipe away our tears and whisper to us, no need to worry about this difficult season, no need to fear, Abba is here, Abba is right here. As I close let us pray. It’s a simple prayer, it won’t take long, you already know it. “ABBA” WE NEED SOME HELP DOWN HERE !!!!!!!