By Sandy Mayle
You may have watched a parade, a horse race, or a team of draft horses, and noticed that some of the horses wore little cups around the outside of their eyes. These are called blinders, and they limit what the horses see so that they’ll stay focused on what’s in front of them.
Blinders block the horses’ peripheral vision so they aren’t spooked by waving flags, crowds of people, or other horses who meet them. Instead, they focus on what their driver or rider is asking them to do. Without blinders, some horses can become anxious or distracted. Then they quickly forget what they’re supposed to be doing and possibly become dangerous to people around them.
After Jesus and his disciples observed the new covenant in his blood, they left the Upper Room and went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus knew his hour was fast approaching, he knew the soldiers would soon be coming, he knew the cup he was to drink would soon be lifted to his lips, and he knew he would soon take on himself the sins of all people for all time.
So he took his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, apart from the others and urged them, in Matthew 26:38, “Stay here and keep watch with me.”
“Focus,” he was saying. “Now is the time to set everything else aside and keep awake. Pay attention. Pray that you aren’t overcome by temptation.”
And that is what he says to us just now. “Put on your spiritual blinders. Set everything else aside and focus on this: I went to the Garden and the cross for you. Remember this. Remember me. Stay alert. Pray that you’ll stay true to me.
“In these moments, keep watch with me.”
Sandy Mayle is a freelance writer who lives in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Author: Christian Standard
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