Gethsemane – “Not My Will”
Matthew 26:36-46
August 16, 2009
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me: I can be rather selfish and self-seeking at times. Okay, a lot of times…
I like having my way most all the time.
I can be honest here, right?
We: I would guess that I’m in pretty good company.
Because if we’re honest, we all think, at least at times, that us and our priorities and wants should be everybody else’s priorities and wants, right?
We’re not like this society I’ve heard about – the Doormats Society.
“Doormats” stands for, “The Dependent Order of Really Meek and Timid Souls.”
Their official symbol is the yellow caution light, and their motto is: “The meek shall inherit the earth – if it’s okay with the rest of you guys…”
Folks, we all like to have our own way. We all like to be comfortable. We all like to see that our desires and wants are met, and sometimes we don’t care if others are inconvenienced or even hurt in getting those things met.
It’s not a natural reaction for us to consider that our desires and wants might actually be bad for those around us.
And it’s totally not natural for us to consider sacrificing our desires and wants for others, especially if we think those people aren’t deserving of that sacrifice.
God: For Jesus, on the other hand, this kind of thinking and sacrifice was part of His fiber from before the beginning of time.
But that came to the test in the hours just before He was arrested and crucified.
Matthew 26:36-46 (p. 703-704) –
(This takes place right after the Last Supper. Judas had left the dinner to set up the betrayal of Jesus, and now we find Jesus coming to a place called Gethsemane.)
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
42 He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Luke adds a bit to the account when in chapter 22 of his gospel he writes –
43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Scholars are divided in whether or not Luke was speaking literally or figuratively about Jesus sweating blood.
There is a physical condition known as “hematidrosis,” in which there can be hemorrhaging into the sweat ducts during periods of acute emotional distress.
When that happens, the skin becomes fragile and tender, and capillaries just under the skin can dilate to such an extent that they burst, causing blood to ooze from the skin. [On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ, Journal of the American Medical Associatio. Dr. William Edwards (Mayo Clinic), Wesley Gabel (biblical scholar), and Floyd Hosmer (Mayo Clinic), 1986]
So it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility that Jesus actually sweat blood during the agony He suffered in Gethsemane.
Then back to Matthew, picking it up at verse 45 –
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
Let’s step back for a moment and just do a bit of review:
The Bible says that Jesus, the divine Son of God, left heaven to become our Savior.
That was the plan since the beginning.
When on earth, He was constantly aware of His mission.
During His three-plus years of ministry, He was deliberately and intentionally moving to the cross.
During that last week, He challenged the religious leaders, setting them on their heads and showing the people that God was really among them.
During that last Passover supper with His disciples, He gave us what we now call Communion – a sacrament meant to remind us of His body and blood – broken and poured out for our sins. He was aware of what He was about to do.
He knew that before the next day was out, He would give His life on the cross.
And so now here He is, spending time alone with God in preparation for what He knew would be horrifically painful – physically, emotionally, and spiritually, as He would bear the sins of the world on the cross.
Folks, I can’t even begin to imagine the anguish He suffered during His time in Gethsemane.
I’ve suffered some in my time. Not to the degree that some of you have, and certainly not to the degree Jesus did right there in the Garden.
He was the perfect, sinless, Son of God. He didn’t deserve anything He was about to get, yet He knew He had to go through with it.
And He knew He had to die.
Listen to this from a guy named Per Nilsen, from Burnsville, Minnesota:
Last week my son, Bjorn, got sick. I took his temperature, and it was 102.5 degrees. The Children’s Advil came out. He slugged down the appropriate dose for his size. Forty-five minutes later the fever was down to 100.
Just before bed I checked his temperature again. It was back up. More Advil. I checked again forty-five minutes later; now it was 103. Concerned, I asked Bjorn to drink more water. He obliged, but he was clearly languishing.
My wife, Mary, slept with our youngest son, Kristian, as I monitored Bjorn through the night. At 12:30 a.m., the thermometer went under the tongue of my lethargic son. His skin was hot; his affect dulled. 104.
I called the urgent care facility at the local medical center. They said, “Bring him in.”
Mary took Bjorn in while I stayed home with Kristian. While she started the van, I got Bjorn ready. I jostled him. He awoke. I told him we were going to the doctor. He looked at me with weary, wondering eyes and asked, “Am I going to die, Daddy?”
I had three reactions. Common sense: “No, you are not going to die. We need to get this fever down.” Emotional: “I’m scared.” Visions of children with bizarre diseases flooded my heart. Spiritual: “Dear Jesus, cover him. Heal him. Love him.”
I conveyed the commonsense reaction to Bjorn, not wanting to scare him and being fairly certain his fever was not life threatening. But my mind flashed to the many parents in this world who have had to look at their children, knowing that the ultimate answer to that question was yes. I can barely write as I contemplate that circumstance.
Bjorn recovered. Still, I wonder if there was once a conversation between the Father and the Son, when the Son asked the question, “Am I going to die, Daddy?” and in his heart the Father knew the answer was yes. —(1001 Illustrations that Connect; Larson, Ten Eslhof, eds. Zondervan)
Jesus knew He had to die. He knew it from the beginning.
But the anguish of carrying the burden of your sins and mine was almost too much for Him to bear, it was so great.
And so He cried out –
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.”
Who would want to go through what Jesus was about to experience?
But here’s the difference between lip-service and real courage.
Jesus, not wanting to go through with it, wishing instead that the cup of suffering would be taken away, followed through on what He knew He had to do.
In the movie, The Passion of the Christ, during the scene in Gethsemane, the devil comes to Jesus and tries to persuade Him to walk away from the mission because it’s too much for one man to bear.
The Scripture doesn’t say that Satan was there with Jesus in the garden, but I’m willing to believe he was, tempting Him to walk away.
And I’m willing to believe that that temptation was at least as great, if not much greater, than what He had faced as He began His public ministry 3 ½ years earlier, when Satan came to Him on three occasions to throw Him off the task.
But Jesus knew what the mission was. He had known from the beginning. And He knew that He was the only one who could accomplish it.
So He said, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
And Jesus knew who He would be dying for. You with your sins and weakness. Me with mine.
And He still said, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
In spite of the fact that those who claimed to love and follow Him would turn their backs on Him from time to time.
In spite of the fact that there would be many who would bring shame on the name of Jesus because of their words and actions.
In spite of the fact that there would be countless people who were Christian in name only, and not really lovers and followers of His.
In spite of all this, He said, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” (Video)
You: Philip Yancey, in an article for Christianity Today, wrote –
“When Jesus prayed to the one who could save him from death, he did not get that salvation; he got instead the salvation of the world.” [“Jesus’ Unanswered Prayers,” Christianity Today (Feb. 1998)]
Two main responses we should have to the fact that Jesus yielded to the Father’s will on your behalf:
1. Deep-seated and heartfelt gratitude.
2. Out of that gratitude, adopt the willingness to do the same in your own life.
Are you willing to say, “Not my will, but Yours be done,” no matter what the circumstances, no matter what God is calling you to do, whether big or small?
You see, God didn’t create you for your purposes. He created you for His.
I remind you from time to time that Jesus says He came to give us life and not just a life of existing from day to day, but a full life.
That full life is found in yielding your life to Christ – completely and fully. When you say, “Not my will – but Yours be done – in my life and through it.”
When you’re living the life God created you to live, you find the joy, you find the peace, you find the fulfillment, you find the significance in living, you find meaning, and you find security in knowing that every step of the way, God is with you.
And not just with you, but in you.
He’s there to carry you through. He may not take away the cup of suffering, but He’s there with you to walk you through it.
Are you willing to say to Jesus, “Not my will, but Yours be done?”
If not, then I pray that God will break your heart and allow you to see some of the depth of His love for you and what it cost Him.
We: One of the things I’ve harped on over my time here is how oftentimes Christians aren’t really any different than those who don’t claim to be Christians.
They put themselves ahead of their neighbors instead of loving them as they should, because they don’t first love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And I think that if more Christians would say, “Not my will, but Yours be done,” the world would see that Jesus and Christianity isn’t just some religious fix people need to salve their consciences from time to time.
They’ll see that Jesus is real, and that He really lives in the lives of those who love and follow Him.
And they may see their own need for Him, giving you the opportunity to point them to Jesus so they can call on Him themselves.
