Yesterday was Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of Holy Week leading to Easter this coming Sunday. This is an important week in the Christian calendar. I'd invite you to carve out some extra time this week to pray, read Scripture and reflect on the atonement, the cross and the resurrection.
As we talked about in church yesterday, this week we are focusing on one of the most significant prayer events in Jesus' life—his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. This event occurs on what's known as Maundy Thursday. He and his disciples have just left the Passover meal, which we know as the Last Supper. Throughout the week we will look at some of the primary themes in this moment of Jesus' life and how they affected his prayer.
Matthew 26:36–46
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Today we are going to focus on the theme of Jesus' great sorrow. In this scene Jesus is far from the ideal Greek and Roman hero. They idealized a resignation to one's fate and stoic approach to suffering and death. Jesus here is far from that. He is more like David in his anguish (2 Sam. 12). Jesus' emotions are raw and as real as it gets. He tells his disciples that his soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death! Luke documents that his sweat was like drops of blood indicating the extreme distress he was facing. (Luke 22:44) The words translated "sorrow" and "troubled" imply a great deal of distress, grief, anxiety and sadness on the part of Jesus. As Isaiah 53:3 says, he was a man of sorrows.
Isaiah 53:3 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
The stress of this moment, leading up to the cross is overwhelming for Jesus. He is walking into a Roman crucifixion—the gruesome nature of which we can barely imagine. Romans would not speak of it and Jews viewed it as a curse. Yet, it was not only the physical pain that Jesus had to endure, but the spiritual burden of carrying the weight of humanity's sin as well.
Isaiah 53:3–6 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Even further, he faced what I believe to be the worst burden of them all, the loss of intimacy between he and the Father as the Father's wrath is poured out on Jesus on the cross. This we will talk about on Good Friday.
Jesus had an unfathomable burden weighing on his soul. We should note where Jesus turns when he is overcome with sorrow—he turns to prayer. He seeks out solitude with the Father. Conventional wisdom today tells us to distract ourselves with work or entertainment. We are told to numb the pain with drugs or alcohol. Jesus, however, doesn't avoid it or act like it doesn't exist or numb it with substances. He faces the sorrow head on and takes it to the Father in prayer. In Luke's account of this event, as we referenced earlier, he writes, "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly..." This is to be our first recourse when facing anguish—more earnest prayer.
What we also learn from this moment in Jesus' life is that it is ok to be sorrowful and troubled and distressed when the circumstances are appropriate. Jesus was sinless and perfect, yet the disciples noted his clear sorrow and troubled soul. Pious Christians often feel as if they have to hide their emotions because it shows a lack of faith. Again, Jesus doesn't deny his emotions to present a stoic demeanor to his disciples. Instead he wrestles with them and takes them to God in earnest prayer.
Additional Content
“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. 'The cross of Christ ... is God’s only self-justification in such a world” as ours....' The other gods were strong; but thou wast weak; they rode, but thou didst stumble to a throne; But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak, And not a god has wounds, but thou alone.” John Stott - The Cross of Christ
Reflection
When our soul is in anguish, we would do well to run to God in prayer. We will all walk through times of sorrow, anguish and distress. Some of us are walking through times like this right now. Remember, Jesus walked through them as well. He knows how you feel. He resonates with your pain. When we go to him in prayer we go to someone who knows.