Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Mark 14:41 NIV

‘Three’ is a rhetorical device — we find our speech patterns littered with ‘this, this and that’. Our stories have Three Little Pigs, and we have the Three Billy Goats Gruff in the UK. The goats trip-trap over a bridge and get threatened with being eaten by a troll — I think!  

I often take three breaths before launching into a talk, the first to get ready, the second to calm me, the third is the launch! The third is the one that matters, it is the moment of decision, the exhale on which everything changes.

Jesus and Threes

Jesus takes his 3 closest disciples with him to pray in his desperation, surely one of them could keep the others awake and pray with him and for him in this dreadful time of decision? They couldn’t and didn’t, but Jesus returned each time to them. These men were his people! They were the ones he wanted to talk to; he loved them and in his working through the demands of the coming ordeal, he saw in them the reality of humankind. Snoozing in the olive grove in all their frailty, the weakness of the flesh evident to him as he came back and looked at. Them with affection. 

The third time is decision time, the time of activity and action. The third time he returns, the decision is made and he will be arrested. This third time Peter denies Jesus, the cockerel will crow and he will break. The third day, Jesus will be resurrected and the decision for life which was made on the the third return in the Olive Grove will be realised.

Strength for the Third

The third is often the toughest time for us to navigate. It is when the hard thing happens. It is often when the pain will come, but with it is a decision made.

I prefer to cut things into 3 rather than half – it is easier for me to make the pieces just about equal! 1,2,3 go makes more sense than the rush of one and go! So I’m thinking, if it works for Jesus, then using the principle of the Third should work well for us.

Even if it’s ‘definitely’ remembering what you went into the room for on the third attempt, or not raising my voice to the teen on the computer game until then… The third is weighty and significant… 

Take time in your busyness this week to notice the thirds. Embrace them. Pray through them. The third time is decision, but it is also breakthrough…