Matthew 26:36-46
36Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. 38Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” 39And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” 40Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? 41Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. 45Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”
"Face flushed and sandy hair askew, Roger Abramson bursts through the revolving doors into a Park Avenue office building, barks into a cell hone, extends a hand and flashes a smile to a visitor, and scans the lobby directory to locate his 9:30 appointment. His pace reflects his obsession with time. A minute spent on only one task is a minute squandered, and wasted time infuriates Abramson. He shouts at a taxi driver for taking the wrong route, slams down the receiver in disgust when a vendor puts him on hold, rips up an employee’s work because she didn’t follow his exact instructions. And to his family, fiancée, and friends, he issues a stern warning: "If you are not producing revenue, do not call me during the day." Abramson’s mantra is speed, and heaven help you if you get in his way."
That’s the first paragraph from an article in Inc Magazine (September 1, 1998 by Donna Fenn) entitled "Built for Speed." The article is about an entrepreneur who owns a furniture brokerage firm in New York, but it could have been about us.
Is your workday like that?
To Do Lists
Phone Calls
Decisions
Meetings
Conflict
Hiring/firing
Downsizing has impacted every worker today.
Incredible pressure
Deadlines
Jesus Understands
If there is a definition of stress and pressure, sweating drops of blood ought to qualify.
And if anybody knew time pressures, he did.
His minintry 3 years
Very brief time to accomplish goals
In our text he is in the most intense pressure filled time of his life
Imagine:
Out of control
Pressure mounting
Its all coming to a head
So what does Jesus do? He prays.
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus prayed throughout his life and ministry.
We find that prayer formed a vital part of the Sermon on the Mount.
When John the Baptist was arrested and later beheaded, Jesus prayed.
He prayed on the Mount of Transfiguration.
He prayed in the Upper Room.
He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
He even prayed from the Cross.
Prayer was the common thread that was stitched into his life from the beginning.
Well, that may be where our lives and His Life go separate paths.
When the pressure mounts for us, what do we do?
Work all the harder. When we face conflict, we work the phones. Spin the issues. Put in 16-hour workdays. Count the votes. Cover our backsides. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
But not Jesus, He prayed.
For a true understanding of prayer we need to examine the prayer of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Let’s look at this prayer in Jesus’ time of crisis.
"My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."
1. The prayer begins with a recognition of the Fatherhood of God.
Jesus begins this prayer the way he taught his disciples to begin the Model Prayer (We looked at last week) – "My Father." The word "Father" has many connotations for us.
Two first graders were overheard as they left Sunday School class, "Do you really believe all that stuff about the devil?" "No, I think it’s like Santa Claus. It’s really your dad."
In Matthew 6:26, Jesus talked about the Father’s care by saying, "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
FATHER ILLUSTRATION
2. Prayer is not the alignment of God’s Will with our will, but the alignment of our will with God’s Will!
The second phrase is "if it be possible."
Was it possible for the cup to pass from him? Of course it was.
Just a few verses after our text for today, we find that Judas has arrived with the armed guard. One of the disciples whips out a sword and cuts off one of the soldiers ears. Then Jesus stops them and says, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen this way?"
Yes, it was possible for the cup to pass, but then God’s plan would not be fulfilled.
It was impossible for Jesus to provide for the salvation of all humankind without the cross.
It was impossible for Jesus to be the Christ, except by way of the cross.
So the real question Jesus was asking was, "Is there a way for me to do what I have to do without facing death on the cross?"
And the answer was "No." Ultimately, Jesus was willing to comply with God’s plan.
Someone asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night. He shook his head and said, "Not every night. Some nights I don’t need nothing." Too often, that is our attitude about prayer.
3. Jesus Was Human
Next Jesus says, "let this cup pass from me." Here we find Jesus doing a very human thing. He expresses his fear and anxiety in his prayer.
He experienced the same kind of fears and doubts that we experience.
One of the most important passages in the Bible comes from Hebrews 4:15-16, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with out weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
This part of Jesus’ prayer also tells us that we can be honest with God
Tell Him you’re angry
Only by expressing the truth about our human frailties can we find the divine power to move beyond them. Prayer is being honest with God.
4. Real prayer makes us less like us and more like Christ. But we have to get to the point of submission before than can happen.
Finally, Jesus ends his prayer by saying, "yet not what I want but what you want." I prefer stronger version which says, "nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." The problem with most of our prayers is that we never get to the "nevertheless!" We ask and plead with God for the cup to pass from us, but we never get to the most important part – the part that shows submission to God’s Will.
Many times in my experience, I have encountered people with one kind of personality problem or another who proudly proclaimed, "Well, that’s just the way I am."
The whole point of prayer is that we finally submit to God and allow the sinful part of our lives to be changed.
Jesus’ human fear has been superseded by a calm and peaceful submission to the divine will of God.
Now Jesus is at rest in God.
1. Begin with the recognition of God as your Father
2. Prayer is alignment with God’s will
3. Jesus was human, we can be honest with Him, He understands
4. We must get to the point of submission
Remember that Inc Magazine article I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon about the man who was in such a hurry? The paragraph ended with these words, "Abramson’s mantra is speed, and heaven help you if you get in his way." This secular writer unknowingly named the answer to the stress and pressures of our busy lives - "Heaven help you…"
Heaven can help us IF we pray
"My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will, thine be done."
