Matthew 26: 36-46 – Gethsemane

Jesus was a very positive person throughout the Gospel. He might have felt indignant when He saw the Father God’s intention and will being abused by people who professed to love Him. But He was never in such anguish as He was now. It was an extremely stressful time for Him. He had been living in the shadow of the cross and that was already bad enough. But what was most unbearable for Him was the thought of that moment, when the weight and guilt of sin of the whole world would rest on Him, and He would have to bear the cup of the Father’s wrath. It was unbearable to think that for a moment, He would be totally separated from the Father, Whom He had deeply loved and was never a moment out of fellowship with. Jesus was aware that He had to go to the cross and had spoken often about it, but he was never this sorrowful as He was now, when it was drawing so near.   

The time in Gethsemane was both a solemn and needful time. In prayer, He wrestled with the Father concerning His impending moment of separation from Him. He took Peter, James and John with Him and told them to watch with Him in prayer. He needed their support so He relied on the three He was closest to. Sadly they were not equal to the task. Prayer was, and still is, the best way to receive strength and enablement. That’s why Jesus came to this place and told the three disciples to watch with Him in prayer. Only in prayer can we overcome any temptation.  

Here we could almost feel the melt down of Jesus, Who was always strong and positive. We could sense how deeply troubled He was, not just once but thrice. He begged the Father to let the cup of wrath pass, knowing that “no” would be God’s obvious answer. For there was no way to deal with the horrible sin of mankind that began with Adam’s disobedience. And He knew He had to submit to the Father as He had taught in the Lord’s Prayer – Let thy will be done! Little did the disciples know that the Lord would find Himself praying the same way and submitting to the Father’s will, when He taught them to pray in that way.

In Gethsemane, for the second time, Jesus knew He had to overcome the spiritual battle. The first was at His temptation in the wilderness and now, in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew He had to overcome if He was to stand and speak, and live and die for the Kingdom. But still this was a very sorrowful and troubled time. None of us will ever feel the anguish He felt. It was a cup from which everyone, even Jesus, would naturally recoil. So He prayed to the Father that, if it was possible, to let the cup be passed. For three times he prayed with similar words, not because He wanted to avoid the Father’s will for Him, but because He wanted to fulfill it. Here He had left us an example, that only in prayer can we be adequately prepared to discharge the Father’s will. It is in wrestling with God that Jesus was enabled to rouse His sleeping disciples, and lead them into the conflict with those who came for Him.

Gethsemane was the place where Christ demonstrated His strong resolve to fulfill the Father’s will. In our quest to do the same, we need to have the same resolve. We may also come to a place when we find the ground we stand on giving way. And like the Lord, we need to come to our own Gethsemane moment. The wonders of it all would be the realization that we are not alone, our Lord had been there before us. We will overcome!