As another Resurrection season approaches, my heart makes it's
journey to Calvary once again. Without fail, I always linger so much
longer in the olive grove. The scene captivates me. I pull my wrap
tighter around my body to keep out the evening chill, as I hide behind
an old and gnarly olive tree, watching the events unfold. Here I am
again...tonight...at Gethsemane.
On Sunday the crowds
cheered. They couldn't get enough of Jesus. Maybe they could see Him do
another miracle. Jesus heard their praises, but He knew that in just a
few days they would all turn against Him. On Monday, He witnessed the
greed and prejudice of the city merchants. So overcome with righteous
anger, He took a hand made whip and turned their tables over crying, "My
Father's house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations..but
you have made it into a den of thieves." The harassment began on
Tuesday. His enemies challenged Him on who exactly He thought He was.
"On what authority are you doing these things?" Animosity, hatred, and
venom began to permeate the air. By the end of the week they would cast
their vote to put Him to death. On Wednesday, one of His closest
friends, one who knew His heart, His desires and His mission...one who
had known His love... agreed to betray Him to His enemies for the price
of a common slave...30 pieces of silver.
Thursday
night Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples. They didn't
understand that this would be their last meal together with Him. As
Jesus looked around the room, He knew that these men would all be
scattered in just a few hours. He knew that Peter, headstrong Peter,
would deny Him three times. He looked up to see Judas get up and leave
the table. The others didn't understand what was happening. But Jesus
knew that in a few hours Judas would return with soldiers and clubs and
swords. The eleven didn't get the significance of this night. But Jesus
did and it was in this state of mind that He took the eleven and made
His way to Gethsemane.
We enter our own Garden of
Gethsemane by many routes. We enter through betrayal, loneliness, abuse,
divorce, poverty, loss or grief. We enter when our wills collide with
the will of God. There are many paths to Gethsemane but I believe we've
all been there at one time or another. You may be there right now.
Today. This dark night that Jesus spent in the garden can teach us much
about our own dark nights...our own personal Gethsemanes.
We
know that throughout the earthly life of Christ He often went to
solitary places to pray. But on Thursday evening, He didn't want to be
alone. He took the eleven with Him to the Mount of Olives as they
usually did, but then He pulled aside three of His closest and went
further off. We do not need to be alone in our Gethsemane. Jesus knew
they were nearby. He knew they were there and He told them to pray. He
knew they would go through a horrible time as well and He wanted them to
be prepared by praying to the Father. When we are suffering we don't
need to take the whole crowd with us. Remember that Jesus left eight of
them behind. But it is perfectly proper to take a few trusted friends
along with you when you are suffering. Don't try to go it alone. When
you're suffering your Gethsemane, take along a friend or two.
Jesus
was deeply distressed, sorrowful and troubled. The Greek word that is
used for "distressed" pictures men who are struggling in a boat against
wind and waves. Have you ever felt like you were in a little dinghy boat
trying to stay afloat while the winds and waves of adversity threatened
to drown you? That was the feeling that Jesus had that very night. He
said, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." Your
soul is your mind, your will and your emotions. Every last bit of Christ
was overwhelmed. He had not known such trouble in His earthly life thus
far. He told the others that it was so bad that it threatened to
extinguish His life right there and then. Forget the Cross! He thought
that He was going to die right there in that garden. It was that bad!
No
matter how excruciating your pain is, no matter how badly you hurt, no
matter what you're going through, Jesus Christ knows how it feels. Don't
ever say, "Well...He was God". He was fully God, but He was also fully
Man. That's hard for us to wrap our minds around, but it's truth just
the same. He was in exceeding pain and torment that night in the garden
The full impact of what He would suffer hit Him and He staggered under
it's weight.
"He fell with His face to the ground and
prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him." Have you ever
hurt so badly that you just fell to the ground? Right here, Christ gives
us permission to fall to the floor and be honest with God. We can tell
Him we're suffering. We can tell Him we're struggling. We can tell Him,
honestly, that we really would rather not do what He is telling us to
do. Jesus did! In His own personal preference, He would rather not have
experienced the pain of death and the horror of having the sins of the
whole world put on His shoulders. And He told His Father so. We would
often not want to go through what we have to go through. We can tell our
Heavenly Father. Jesus did.
Christ would suffer
physical pain but He would also suffer the pain of separation from God
the Father. For a little while, God the Father would turn His face away
from His Son. The One who had been with the Father since before the
beginning of time, would be alone for the first time. And Thursday night
in the garden was just the beginning. The kiss of a friend, angry
crowds, betrayal, rejection and trials were coming. There would be
mocking and spitting and scourging to the point that His skin would come
off with each blow of the whip, until bone could be seen. Nails in His
wrists and ankles and hanging on a Cross still being mocked by the
crowds. It wasn't over yet in the garden. It had only just begun. It was
enough to drop Jesus to the ground on His face before His Father, the
only One who could possibly help Him. Often the pain that we experience
in wrestling with submission is just as excruciating as the results of
that submission will be.
Three times Jesus asked His
"Abba"...His Daddy, to take this cup from Him. Jesus was persistent in
prayer. If Peter, James and John had been awake they may have been
reminded of the story Messiah had told them about the woman who kept
bothering the unjust judge for mercy. Because of her persistence her
request was granted. Christ had said that He told them this parable so
that they would "always pray and not give up" (see Luke 18: 1-8). But
they were asleep. He told them to watch and pray, but they slept
instead. Don't sleep when you should be praying.
Maybe
if Peter had stayed awake and prayed, He might not have denied Jesus.
Maybe if they all would've prayed they would've received strength to
endure, and they wouldn't have run like little boys. When you're facing
something in your life, draw near to God. He will draw near to you and
give you strength to endure well, strength for what lies ahead, and
strength for victory.
Thursday night in the garden was
the scene of a cosmic battle between Christ's humanity and His deity.
The battle between His God-ness and His Man-ness. I believe that angels
were perched over the portals of heaven watching. I can feel the evil
one lurking, listening and thinking, "What's He gonna do? What's He
gonna do?" All of hell sat silent, waiting and watching. Satan probably
didn't understand the full scope of what was at stake in that garden,
but I'll bet that he knew something was up! He's watching you too, by
the way. How the next words that Jesus spoke must have rocked Satan's
world! Jesus says, "Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done". Angels
cheered and demons screamed in fear. The decision was made.
Way
back in Genesis 3: 15, God said that the serpent, Satan, would bruise
the heel of Jesus but Jesus would crush the head of the serpent. Jesus
would deliver the fatal blow. Satan tries to cripple us but it's not
fatal. He may bruise us, but he doesn't crush us. Jesus will always
deliver the final blow to Satan. And in Him, In Him, every time we
choose to say, "Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done", we crush
the head of our enemy and do tremendous damage to the kingdom of
darkness. Demons shudder when we know what God's word says, and what He
wants us to do, and even though we don't want to, we say,
"Nevertheless". Let's do some damage to the enemy kingdom! Let's crush
his head. The prince of this world has been winning for way too long,
but the battle is not over. There are too many defeated Christians. It's
time for Christians to start winning the battles because we know that
one day Christ will win the war!
Doing the will of God
isn't always easy. At times it can be excruciatingly painful. But can we
look up and say, "Jesus, I wouldn't do this for anyone else but you,
not for anyone or anything but you, but you want me to .. so I will
obey. Your will be done?" And in that moment, we crush the enemy's head
and get the victory. Hallelujah!
I don't know what it
is for you that God is asking you to do or to endure. Maybe He wants you
to forgive and be kind to someone who you would much rather slap upside
the head. Maybe He's asking you to give up an addiction. Maybe you need
to endure a difficult person or situation with a good attitude. Perhaps
He wants you to give up your secret sin. I don't know...only you
do...but you know that you wouldn't do it for anyone or anything. But
can you do it for Jesus? Can you say, "Jesus, I wouldn't do it for
anyone else but you...your will be done."
This night
was so horrific for Christ that He was sweating with drops of blood
falling to the ground. I have yet to see a human suffer like that.
Hebrews 12: 4 says, "In your struggle against sin, you have not resisted
to the point of shedding blood." This thing...whatever it is in your
life, will not kill you. It won't make you sweat blood. It won't be
easy, but you will never suffer the way Christ suffered for you...Amen?
When
Jesus looked up and saw an angel from Heaven appear to Him, wonder if
He thought His deliverance had come. Maybe it was time for them to fly
back to heaven and forget the whole thing. Did His Father change His
mind? But our text tells us that the angel "strengthened Him." We may
not get delivered from our problems. We may not be able to escape what
God is telling us to do. We may never see God go back and tell us that
we don't have to obey. But in the midst of it all, He will give us the
strength that we need to endure. I imagine that the angel came to Jesus
with a message. And I imagine that it was the same message that God gave
the apostle Paul some time later, when he prayed three times for
something to be removed from his life. God said No! But He said, "My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
(2 Corinthians 12: 7-10) Do you think that maybe He said the same thing
to Christ that night? Is He speaking that to you today?
Because
of this cataclysmic decision of Christ's to say "Nevertheless", the
purposes of God Almighty were fulfilled. If He hadn't submitted and
obeyed we would be on our way straight to Hell this very day. Obedience
brings about the purposes of God. Jesus became the source of our eternal
salvation when He submitted. Look at Hebrews 5: 7-10: "During the days
of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud
cries and tears to one who could save Him from death (sound familiar?),
and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a
son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect,
He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was
designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." It's
okay to offer up prayer and petitions with loud cries and tears to God
who can save us, but in the end, when the rubber hits the road, it's
reverent submission and obedience that gets the purposes of God
fulfilled in our lives.
Nothing, I repeat, nothing
that you are holding on to is worth it. What you will gain through
obedience and submission will be so much greater. Don't let fear of the
pain of submission hold you back. When God's purposes come to pass there
is nothing sweeter. Don't forfeit your God-ordained destiny holding on
to lesser things.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr explained
his situation after receiving a phone call threatening him with murder:
"My strength was gone. I sat at the kitchen table searching for a way of
how to disappear without being considered a coward. In this state of
utmost exhaustion and complete discouragement I laid down my need before
God. With my head in my hands I prayed aloud, "Lord, I believe that I
am fighting for a righteous cause. But now I am afraid. I cannot go any
further. I have come to the point where I cannot make it on my own."
Almost immediately all my fears were gone. My insecurity disappeared! I
was ready to face everything. Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered.
Nobody entered." We know what Martin Luther King Jr. went on to do. He
prayed and submitted and said that not even fear for his very life,
would make him set aside his obedience to the purposes of God for his
life. We think that great men and women, who do great things, do not go
through anything. Usually the very opposite is true. Every time we are
about to walk into God's plan and destiny for our lives, there will be
battles to fight and there will be Gethsemane nights.
In
John 5: 30 Jesus said, "I seek not to please myself but Him who sent
me." In John 6: 38 He said, "I have come down from Heaven not to do my
will but to do the will of Him who sent me." And in our passage today,
Jesus said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done."
That
same kind of strength that made Martin Luther King Jr. go on...that
same kind of strength that made Jesus go on, is available for you today
for whatever it is you're going through. Pray, submit, receive His
strength, grace, and the power that He will give you to endure. The
purposes of God will come to pass in your life. God's good plan for you
will come to pass.
Christ's Gethsemane night allowed
Him to do this: "I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to
those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and
spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be
put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges
against me? Let us face each other! (I can imagine Jesus hitting His
chest) Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! ("Wanna go"?) It is the
Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will
all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up." (Isaiah 50:
6-9) What boldness! What strength! What power!
All of
that was imparted to Jesus, in that garden, that night. He didn't want
to. But He did it anyway, and the big picture is that He did it to
please His Father in Heaven, and He did it for you and for me. Our
salvation, our forgiveness, our righteousness in Him, our abundant life,
our eternity, was settled right there when Christ said, "Nevertheless".
What
about you? Don't forfeit your destiny. Set your face like flint. In
your Gethsemane...will you say, "I wouldn't do it for anybody else but
you...nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done?"
