“Again he [Jesus] left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot go away until I drink it all, your will be done.” Matthew 26:32
Not my will
I don’t know anyone who wants anguish and despair. It is definitely not my will to be crushed with horror and sadness. But that is just a little of what Jesus went through for me. And for you.
Then Jesus brought them to a garden grove, Gethsemane, and told them to sit down and wait while he went on ahead to pray. He took Peter with him and Zebedee’s two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair.
Then he told them, “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death . . . stay here . . . stay awake with me.”
A simple request
That seems like such a simple request. That the disciples, the closest friends and followers of Jesus, would stay with Him in His darkest hour.
He went forward a little, and fell face downward on the ground, and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me. But I want your will, not mine.”
An Amazing Prayer
Jesus knows what He has been sent to do and in this moment when His suffering and death is imminent, when He knows He is about to bear the weight and consequences of all the sins of all people from all of history even though He has done nothing wrong, He doesn’t want to. How many of us can relate to that? Often there are far less painful things that I just plain don’t want to do.
But Jesus wants God’s will more than He wants to avoid unimaginable pain. He prays, “not my will but yours.”
The sleeping friends
Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep. “Peter,” he called, “couldn’t you even stay awake with me one hour? Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For the spirit indeed is willing, but how weak the body is!”
Even Jesus’ closest friends could not manage to stay awake with Him for one hour. He had to feel so betrayed and abandoned.
Another attempt
Again he left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot go away until I drink it all, your will be done.”
He prays it again. “Not my will but yours.” Jesus is setting a beautiful example for us of what it looks like to put the will of God above our own desires.
One last prayer
He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, so he went back to prayer the third time, saying the same things again.
After praying, Jesus checks on the disciples again only to find that they have fallen asleep yet again! He leaves them there and goes a little ways away and prays yet again. He doesn’t want to go through with it, but “not my will but yours.”
From agonizing sadness into betrayal
Then he came to the disciples and said, “Sleep on now and take your rest . . . but no! The time has come! I am betrayed into the hands of evil men! Up! Let’s be going! Look! Here comes the man who is betraying me!”
Matthew 26:36-46
It is hard to imagine what Jesus was enduring even here in the garden before he is tortured and killed. He is let down by his friends, betrayed. He knows the agony He is about to go through. Not just physically, but also spiritually… as this completely pure, sinless, righteous man who has done absolutely nothing wrong, is about to feel the crushing weight of literally EVERYONE else’s sin. How amazing that He still prays, “not my will but yours.”
Action Step:
Our Focus today is the EASTER STORY!
Easter Story: We will take days throughout Lent to learn different events leading up to the resurrection of Jesus.
Today, let’s thank Him for not bailing on us when He wanted to. Let’s lift our hands and hearts in worship and gratitude that He said, “not my will but yours.”
Take a moment right now to lift up a prayer of thanks.
Prayer:
Dear God, We cannot even imagine how excruxiating it was to send Your Son to His death when He was pleading to avoid it. You loved us so incredibly in that moment. That you allowed His suffering to rescue us for all eternity. Thank You and all praise be to Your Son Jesus who gave everything for us! In Jesus’ name, amen.
