By Rev Colin Wong

Preached at / Published Life BPC Weekly, 2005-03-06

Text: Matthew 26

Following the Passover meal Jesus and His disciples, minus Judas Iscariot, left the city of Jerusalem, went through the Kidron Valley and up the slopes of the Mount of Olives to a place called Gethsemane where olives were pressed to make oil. 

Gethsemane was a garden covered with olive trees. The name means "an oil press." Oil presses were used to extract oil from the fruit (Micah 6:15). There Jesus began His passion; there it pleased the Lord to bruise and crush Him that fresh oil might flow to all believers from Him so that they might partake of the root and fatness of that good Olive. There He trod the wine-press of His Father's wrath, and trod it alone. There He instructed eight of His disciples to wait for Him while He took Peter, John and James with Him a little further to pray. Elsewhere we are told that they saw His glory on the mount of transfiguration (Matt 17:1-8), here they saw His agony in the garden (Matthew 26:40, 43, 45, 46). 

When Jesus was in the garden He began to be sorrowful and troubled. He said to the three, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me" (38). Jesus' expression of emotion did not lessen His divine nature as God's Son; rather it drove home a pertinent point of His incarnation - His humanity. John says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (1:14a). Paul says, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law" (Gal 4:4). Jesus became a man. As a human being, He knows pain, isolation and impending death (Hebrews 4:15). 

Jesus' Humanity 

Jesus' humanity is seen in His prayer. Going a little further, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed. The Jews would stand when they pray (Luke 18:11, 13; Psalm 135:2; 2 Chronicles 20:9). At times they would kneel when they pray. For a person to throw himself upon the ground on his face and pray is a sign of abject humility. Hebrews tells us, "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared" (5:7). The writer here describes the intensity of Jesus' prayer. He offered prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears to God. This explains the phrase "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Luke's description of Him is also very vivid "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). 

What was Jesus' agony? The Gospel writer did not specify what agony He was going through. There was no bodily pain or torment that was inflicted on Him nor was there anything that occurred to hurt Him. However, whatever it was, it was from within. As John put it when he described His emotion toward the death of His friend, Lazarus, "he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (John 11:33). 

God always listened to Jesus' prayer (John 11:42). And His prayer was heard because of His reverence toward God. Proverbs says, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight" (15:8). 

Prayer in Times of Crisis

Was Jesus fearful of death? Being God, He knew what would happen to Him. He told His disciples that He would be betrayed by one of His disciples, delivered to the authorities, tried and crucified at Calvary, but He would rise again on the third day (Matt 16:21). He was prepared for all this. But why did He still plead with His Father for a possibility? He cried, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39a). Why was He so frightened? Perhaps, it has to do with His humanity and the magnitude of the suffering He knew He would have to endure on the cross.

What can we learn from Jesus' prayer in times of crisis? First, Jesus began His prayer by addressing God as "Father." This is the same way He taught His disciples to pray "Our Father which art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9a). Addressing God as "Father" shows Jesus' submission to His Father. In his Gospel, John recorded in many places Jesus' submission to the Father. Here are a few passages for your perusal. "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:34). "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" (John 5:30). "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me" (John 6:38).

Jesus was a man of submission. He acknowledged God as Head (1 Corinthians 11:3) and for that reason, He submitted Himself to His Father who is greater than Him (John 14:28; 1 Peter 4:19). 

Second, Jesus pleaded with God for a possibility of release. He said, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39b). Was it possible for this cup of suffering to pass from him? Could God remove this cup of suffering from him? The answer is obvious. 

When Judas arrived with a great crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and elders of the people to arrest Jesus, one of His disciples drew a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest (47, 51). Jesus intervened and said, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" (Matthew 25:52-54) 

Could Jesus ask His Father to send 72,000 angels to save Him? (A Roman legion had 6000 soldiers. Therefore, 12 legions of angels consist of 72,000 soldiers). Of course, He could. There is no doubt that it was possible for the cup of suffering to pass from Him. But it was never in God�s plan of salvation to deliver Him from this cup of suffering. In fact, Isaiah tells us that it pleased the LORD to bruise and crush Him (Isaiah 53:10). 

Martin Scorsese's controversial film "The Last Temptation of Christ" explored this very idea. The film showed Jesus coming down from the cross and living a normal life. However, that is not what the Gospels portray. If Jesus accepted the people's challenge to come down from the cross just to prove Himself to be the Son of God, then there is no salvation for the world (Matt 27:41-43). It was possible for the cup of suffering to pass from Him, but it is impossible for Jesus to be the Saviour of the world that way. It is impossible for Him to provide salvation for mankind without the cross. It is impossible for Him to be the Christ except by the way of the cross.

So is it possible for Jesus to provide salvation for mankind without having to face death on the cross? No. He must comply with God's plan of salvation. Did Jesus submit Himself to God's plan? Yes. Isaiah says, "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). The prophecy speaks of the submissiveness of Jesus. When he was oppressed, He was submissive and did not say a word to His oppressors (Matthew 27:12, 14). 

Here is a lesson for us. When we are oppressed, we must learn to submit ourselves to God. We must not retaliate. We must not take revenge. We can only pray for God's vindication (Psalm 43:1). And we must do good to overcome evil (Romans 12:19-21). Writing to the persecuted Christians, Peter reminds us, "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (1 Peter 4:19).

Whatever we pray, we must be willing to fit our plan into God's plan. Prayer is not the alignment of God's will with ours, but the alignment of ours with God's. Prayer is an offering up of our desires to God, for things agreeable to His will (not ours), in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.

Grandpa asked little Johnny if he said his prayer every night. He shook his head and said, "I don't say my prayer every night. Some nights I do not need to." Unfortunately, this is also our attitude to prayer. When we need God, we call on Him for help. When we don't need Him, we ignore Him. We do not want Him to interfere with our plan. But Jesus, in the moment of crisis, was willing to align His will with God's. If we were to pray like Jesus, we must do the same - "Nevertheless, not my will be done but yours."

Third, the phrase "let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39c) clearly shows Jesus' humanity. He pleaded with God three times to let this cup pass from Him (39, 42, 44). The picture of the cup in the Old Testament was a picture of God�s wrath (Isaiah 51:17). This cup of wrath would make the people stagger. However, in verse 22 of Isaiah 51 God promised to remove this cup of wrath from them and put it into the hands of their tormentors (23). 

Jesus is 100% God and Man. He is very God and very Man (Philippians 2:6-8). He had emotions (John 11:35). When He was on earth, He was obedient to His Father. Paul says, "[He] became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). Jesus would never do anything without His Father's permission (John 5:19, 30). 

The time had come for Him to go to the cross. There was a great struggle in Him. This struggle can be seen in His prayer to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. The struggle was so intense that even an angel from heaven came down and ministered to Him (Luke 22:33). His soul was so agonized that His "sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). He pleaded with God for the cup of suffering to be removed from Him. How long did He plead with God? The Bible is silent. Perhaps, He pleaded with God for a couple of hours. Anyway, at the end of His prayer, He surrendered Himself wholly to the sovereign will of God. 

We often plead with God to remove our trials of life. We tell God to spare us from ordeals. We tell Him to grant us a smooth death. But God thinks otherwise. Since His goal for our salvation is to conform us to Christlikeness (Romans 8:29), God will continue to allow trials to come along our way till sanctification in us is complete. We must not pray "let this cup pass from us." If we do, then we are not submitting ourselves to God's discipline (Hebrews 12:5-11). We ignore the teaching of James and Peter on the trials of life (James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6, 7) and the lesson of endurance from Job (23:10). Instead we should pray for grace, more grace to cope with our suffering. God's grace is always sufficient for us. He is faithful and He promises to provide a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). He will never put us in a place where His grace is insufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9). He knows how far we can be stretched. He knows our limitation.

"Let this cup pass from me" also reminds us of Jesus' sympathy. Jesus is a sympathetic, compassionate man. Since He experienced the same kind of fears, doubts and temptations that we experience today, He is the best person to understand us. Therefore, let us come to the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15, 16).

Finally, Jesus ended His prayer by saying, "nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39d). Here we see Jesus' complete submission to the Father. Though He pleaded with God to remove the cup of suffering, Jesus also knew that at the same time He could not fail to endure the agony of the cross lest mankind be lost forever. So He willingly submitted Himself wholly to the divine will of God (John 12:24).

Here is a beautiful lesson. The problem with our prayer is that we never get to the "nevertheless." We plead with God for the cup of suffering to pass from us, but we never get to the most important part of all - the part that shows submission to God's sovereign will. How often do we say to God, "Lord, I don't understand why I am in this situation, but nevertheless, your will be done." Submitting our will to God's will is the right thing to do. We may not understand our afflictions now, but if we bow to the will of the Master, then peace will come and tears will flee away.

Prayer reveals man's heart. Prayer is not "what I want" but "what God wants." Prayer is not "my will be done" but "nevertheless your will be done." Prayer should make us more like Christ. All our prayers should end like Jesus', "nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." The end of all prayer is total submission to God and His will.

A pastor in a small village, loved by his people, became seriously ill. The congregation prayed, "Lord, please restore him to health." But he died. At the funeral a minister who had been a lifelong friend of the departed made this remark to the assembled mourners, "Perhaps some of you are in danger of arriving at the conclusion that God does not hear prayer. He does indeed hear prayer, however, in this particular case two prayers were probably opposing each other. You were praying "O God, spare his life, for we need him so badly." The Spirit's unspoken prayer was, "Take him away, for the congregation is leaning altogether too heavily upon him, not on thee." And the Father heard that prayer."

Dearly beloved, if we have problems submitting ourselves to the sovereign will of God, let the words of this hymn speak to us:

Go to dark Gethsemane, 
all who feel the tempter's pow'r;

Your Redeemer's conflict see, 
watch with him one bitter hour;

Turn not from his griefs away; 
learn of Jesus Christ to pray. 

(by James Montgomery)

Conclusion

Jesus cried, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Jesus is very God and very man. In His humanity, He expressed sorrow and emotion in His prayer. Though He pleaded with God to take away the cup of suffering from Him, He was willing to submit Himself to the will of God. 

When we come to a crossroads of life, how should we go on from there? We may pray and seek God's will. And when God shows us His will, are we willing to align ours with His? Sometimes we may not understand the whole situation because of its complexity, but are we willing to take a step of faith to follow him? 

Let Jesus be our example in submission in times of crisis. John says, "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6). Let us conduct ourselves in the same way in which Jesus conducted Himself. Let us pray the way Jesus prayed. Amen.

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