STUDY THEME: ONE SOLITARY LIFE: THE LIFE OF JESUS 6-24-01
UNIT 6: THE PERFECT SACRIFICE: “STAYING FAITHFUL.”
MATT. 26: 36-56, MARK 14: 32-52, LUKE 22: 39-54, John 18: 2-23.
READ MATT. 26; 36-38, 39, 40-41, 47-50, 51-56.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO MATTHEW 26.
Many crucial events happened on the night before Jesus was crucified. He ate the last supper, washed the disciples feet, predicted that one would betray Him, and instituted the Lord’s Supper. He taught the disciples on the theme of His going away. He called them to love one another and to live in the power of the Spirit, whom Jesus promised to send. He predicted Peter’s denial, and after Jesus’ arrest Peter did deny Him. But that is next Sunday’s lesson.
Please take the time this week to read John 13-18. Meditate on these six chapters as you read as we wont be able to read most of this in class. After next Sunday we will jump to the 19th and then the 20th chapter of John’s Gospel.
If I were writing the Bible, I probably would have left this passage in Matt. 26 out. After all, we have here, not the image of the powerful Messiah that I would like to show off, but the figure of fear and frailty. For centuries we have recognized that Jesus was all God and all man, but here it seems He is much more man than He is God. After all, Jesus is so crippled with fear and sorrow that He tells Peter, James and John in Vs. 37 that his fear was strong enough to kill him. And He begs for God to change His mind about the suffering that lies ahead. He is in such agony that Luke the gospel writer, says that Jesus experiences a rare medical condition whereby he bleeds through the pores in his skin. This occurs when fear is piled upon fear to where a person can no longer sustain the pain. None of this carries with it the John Wayne like figure who looking death squarely in the eye has no fear.
This all begs the question, why include in the Bible such an embarrassing scene. Why show the Messiah begging for the master plan to be reversed? Why show the King of kings so racked with fear and doubt that it nearly kills him? Why not move from the Last Supper directly to the betrayal?
The Gospel writer chooses instead to include this account of Jesus in the garden, for without it, we would have an entirely incomplete picture of God. We learn from this dramatic scene that the mission of Jesus Christ was directed not only at saving our souls, but Jesus came also to this earth to share in our suffering. Just as Jesus’ death on the cross is essential to our salvation, so Jesus’ suffering is essential to our ability to relate to God.
God understood from the beginning of time that if He were indeed to make a meaningful relationship with His creation, He could not stand outside the fire of the human experience. To know us and love us completely, God had to experience what we experience. He had to suffer in the ways we suffer. Jesus had to experience the power of shared suffering.
While each of us in this room is different to some degree or another, there is one thing that we each have in common. At some point, in time, and to some degree and on some level, we all will experience suffering. For some, it is the death of a loved one. For others, it is the loss of a career. Maybe it’s a broken relationship or a promise unfulfilled. God’s message for us today is that no matter how much we suffer, we do not suffer alone.
Today’s lesson deals with an event in the life of Jesus that illustrates for us that victory over sin day by day is not so much accomplished in the moment of action itself, but in the silent moments of inner turmoil and wrestling that occurs prior to the event. This event in Jesus’ life, known as the garden of Gethsemane, means so much to us all. In the Garden of Gethsemane our eternal destiny was decided. It was here that Jesus wrestled with temptation to save Himself but instead He made the choice to go to the cross and save you and me. IN JESUS WE SEE THE PROCESS THAT ASSURES VICTORY OVER TEMPTATION AND SIN.
PLEASE READ MATTHEW 26: 36-38.
The Garden of Gethsemane itself was located amongst a grove of olive trees on the slopes of the Mount of Olives—just across the Kidron Valley to the east of Jerusalem. Jesus had spent the evening with His disciples in observance of the Passover supper, a meal to which He gave new meaning when He instituted the Lord’s Supper. It was a final time of instruction for His disciples. Judas had left the group to betray and turn Jesus over to the Jewish leaders, which meant Jesus’ arrest was imminent. Jesus needed strength for the next hours’ events, so He took His disciples with Him to Gethsemane.
They probably went out Jerusalem’s eastern gate, a gate now called St. Stephen’s Gate. The road out of this gate led to the Mount of Olives. Near the place where the road splits into three branches is the garden of Gethsemane. Mark and Matthew call it Gethsemane, while John called it a garden. Luke calls it a place. John wrote that Judas knew the place, for Jesus offtimes resorted there with His disciples. It is even said that this site was the campsite when they come to Jerusalem. Some Bible students have suggested the owner was a follower of Jesus who allowed Jesus to come here frequently.
Gethsemane means “an oil press” in Aramaic, so the location could have once been a clearing in the trees where the olives were brought for processing. It’s possible that the clearing could have been walled off for security during the harvest, but has now been converted into a private garden, for whoever owned the land at the time.
Why did Jesus go to the garden? Jesus’ motivation for coming here is simple—He needs to gather His strength for the coming storm. He went there to pray
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The Garden of Gethsemane is the site for three important events in the life of Christ.
-His agony over facing the cross.
-his betrayal at the hands of Judas Iscariot
-and His arrest by the Jewish mob.
Jesus often sought out lonely and secluded places to speak with His Father, so this was not special or exception behavior. This is where Jesus went every night. Pray may be out of the ordinary for us, but not Christ. He needed and relied on prayer all of the time, so now, as His most difficult moments approached, prayer was a familiar friend.
John 18:2-4 says He went where Judas would be able to find Him. He went there for the very purpose of being arrested. How easily Jesus could have avoided capture, but instead He placed Him self willingly in the hands of His enemies. Jesus was no ordinary man, He was the sacrificial Lamb of God and He accepted this role voluntarily.
Why did Jesus seek the company of the disciples? Because there is support and comfort to be found in the company of our brethren when we face trials. If the Son of God felt such a need, who are we to forego it?
Notice that it was those to whom He was closest that He especially wanted near. There is nothing wrong with having “friends” among our brothers and sisters. He took eleven from the upper room, and having come to the garden, eight of them were left at the entrance. Certainly they could serve as an outer guard while Jesus prayed. They were commanded to watch and pray. The three He took with Him into the garden were Peter, James and John. These three were men who had been with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration. They were the men who were with Him in the house of Jairus when He raised the maiden. They were the men who for some reason were a little nearer to Him. Jesus example in seeking out encouragement and prayer support is an important lesson for us to emulate.
The anguish of Jesus was extreme. We rarely experience such emotional trauma, perhaps only at the loss of a close loved one. He said that it was “to the point of death,” and we know Jesus would not say this idly. The only other mention of His requiring the aid of angels was after His 40 day fast in Matt. 4:11.The description of His sweat being like blood may be a reference to hematidrosis, a physical condition brought on by extreme stress whereby blood is literally excreted through the pores of the skin. Be that as it may, we can only imagine the level of inner turmoil that would cause someone as disciplined as Jesus to manifest such symptoms.
2, PLEASE READ MATTHEW 26: 39.
But why was He so distraught?
The simple answer is that Jesus was going to die the next day. But what was there about His coming death that so troubled Jesus? Was it the mere fact that He was going to die? Jesus had told His disciples in Matt. 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.” Was it the pain of the cross? Though this was formidable, and the scriptures do not make light of it. Phil. 2:8 says “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Jesus had already demonstrated great physical fortitude and was seemingly indifferent to worldly comfort or pain. Was it the shame? Heb. 12:2 says “Jesus despised the shame,” meaning that He thought nothing of it. So what was it?
In His death, according to Isa. 53:3-4, He was going to bear the sins of the world. Rom. 6:23 says He would accept the wages of sin which is death, and thus the responsibility for sin. For us who are so steeped n our own sin, this seems simple enough, but for Him who knew no sin to become sin would be very traumatic.
By taking on our sins in His death, Jesus would be abandoned by His Father. Sin has consequences. Among other things, it separates us from God. On the cross Jesus became cursed of God. How could He, who was one with God, be forsaken by God? I’m not sure I know, but this is what Jesus experienced on the cross. Matt. 27:46 says He cried out as He quoted Ps. 22:1 “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” I believe His intent was to indicate the whole of the 22ns Psalm as a description of His feelings. It was this ordeal that Jesus contemplated in the Garden.
What did He pray? He asked His Father to let Him escape the impending trial, if it were at all possible. This is really a remarkable request. First, it shows the degree to which Jesus dreaded the coming experience. We tend to think of Jesus stoically or gladly accepting His role as the sacrificial lamb. If it were not for this passage, perhaps we could think this. But clearly the joy for Jesus was in what He accomplished by His death—not in the death itself. We must never forget that our forgiveness required the Son of God to endure something which was very difficult for Him, something He would rather not have endured. Secondly, we see by this that we also may ask God for something while accepting that God’s will may not make it possible. This does not make the request futile. Expressing our fears and desires to God is part of our close relationship with Him. We don’t just tell our troubles to those that we think will help. Though Jesus’ request could not be granted, He needed to ask anyway, and it helped Him to do so.
He told His Father that He accepted His will. How many of us pray to God just to tell Him that we accept the hardships He places upon us? When we do this we transform our trial from the realm of meaningless suffering into the vale of submission to God. Such a prayer strengthens our resolve and draws us closer to God.
We can see the trust Jesus had for His Father better in Marks account where Jesus begins His prayer in Mark 14: 16 with the words “Abba, Father, All things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from Me; Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt.” He spoke to His heavenly Father in a childlike, trustful, and intimate way as a little child to its father. Here indeed is trust, a trust which we must also have in that God whom Jesus taught us to know as Father. William’s translation of Heb. 5:7 reads “He offered up prayers and entreaties, crying aloud with tears to Him who was always able to save Him out of death, and because of His beautiful spirit of worship His prayer was heard.”
Was it possible for Jesus to have chosen not to drink of this cup? Or to put it another way, could He have chosen not to die on the cross for the sins of the world? Because the Scriptures predicted it, did Jesus have any choice? I believe the answer is both yes and no. Yes, He had the freedom to refuse to go to the cross; no, He could not save the world without this death. His enemies later mocked Him when He was on the cross, saying, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save. He could have saved Himself; however, He could not save others if He saved Himself. Were His temptations real? Heb. 4:15 assures us that He was tempted as we are. His temptations were real. His struggle in the garden of Gethsemane was a real struggle. Yet in the midst of it, He dedicated Himself to the Father’s will.
There was, first, the natural physical shrinking from the bitter cup which Jesus foresaw on the morrow. A young man, with apparently his best years ahead, no wonder He prayed, “Let this cup pass.” But in the second prayer there was distinct advance; the fetters of the flesh became weaker and the spirit emerged toward triumph as He prayed for strength to drink the bitter cup. And while the third prayer was expressed in the same words as before, naturally flowing in the same red-hot channel, the Savior seems to have arrived at the stage of complete victory, being both resigned and strengthened for the approaching ordeal.
The cup was not taken away, but Jesus was given the strength to drink it. It was already accomplished in Jesus mind and will when He accepted the cup in the garden.
Arising then from the spot of His agony, Jesus rejoined the eleven.
Jesus calls us to take up the cross and follow Him. We too must pray this prayer of Matt. 26:39. Christians must find and do the will of God. Doing the will of God is absolutely essential if we are to remain faithful to God.
Thy Will be done. No greater words than these
Can pass from human lips, than these which rent
Their way through agony and bloody sweat,
And broke the silence of Gethsemane
To save the world from sin.
Every step of the last days makes it clearer and clearer that Jesus laid down His life and that His life was not taken from Him. Jesus died, not because men killed Him, but because He chose to die.
3. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 26: 40-41
Three times Jesus approached the disciples, and three times He found them fast asleep. They had been bitterly reproached for that; Jesus’ words, “What! Could ye not watch with me one hour?” are interpreted as His own reproach. Yet, a few minutes later, He spoke gently to them, telling them to sleep on and take their rest. They had had an exhausting day and they had just eaten the big Passover meal. Probably, they did not fully understand what was happening, and was about to happen, to Jesus.
The disciples went to Gethsemane without any definite idea of what was coming. These raw recruits actually did not know that they were on the march to a battlefield. The sleep of the three disciples in the garden is sufficient proof of this. Had the three sentinels been thoroughly impressed with the belief that the enemy was at hand, weary and sad though they were, they would not have fallen asleep. Fear would have kept them awake.
Jesus was not bitter about it. He said “…the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He might say that to all of us. How often have we slept, as Christians, when a crisis screamed for our wakefulness! How many opportunities have we missed because we were “tired”! Be merciful to the disciples, and be honest with yourself.
Perhaps there was one disciple who didn’t sleep that night –Judas, who had evil work to do. Jesus was as aware of him as He was of the sleepers: “…lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.”
Overcoming temptations is necessary to remain faithful to the Lord. How can we overcome temptation? We must be people of faith in God expressed in a life of prayer. James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The key step here is the submitting to God. If we try to overcome temptation n our own strength, the devil will not flee from us.
4. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 26: 47-50.
Judas, and the crowd sent by the Jewish leaders, did not surprise Jesus. He knew what lay ahead. He expected them and told the disciples in Vs. 45-46 they were coming. Jesus would face the approaching mob with eleven disciples, none of whom had proved faithful in His deep hour of need. Against such an unlikely group came an armed camp sent by the chief priest and the elders of the people.
Aware of the power and authority Jesus displayed as well as His popularity with many of the people, the Jewish authorities took no chances. They made sure they had strong enough force to arrest Jesus. The Jewish leaders themselves did not go to Gethsemane to arrest Jesus. They did not want to be involved so others might bear the blame for the actions the priests planned but did not participate in. So Judas led the party to Jesus place of prayer and designated Him as the One to be arrested. Judas’s manner of identifying Jesus was despicable. Judas kissed him. Yes, with the sign of love and loyalty Judas carried out the most unfaithful, unloving, disloyal act in human history!
Jesus’ response to Judas reveals much about Jesus’ character. He showed no anger toward Judas or the crowd he had led to Gethsemane. Instead, Jesus addressed Judas saying, “Friend.” Even to the end, Jesus held out to Judas an invitation to friendship and acceptance. Still Jesus knew what Judas was up to and so spoke with the tone of disappointment and resignation: “Do what you came for.” In other words, Jesus told Judas to get on with it so God’s will would be done. Jesus was arrested: the road to the cross began. Jesus went willingly with Judas because He knew God was leading Him. He faced the cross head-on to save you and me.
4. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 26: 51-56.
Jesus said unto him, “Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” Apparently, the wretched traitor made no reply, and the soldiers proceeded to take Jesus into custody. The disciples were aroused by this act and exclaimed, “Lord, shall we smith with the sword?” One of them—Peter, as we know, began slashing about with his sword, and cut off the right ear of the servant of the high priest. But Jesus said, “Suffer ye thus far;” and He healed the wounded man. Someone has well remarked, “How busy we keep the Lord putting on ears that we in our mistaken zeal, cut off.!”
We do not mean to do it, perhaps, but we go around saying such unkind, foolish things that we injure people instead of helping them. I am sure that Peter would have had great difficulty in leading Malchus to Christ after cutting off his ear. Don’t cut people’s ears off and then expect them to hear your message. Peter forgot that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Then Jesus said unto Peter, Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which My Father hat given Me, shall I not drink it? Now He goeth forth in perfect serenity of spirit. The battle is over, the victory is won, and He says, “I am going out to take that cup, not from man, but from the hand of My Father.”
In the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah we read, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him: He hath put Him to grief!” It as not what Jesus suffered at the hands of man that made atonement for sin, it was what He suffered at the hands of God. It was God who put His lips to the cup of judgment. He received the cup from the Father’s hands and drained it to the dregs.
“Death and the curse were in that cup,
Oh Christ ‘twas full for Thee;
But Thou hast drained the last dark dregs,
Tis empty now for me.”
If that cup had been placed to our lips, it would have taken all of eternity to empty it, but He drank it all in those three hours of darkness on the tree. He put Himself into their hands and allowed them to take Him captive. “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.” He walked alone with the armed guard to His trials. No one proved faithful to Him, but He proved faithful to God’s way. As Jesus, will you stay faithful to God in all circumstances?
Conclusion:
The gospels tell us so little of what we would like to know about Jesus, but what they do tell us is sufficient as well as essential. In this story we see how Jesus sought comfort in prayer and the companionship of His brethren. Let us do the same. We see just how agonizing it was for Jesus to accept the fate of the cross. Let us reflect on this when we consider our actions and our need for forgiveness. Finally, we learn that prayer is not always offered to get something, but sometimes it is needed to help us accept something.
It was not in Gethsemane, but on Calvary, that the sin question was settled and expiation made for iniquity. But the agony in the garden was a fitting prelude to the darkness of the cross.
NEXT WEEK FROM THE 13TH AND 18TH CHAPTERS OF JOHN WE SEE THE COMMITMENT OF PETER CRUMBLE. A.V. DAUGHERTY 6-24-01.
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