Scripture: Mark 14:42 CEB “Get up! Let’s go! Look, here comes my betrayer.” Yesterday we read how Jesus told his disciples to sit here while I pray. Sitting isn’t easy. The other option is to be on the move. Jesus came back to his disciples after asking them to “sit here” and he gives them an even harder direction. This time, after he has prayed three separate times in agony, Jesus says to his disciples, “Get up! Let’s go!” Specifically, Jesus says, “Get up! Let’s go! Look, here comes my betrayer.” It was hard enough for the disciples to sit still and wait while Jesus prayed. In just a few moments the religious leaders and Roman soldiers would arrive with Judas, the betrayer. The moment would move from agonizing prayer to poignant accusation. The disciples would be moving from sitting in wait to walking into the fray. Jesus was asking them to follow him into the most difficult and terrible 72 hours in history. Jesus said get up, let’s go, and they got up and went. How could they do that? They couldn’t stay awake and sit there while Jesus prayed. They fell asleep on him. When Jesus tells them to follow him into the night, suddenly they are capable of doing what he asked. I don’t know that it should be that surprising though. Following is what the disciples did best. After all, with one invitation they left their old lives and followed him. Wherever Jesus went the disciples followed. When he told them to go across the lake the disciples got in the boat and went. If Jesus told them to go out and tell people the Good News, they went. Following was the disciples' specialty. There was no difference on this occasion. Jesus was done praying and it was time to go. When Jesus invites them to come along, the disciples follow him. It is clear that the disciples wanted to be where Jesus was even if they could not do what Jesus did. I believe it might be just the opposite for us as modern-day disciples of Jesus. We said yesterday that sitting wasn’t always easy to do. However, I believe we are better sitters than we are goers. Overall, we experience church today by sitting in church, Bible study, small group, or events. To put it in the terms of a sporting event, we are more often fans than we are players. We are more often in the stands than on the field. If Jesus were to actually say to us, “Get up! Let’s go!,” would we get up and go? Especially if it was a difficult road filled with uncertainty and even the threat of physical harm. Jesus calls us to get up and go! Remember the great commission? “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you.” [Matthew 28:19-20] The command is to get up and go. Will we go? Today may be the day Jesus is telling you to get up and go. Go and call someone from whom you are estranged. Go to lunch with a coworker who has been struggling. Go home a little early and play with your kids. Go fold some laundry or help your spouse around the house. Go to your prayer closet and spend some time with God. Whatever it may be that Jesus is calling you to—get up and go! You won’t regret it! Listen to the very end of the great commission … “Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.” Get up and go—and Jesus promises to go with you. Prayer: Holy God, I want to go where you want me to go. Guide me by your Holy Spirit to see the opportunities you put before me. I want to hear your call and I want to go. In the name of Jesus. Amen.