Daily Scripture: Matthew 26:36 Then Yeshua went with his talmidim to a place called Gat-Sh’manim and said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Kefa and Zavdai’s two sons. Grief and anguish came over him, 38 and he said to them, “My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die! Remain here and stay awake with me.” 39 Going on a little farther, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet — not what I want, but what you want!”
45 Then he came to the talmidim and said, “For now, go on sleeping, take your rest. . . . Look! The time has come for the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up! Let’s go! Here comes my betrayer!”
47 While Yeshua was still speaking, Y’hudah (one of the Twelve!) came, and with him a large crowd carrying swords and clubs, from the head cohanim and elders of the people.
Reflection Questions:This story (told in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels) said Jesus prayed, intensely, for a result that did not happen. He was fully willing to accept God’s choice to NOT intervene, but he asked for a different result. In Why? Pastor Hamilton wrote about a web site that listed several “common reasons” why prayers go unanswered. Among those reasons were, “You are not seeking to please the Lord, you have unconfessed sin in your life, you pray with improper motives, or you lack faith.” He said, “I find this list obscene.” As applied to hurting people, it was obscene. As applied to Jesus' unanswered prayer, it was also ridiculous.
- Luke recorded that Jesus also encouraged his disciples to “Pray that you won’t give in to temptation” (Luke 22:40). What temptations did the disciples face (and, mostly, fail to resist) in the hours ahead? In what ways has prayer strengthened you for the temptations and other spiritual struggles you face?
- Pastor Hamilton often says that, when someone is ill, he always prays boldly for God to grant full physical healing. He always asks, even knowing that, by definition, miracles are rare. Jesus plainly asked God for what he wished for. Does fear of disappointment keep you from asking God for what you most want? Practice this week: pray a prayer about a concern (big or small) that’s on your heart. Model it after Jesus' prayer
Lord Jesus, I want my life to bear the kind of good fruit you desire, and that you are willing to grow in me. Keep me responsive to your guiding voice in my heart. Amen.
Insights from Glen Shoup
Rev. Glen Shoup is the Executive Pastor of Worship and a Congregational Care pastor.
…”I’m very sad, it’s as if I’m dying”…(vs 38). These words spoken by Jesus to his closest friends mere hours before he would be arrested and ushered into the events of Good Friday are raw and freighted with grief. As you reflected on today’s scripture reading, I don’t know if these words jumped off the page at you…but if they didn’t…there will almost certainly come a time in your life when they will.
It could be when your routine checkup is anything but. It could be in the blink of an eye when the unexpected intrudes with the suddenness and surprise that are its calling card. It could be when the one relationship you thought was reliable proves otherwise. I don’t know if, how or when your “Gethsemane” will come, but based on 15 years of pastoral ministry, I can tell you that almost none of us will walk through life without—at some point—having Jesus’ Gethsemane words resonate deeply with where we are…“I’m very sad, it’s as if I’m dying”…
So for just a moment, I want to—taking the lead of Jesus—reflect with those of you reading this who are there (and those of you who are not, perhaps this gets filed away for you until a time when it is pertinent):
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…”I’m very sad, it’s as if I’m dying”…(vs 38). These words spoken by Jesus to his closest friends mere hours before he would be arrested and ushered into the events of Good Friday are raw and freighted with grief. As you reflected on today’s scripture reading, I don’t know if these words jumped off the page at you…but if they didn’t…there will almost certainly come a time in your life when they will.
It could be when your routine checkup is anything but. It could be in the blink of an eye when the unexpected intrudes with the suddenness and surprise that are its calling card. It could be when the one relationship you thought was reliable proves otherwise. I don’t know if, how or when your “Gethsemane” will come, but based on 15 years of pastoral ministry, I can tell you that almost none of us will walk through life without—at some point—having Jesus’ Gethsemane words resonate deeply with where we are…“I’m very sad, it’s as if I’m dying”…
So for just a moment, I want to—taking the lead of Jesus—reflect with those of you reading this who are there (and those of you who are not, perhaps this gets filed away for you until a time when it is pertinent):
- Follow Jesus’ lead and name it. Sometimes for the sake of trying to get around what we’re dealing with or in an attempt to hopefully bypass some of the pain, we sugarcoat it or in the name of being positive refuse to speak it or in denial seek to avoid calling it what it is. Don’t. When the truth is that you’re so sad that you feel as if you are (or a part of you is) dying—say so. Say so to those closest to you, say so to your pastor, above all, say so to God. There’s no moving forward in strength, wholeness and authenticity without naming the truth…at least to yourself, those closest to you and certainly to God. Jesus knew this and Jesus modeled this.
- Follow Jesus’ lead and pray…but I don’t just mean that as some generic pastoral admonition to pray…I mean pray like Jesus prayed. Pour your heart out to God. Tell God how you feel. Tell God what you want. Tell God what you hope for. Ask God to deliver you. Nothing less than this would be honest and God wants nothing if not authenticity and honesty from us—no matter what that honesty looks like. Nobody—including Jesus—wants to be in “Gethsemane”, nobody—including Jesus—wants to go through “Gethsemane”, everybody—including Jesus—wants to be delivered from “Gethsemane” so to say or act otherwise just isn’t true or authentic and God wants us to pour upon him…especially in these times…our truth and authenticity. Jesus knew this and Jesus modeled this.
- Follow Jesus’ lead and know that no matter what—God will accomplish His will. As you’ve heard Pastor Adam say in recent sermons (quoting Dr. King) God will wring good from evil. And Dr. King employed this phrase on the premise of what the Apostle Paul told us is true about God in Romans 8:28 which is in everything God is working for our good. This—I believe—is God’s will above all else and this is what Jesus knew and was getting at when he prayed (after asking for deliverance)…“However not what I want, but what you want”.You see, while I know some in the Christian family see it differently, I don’t believe Jesus’ being arrested, beaten and crucified was God’s will. Rather, this is what the human condition and the human response chose when God came to us in Christ. Jesus didn’t come to us on our terms, rather Jesus came telling us our terms were self-addicted and needed to be forgiven and transformed and we weren’t interested so we killed him. However, God’s will to redeem us would not be derailed by human brokenness. Rather, God worked (even in our broken response to Him on Good Friday) for our good and He wrung good out of evil by walking out of the tomb on Easter—so when Jesus kneels in Gethsemane and prays “however, not what I want, but what you want”—Jesus isn’t affirming that God’s will is for him to die, Jesus is affirming that even if he is not delivered from the choices of the human condition, he knows God will nevertheless work good out it. And my friend, you’re reading this today because God is intent on you knowing that He is still in the business of bringing good out of brokenness—so you can join Jesus in praying “however, not what I want, but what you want” knowing that you are surrendering your brokenness and pain to the One who is relentless in bringing good out of evil, healing out of pain and life out of death. Jesus knew this and Jesus modeled this…which is why you can follow Jesus…especially when his words in verse 38 of today’s reading are your words.
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