Preaching/Teaching on Matthew 26:36-46

The Crossroad

Today we will be exploring what is possibly the greatest crossroads of any that we have covered thus far. Our passage this morning takes place right after the Last Supper. Jesus and his disciples have gone into a garden on the Mount of Olives and it is here that Jesus goes to pray.

Read .

Read .

Pray.

This morning I want to sit in this passage. For those of us here who have grown up in the Church and are familiar with the Easter story, passages like this one can become ‘white-noise’ compared to the events that come after this one. Yet, if we move on too quickly we can miss that something deeply spiritual is happening here. For nowhere else in the New Testament do you find a more vulnerable Jesus than in this precious moments in the garden.

This morning I want us to sit in this passage. For those of us who have grown up in the Church and are familiar with the Easter story, passages like this one can become ‘white-noise’ compared to the events that come after. Yet, if we move on too quickly we can miss that something deeply spiritual is happening here.

I think the greatest tension we see in this part of Christ's story is his personal struggle to do the will of the Father, rather than doing his own. We often engage with the sermons or Bible plans that speak of discerning God's will in ways that will bring us joy and fulfillment but often skirt around those times when God's will may call us to do something uncomfortable that we don't like doing. 

Story from my life:

Story from my life:

Story from my life: During my undergrad degree I had the opportunity to participate in an English course focussing on the various women who had shaped the western world’s literary history. In one such lecture we focussed on a woman by the name of Julian of Norwich. She was an English Anchoress and Mystic who wrote the earliest known book written by a woman containing many visions she had of Jesus and God. During the lecture we encountered her gruesome vision that she had of Jesus offering his body and blood as a living sacrifice and the professor teaching the course indicated to the class how these visions were nothing more than products of cannabilistic doctrines that were apart of the Christian and Crusader movement whereby many of the crusader knights would eat the brains and hearts of their enemies in order to gain more wisdom and courage. My professor then stated how the “mythic” tale of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples was the sole responsability of this movement. Most of the class sat there, with either a look of disgust or indifference, but I felt a strong prompting within my spirit to speak up against what was said. I had sat through many courses where the professor had in some shape or form slandered my faith publicly without ridicule but this one, for whatever reason, I could not stand for. However, the moment I put my hand up a moment of great anxiety rushed over me. I could feel my face turning red, my hands turn clammy, and the nagging concern that I would be painting a target on myself by stating how I felt. I started to feel my arm become heavy and I was about to let it drop until I felt convicted deep within myself that I needed to do this. So I kept it up and she allowd me to speak. I commenced in that moment to relay to her the significance of what the last supper stood for and its symbolic meaning for what Jesus was willing to go through on behald of the world. As expected my professor retaliated but I felt comforted to know that unbeknownst to me were two other Christian women who also raised their hands in objection to her comments.

I humbly admit that my story is not an uncommen one. As the world of North America becomes increasingly secularized, more types of these confrontations are taking place. And while I listened to what could have only been the Holy Spirit prompting me to speak up that day, there have been countless others where I had felt that same prompting but decided to remain quiet.

In verse 42 Jesus states the inner tension that all Christians feel when it comes to being obedient to God; he says to his disciples “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

- While most fall on their faces before Jesus, this is the only time Jesus is said to have prostrated himself.

Nowhere else in all of the Gospels do we find Jesus more vulnerable than in these precious moments seen here in the garden. While most fall on their faces before Jesus, this is the only time Jesus is said to have prostra

The words that Luke uses to describe Jesus are “λυπεω” and “αδημονεω” which translated means “to be grieved” and “to be in distress.”

Love is obedient.

The Choice

The implication of these words reveals to us that there are two things that are obvious when we faces unpleasant situations: The first is that sometimes God’s will for you and I may not lead us away from trials but into them. Second, we will always have a choice to choose from.

We see the very real cry of Jesus to his Father to remove "the cup" from him, but then responds "yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew states that Jesus repeats this three times but we notice through the wording in the second prayer that it comes across much more affirmed that he is willing to do God's will (vv. 42). We are literally seeing Jesus' living out the example of his model prayer that he had taught the disciples in his sermon on the mount.

There is a contrast between the obedient word and action of Jesus before his Father and Peter, James, and John who continue to fall asleep, clearly still not understanding what was to come. Tied with Jesus' warning to them in verse 41, we can see that there is a dichotomy between the "spirit" and "flesh. The "flesh" representing that which would deny the will of God (I.e. disciples sleeping) and the "spirit" that concedes to the will of the one who calls (I.e. Jesus prayer for God's will to be done through him). 

2. There is a contrast between the obedient word and action of Jesus before his Father and Peter, James, and John who continue to fall asleep, clearly still not understanding what was to come. Tied with Jesus' warning to them in verse 41, we can see that there is a dichotomy between the "spirit" and "flesh.

Perpetua and Felicitas: When Perpetua and her companions were arrested, her father tried to persuade her to save her life by abandoning her faith. She answered that, just as everything has a name and it is useless to try and give it a different name, she had the name of Christian, and this could not be changed. The judicial process was a long and drawn-out affair, apparently because the authorities hoped to persuade the accused to abandon their faith. Felicitas, who was pregnant when arrested, was afraid that her life would be spared for that reason, or that her martyrdom would be postponed and she would not be able to join her four companions. But… her prayers were answered, and that in her eighth month she gave birth to a girl who was then adopted by another Christian woman. Seeing her moan in childbirth, her jailers asked how she expected to be able to face the beasts in the arena. Her answer is typical of the manner in which martyrdom was interpreted: “Now my sufferings are only mine. But when I face the beasts there will be another who will live in me, and will suffer for me since I shall be suffering for him.” We are then told that Perpetua and Felicitas were placed in the arena to be attacked by a crazed cow. Having been hit and thrown by the animal, Perpetua asked to be able to retie her hair, for loose hair was a sign of mourning, and this was a joyful day for her. Finally, the two bleeding women stood in the middle of the arena , bid eachother farewell with the kiss of peace, and died by the sword (Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity).

The Crucifixion

The example of these two women could only have been done out of an acknowledgement that Jesus willingness to die for them out of love and obedience would also be an example of thow they were to respond in like measure.

And yet, the death that these women died were of no comparison to that of Jesus. You see, I argue that Jesus was not sorrowful or distressed over the beating, flogging, shaming, and crucifixion that was yet to come but over something much worse which can be found in just the next chapter.

“About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

Jesus willingly chose to deny himself access to his Father, so that you and me and all of humanity could now have access to him (repeat twice).

And he did this out of love for all people. Not just for the faithful that would receive him but also for those that never have heard of him; for those that acknowledge his name but still live to their own devices; for those that would openly reject him. Jesus died for all, so that all may have life.

I think the great Apologist Ravi Zacharias put it best when he said, “This is not a different kind of man. No, this is a different kind of God.” For no other god of any other religion would ever subject themselves to such humiliation and death for the sake of his subjects. Yet, Jesus was willing to do that for you.

Love is obedient.

The choice we have today is simple:

If you are someone who has known the name of Christ and perhaps walked with him for a period of time and yet now found yourself lost somewhere on the road of life, are you willing to return to him? I would like to invite you this day into the opportunity of submitting to him once again.

Maybe you are someone who has never fully ever given your life