Saturday, March 3, 2018



Matthew 26:36-56  (NKJV)

The Prayer in the Garden

36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”

Gethsemane means olive press. It is at the foot of the Mount of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem. Jesus and the Disciples had probably been here together many times.. After sharing the Lord’s Supper, they had left the Upper Room and skirting the city wall, they walked the Kedron Valley to this secluded place. Judas knew where to bring the crowd of thugs. Jesus asked the disciples to watch for their  approach.

37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Jesus, the Son of God, was lonely. He needed human support as He faced imminent death. During the last three years, Jesus seemed to spend more time with these three disciples. Some have called Peter, James and John His “inner circle.” He had introduced them to Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Jesus was in agony. His intense struggle was to submit His will to the will of God. Just as He was tempted in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry, the devil was here again.
Could Jesus have backed out?

Tertullian, an early Church theologian, told of a saying atttributed to Jesus (not in the Gospels) which was passed down: “No one who has not been tempted can enter the kingdom of Heaven.” Then each one of us has his own private Gethsemane. Every man must come to say, “Thy will be done.”

We must see the trust of Jesus.  Mark 14: 36 tells us that Jesus began His prayer “Abba Father.”  “Jesus spoke to His heavenly Father in as childlike, trustful and intimate way as a little child to his father.”  (Barclay)  We can follow Jesus and come boldly to the throne of God with our life struggles.

38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

This is why Jesus came to earth: To go all the way to the cross:  He knew that He was about to face not only excruciating physical pain but the utter rejection of His holy Father. He could have called it off. “He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free,” but He went all of the way.

40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?

They may have been drowsy after that big evening meal.

41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless[a] I drink it, Your will be done.”

Luke writes that an angel came to strengthen Him, and that His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

Betrayal and Arrest in Gethsemane

47 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.

48 Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.”

49 Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.

50 But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?”

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.

51 And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

Luke writes that before they left the Upper Room, Jesus had advised the disciples that their lives were about to change, and that along with other acruitenments, they should buy swords.
They found two swords in the room and carried themwith them.  John 18: 10 tells us that it was Peter who struck the servant of the high priest. Jesus Immediately restored his severed ear and ended the resistance.

52 But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish[b] by the sword.

53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”

55 In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.

56 But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.

We know that John, the beloved disciple, followed to support his Lord, and that Peter followed at a distance.

Mark 14 adds a detail:  51 Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, 52 and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

Why might Mark have included this information in his gospel?

Most importantly,  will I stand with Jesus this week?

The Sanhedrin was the supreme court of the Jews.  
Why did they meet in the middle of the night?   Finish soaking up Matthew Chapter 26

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