The Darkest Night

Introduction

A Hopeless Start to a Dark Night

The Passover meal was concluded with the singing of a hymn, which would have been a collection of the “Hallel” hymns found at the end of the book of the book of Psalms (the last 5 Psalms). After this, Jesus leads his disciples out of the city of Jerusalem and across he Kidron valley on the east side of the city to the Mount of Olives, where they had often gone for privacy in their short time in Jerusalem. At some point during this process, Jesus gives this revelation to his disciples that they will all fall away from him. That is, all of them will fail in their confession of Christ as their Lord and, in fear, will flee for their lives. The faithfulness which they have shown up to this point, their willing association with Jesus, and their confession of Jesus as Lord; all of these things will fail. With their actions and, as we will see is the case with Peter, even their words, they will deny Jesus is Lord and will fall away from their discipleship. On top of this, Matthew goes further than Mark and adds “this night” which is far more discouraging. It is one thing to hear that, over the course of time their disposition towards Jesus might change and they may lose some of their confidence in him, but to hear that all their confidence and steadfastness will melt away before the night is even over is far more distressing.

Jesus then quotes Zechariah 13, which is significant for a number of reasons, in fact it is worth turning you bibles to that passage now. This passage begins after a section of Zechariah 12 where we get the famous passage “they will look on me (that s God), on him whom they have pierced” which is included both in John’s crucifixion story and in the book of Revelation. This, however, is a hopeful part of Zechariah, which is one of the more cryptic and difficult to understand books in the OT. Still, this is speaking of God’s redemption of Israel; a redemption that comes as God pours out a “spirit of grace and pleas for mercy” on the dynasty of King David and on Jerusalem so that they will mourn in repentance. Then, Zech 13:1 says,

Zechariah 13:1 ESV

“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

After this, Zechariah moves on to a sudden poetic expression in Zech 13:7-9

Zechariah 13:7–9 ESV

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

There are a few things to note about this passage that make it significant to the context of what we are reading in Matthew’s Gospel, something significant enough that some version of this quote is preserved in all four gospels,

First, again we note that this is in the context of God’s redemption of his people in Jerusalem, not his punishment of them. It also is in the context of the restoration of the Davidic Dynasty. So in this OT passage talking about the Christ, the Son of David, and God restoring and saving his people, the cross is glimpsed here as it is clear the “striking of the shepherd” is part of that plan.

Second, notice who it is that strikes the shepherd in Zech 13:7. God himself calls the sword to action against “my shepherd” and “the man who stands next to me.” This emphasizes a very important truth in the crucifixion story: Jesus is not a helpless victim of wicked men. Instead, Jesus is the willing giver of his life according to the Father’s plan.

The language of “shepherd” often referred both to God and to the Davidic King, the Christ that was to come from David’s dynasty. This is very clear in Ezekiel 34, where God seeks out his sheep as a shepherd seeks out his flock. Ezek 34:15

Ezekiel 34:15 ESV

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

but then, only 8 verses later, he says in Ezekiel 34:23-24

Ezekiel 34:23–24 ESV

And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.

So it is well established that the shepherd of God’s people is both YHWH, the Lord God himself, and the one representing the dynasty of King David, according to the promise God made to David in 2 Sam 7. More broadly, shepherding language was often used in the ancient near eastern world to refer to the guiding role a king had over his people, the sheep. Here, God makes it clear that this shepherd, the “fountain opened for the house of David” in verse 1, is struck down by the hand of God himself.

Next, we see that the striking of the shepherd is a tribulation for the sheep. However, unlike previous time when God has brought tribulation on his people, this time it is not a punishment for sins, but instead a means by which God is going to preserve those who are truly his. Zech 13:8 says that the result will be the cutting off of two thirds of the people, but that the one third would be left. The significance here is not the exact fraction of 2/3 and 1/3, instead the last third is symbolic of the remnant left finally after the rest are cut off. This third, verse 9 says, are tested through fire and the tribulations they endure because of their struck shepherd are no punishment, but a purifying phase to test them. The test is complete when they “call upon my name’ and say “YHWH is my God.” just as Thomas did in John 20:28

John 20:28 ESV

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

so through the striking of the shepherd, through the scattering of the sheep, God would test the faithful and bring them the assurance of his blessings and grace.

Now, returning to our text this morning in Matthew 26, Jesus ends this quotation with the hope that when the disciples inevitably make their way back to their homes in Galilee, Jesus will meet them there. Despite the foretelling of their falling away from faith, Jesus’ promise to them is sure. He will not abandon them, though they for a short time will abandon him. He will meet with them as the resurrected Lord and will go to where they are. He will not sit back waiting for them to come grovelling at his feet for forgiveness, he will go find them and meet them and greet them by saying “peace be with you!” Despite the horrible sin which each and every one of the disciples is about to commit, Christ’s love for them in undiminished.

The disciples all forcefully oppose the idea that they will so quickly abandon Jesus, especially Peter who is often a spokesperson for all the disciples. This statement is offensive, it assumes disloyalty and even distrust. For Peter, maybe the others could fall away, but certainly not he. He is Peter. He was the first of the disciples to whom God revealed that Jesus was the Christ. He was the one who walked on water. His very name communicated the foundation of the Gospel on which Christ would build his Kingdom. “Though the all fall away,” Peter says, “I will never fall away.”

Jesus reply becomes even more specific and severe. Peter will not only fall away, but he will verbally deny any association with Christ three times before 3 AM, which is when one could expect to hear the rooster that Jesus is referring to. There is nothing hidden to cryptic about this, in only a few short hours all this will have happened. Now Peter, who has a history of arguing with Jesus, ups the anti. Even if he must die alongside Jesus, surely he will never deny him.

Now even as he is saying this, we have to remember that Peter’s idea of what Messianic victory looks like is different from reality. When Peter thinks of dying with Jesus, he is likely thinking about some glorious martyrdom similar to what we read about in the Apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees, which Peter would have been familiar with. By this time, he might begin to understand that something violent is going to go down. A force is going to come up against the Christ and some may die in the skirmish, valiantly fighting side by side with the Lord of glory. If he does die, it will be a glorious death which will soon be reversed as the Messiah resurrects his people. What will happen instead of some glorious battle is a secret arrest, a kangaroo court, a politically pressured Roman governor, and the most humiliating and painful death one can imagine. This death will not look glorious, it will be humiliating and in the eyes of the world it would seem to prove the opposite of what Peter is supposedly willing to die for: that Jesus is the Christ. The glory of the cross is in its offense, the sight of a bleeding, dying king at the hands of his enemies does not naturally scream “victory” to us, and this is exactly what it would mean to die with Jesus.

This conversation ends and we are taken into the next scene: the climactic moment of the evening before the events leading to Jesus’ death begin to unfold.

The Depths of Darkness

They make their way to a place on the Mount of Olives called Gethsemane, which literally means “the place where olives are crushed.” There were probably olive presses here to make olive oil, and this name is very fitting for the intense emotional and spiritual experience that Jesus will have prior to his crucifixion.

Jesus does not let all of his disciples in on this very private experience, but only the three whom he took on the Mount of Transfiguration: Peter, James, and John. These he takes into Gethsemane and it is only now that Jesus lets out his feeling of great sorrow, such anguish that he feels he could die from it.

Here we find an example of the balanced control of emotion that Jesus, as the perfect God-man, had. We certainly do not see the Son of God out of control of his emotions, he was able to hold them and compose himself while among the twelve. However, Jesus is willing to allow those closest to him to see the great anguish he is in. Jesus does no let his struggle become a stumbling block for his disciples at large, but he is willing to let those closest to him in on it.

At this point, it should be obvious to the three that something is very wrong. Luke tells us that the disciples would later be “sleeping for sorrow” which is not clear, but may mean that they had essentially cried themselves to sleep. This gives us the idea that the disciples did not sleep because they did not care, but because they were exhausted emotionally and had given in to sleep. However, now is not the time for sleep. Now is the time for wakefulness, action, and preparation. Above all, it is a time for prayer. Among these is the man, Peter, who had sworn he would die before he would deny Jesus. He knows something is wrong. He can see that Jesus is acting unlike he had ever seen him act before.

Jesus tells them to watch with Jesus. This hearkens back to Jesus’ words in Matt 24:42

Matthew 24:42 NIVUK

‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

This is not a watchfulness primarily for the soldiers that are to be led by Judas the Betrayer in a couple of hours, but as we see in verse 41 it is a watchfulness against the temptation that this hour of danger and spiritual warfare creates.

“The spirit is willing...the flesh is weak” the spirit here does not refer to the Holy Spirit, but to the spiritual and rational part of the person. Here, Jesus is saying that their watchfulness and prayers are necessary to avoid temptation because, as willing as they are in their minds and thoughts to be faithful, when the actual moment comes along their ability to carry out their desire will be overcome by the primal fear and panic that will arise in the moment.

When it comes to any temptation to sin, there are two aspects of ourselves that need to be straightened out. First is our spirit, our rational mind and soul, and there is our flesh, the weaknesses and limitations that are inherent in living in fallen and imperfect bodies. Jesus has no doubt that in their minds, the disciples want nothing more than to be able to make it to the end and even die with him. However, their flesh has something else to say. Extreme emotions like fear and the innate desire to preserve one’s life drive overcome this good desire. The natural man is more driven by the flesh than he is by the spirit, and that is assuming his spirit is set on the truth. Paul expresses this paradox in human nature in Rom 7:15

Romans 7:15 ESV

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

This is surely how Peter must have felt after the rooster crowed later that night. Though exhausted by fear and sorrow, the disciples must harness their flesh, seize control of it, and come before the Father for help in the battle ahead. Sleep is of no use here, because no rest can ready them for the extremity of temptation about to face them. Temptation is always the most severe in two cases: times of great pleasure and times of great peril. In Proverbs 30:8-9 we read this prayer, “give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

In times of plenty, we are tempted to abandon God. In times of need, we are tempted to act on the impulses of our body: fear, hunger, or even a desire for love. These, however, are not excuses that clear us or responsibility. They may be for an animal, but unlike them we have a spirit which tells us what is right, at least in some measure, but our actions are often dominated by these instincts of the body. This is why willpower is almost never enough to improve our behaviour. Such is the case with the disciples. They are quite confident in their resolve to die with Christ. They do not lack willpower, but they lack control of their flesh so that when the time comes they will not follow the truth but will default to their natural instinct for survival.

No one can master their flesh in the way necessary to follow Christ apart from the grace of God. This is why Jesus spends so much time praying and why he insists on his disciples staying awake and in prayer. If they are going to be able to face the great temptation to fall away that is coming so soon, they will need grace. Christ himself, fully bound to his human nature, seeks this grace from the Father himself. He, the sinless Son of God, felt the need for the Father’s presence and the Spirit’s help through prayer. He had his own temptations to wrestle with. Unlike the disciples, he was able to stand up to them. But if the fight against the those temptations was so vicious and fierce for Jesus, the situation for the disciples looks grim. Its not that it was impossible for the disciples to make it through this temptation, its that they lacked the watchfulness they had been warned about and had not sought the Lord in prayer. Being both unaware and unprepared, they were quickly overcome.

Christ’s prayer shows us Jesus in a very intimate, painful, and weak moment in his earthly life. Jesus was emotionally overwhelmed to the point where e felt like he was going to die simply from the stress. On top of this, it also shows just how limited Jesus was made to be in his human state. Although he must have known that the prophesies he had made about his death had tto come true, here we have Jesus, God in human flesh, the one who made the universe and upholds it by how own words, that person is asking his Father, “isn’t there another way?”

Think about how significant this is. To buy your soul, to earn your forgiveness, to redeem you from your sin, God not only became a man, not only died for your sins, but put himself in such a situation that he was pleading with the Father to find another way.

Conclusion