Matthew 26:36-46

Matthew 26:36–46 NKJV

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” 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.” Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 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. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

The Burden Of Christ In The Garden

Open: The Gospel writers spent thirty-two percent of their writings dealing with the final week of Jesus’ life. While they have only nine events of that final week in common, five of them take place during His last twenty-four hours. Clearly the final twenty-four hours of Jesus’ life have great significance

In the previous passage to the one we’ll look at this morning, we see the betrayer of Christ and his plot to have Jesus captured. That capture took place in the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives which is where we get our text for today.

Here we see Matthew’s account of what happened in the garden, between 7:00 PM and midnight.

The way this passage portrays Jesus isn’t the way we normally see Him pictured! Traditional pictures of Jesus include Him knocking at the door, walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

I read a story about one man’s account of the teacher of his junior boys Sunday school class who told them that no one knew for sure what Jesus looked like. The pictures, he said, that they were looking at were just artist’s representations. One bright boy, in the class piped up and said, “Yeah, but you’ve got to admit, it sure does look like Him.”

There is a traditional picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He’s kneeling by a rock, halo around His head, moon beam in His face. That sure doesn’t look like the picture Matthew, Mark, Luke and John paint of that Garden scene. He was sorrowful and distressed (v. 37). His face was in the dirt (v. 39). Luke records He sweat blood (Luke 22:44). There’s no record of halo or moon beam. Jesus tells Peter, James and John, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (v. 38).

The picture the Scriptures paint of that night in the garden is one of a man with a deep, deep burden. This morning I want us to look at The Burden of Christ in The Garden.

A. The Place Of The Burden (36a)

1. A Special Place—there is no doubt that Jesus prayed here many times for even His betrayer knew of it and assumed that Jesus would be there that night. There is something to be said for a special place to pray. (Hospital chapels/alters)

2. A Significant Place—Gethsemane means oil press. It is where the ripe olives were pressed and crushed to extract the oils used for many purposes, one of which was healing. Jesus here would be pressed by this burden unto death and thus the shedding of His blood would bring about the salvation of man. Gethsemane was a garden, so was Eden. In Eden Adam disobeyed God and choose to do what he wanted and it condemned all mankind. In Gethsemane, the second Adam, Jesus would not disobey the Father and sacrificed His will for that the Father’s will and from it came the ability to save all mankind. One last point of significances, it is this garden picture that gave rise to the Christian custom of kneeling in prayer.

B. The Privacy Of For the Burden (36,38-39)

1. He Could Be Focused In His Prayer—no distractions—there are times when we have burdens for which we need to get alone with God with no distractions.

2. He Could Be Fervent In His Prayer—Expressing His deepest emotions without worry of what others may say or thing. When we separate ourselves we tend to be less private.

C. The Petition Of The Burden

1. The Petition To The Father (39, 42, 44) There was only One for which He leaned on. Only One for which He must answer. Only One who had given Him this burden to bare. Only one that He must be obedient to.

2. The Petition To His Friends (41) One praying is enough but 1 million is not too many. Jesus here asked them to pray with Him, for Him, and for themselves.

D. The Pain Of The Burden (38)

1. The Sin—He who knew no sin was made sin for us.

2. The Separation—God’s ultimate wrath is being separated from Him.

E. The Priority In The Burden (39,42,44)

1. Sacrifice Of Self—He came to do the Father’s will. In order to do the Father’s will even in our lives means we must sacrifice our will our wants.

2. Surrender To The Father’s Will (46a) It is never a sacrifice until we surrender and we only surrender when we follow through. Here we see Jesus saying what is the modern day equivalence to “Let’s Do This”.

F. The Reality Of The Burden (42)

1. There was and is no other way—No man comes unto the Father but by Jesus Christ. There is no other name under Heaven where by a man must be saved. Jesus is the only way of salvation!

2. That burden was for you and I…read closing illustration.

Close: In his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire Pastor Jim Cymbala tells about a night that seemed like his worst. “When his daughter was [sixteen] she had fallen in with the wrong crowd. She started acting out in terrible ways. They tried everything: begged, pleaded, scolded, argued. Nothing worked. She grew more and more hard. He says:

‘How I kept functioning through that time … I don’t know. Many Sunday mornings, I would put on my suit, drive to church and cry and cry all the way there.’ Eventually his daughter—Chrissy—left home. They didn’t know where she was. They didn’t know what to do. They were praying. They were interceding. But his daughter was gone. For a couple of months his daughter was gone. She left in the late fall—she wasn’t there at Christmas. She was gone. ……………………………

“In one of their mid-week services, (they have a Tuesday mid-week service): a young woman sent him a note right in the middle of the service. It said: ‘Pastor Cymbala I feel impressed that we should stop the meeting and all pray for your daughter.’ He kind of hesitated. Did he have the right to change the flow of the service for a personal need? Is this something he should do? Something in the note rang true.

“So he picked up the microphone and this is what he said: ‘The truth of the matter is that although I haven’t talked about it much, my daughter is very far from God these days. She thinks up is down and down is up; dark is light and light is dark. But I know that God can break through to her, and so I am going to ask one of the pastors to lead us in praying for Chrissy .’

“One of the associate pastors began to pray for his daughter. Listen to how Rev. Cymbala describes the next couple of minutes. He wrote: ‘I can only employ a metaphor: The church turned into a labor room. The sounds of women giving birth are not pleasant but the results are wonderful … There arose a groaning, a sense of desperate determination, as if to say, “Satan, you will not have this girl. Take your hands off her—she’s coming back!”’ He said he was overwhelmed. The force of all those people calling on God almost knocked him over. It was a wonderful time of prayer. He went home that night—his wife had been sick and was not at the meeting—but when he got home he looked at Carol his wife and said: ‘It’s over.’ She said: ‘What’s over?’ He said: ‘It’s over with Chrissy. You would have had to be in the prayer meeting tonight. I tell you, if there is a God in heaven this whole nightmare is finally over.’

“Thirty-two hours later, as Jim Cymbala was shaving on Thursday morning, his wife burst through the door and said, ‘You gotta go downstairs. Chrissy is here.’

“He went to the kitchen where he saw his daughter whom he hadn’t seen in months. She was on the floor, sobbing saying, ‘Dad I’ve sinned against God. I’ve sinned against myself. I’ve sinned against you and mom. Please forgive me.’

“And then she said this: ‘Who was praying on Tuesday night?’ He didn’t answer, so she continued. ‘In the middle of the night, God woke me and showed me I was heading toward this abyss. There was no bottom to it—it scared me to death. I was so frightened. I realized how hard I’ve been, how wrong, how rebellious.’

“‘But at the same time, it was like God wrapped His arms around me and held me tight. He kept me from sliding any farther and he said “I still love you.” Daddy I know somebody was praying for me. Who was praying on Tuesday night?’”

Someone else was praying for her long before that Tuesday night. Almost 2000 years ago there was the Son of God, The Son of Man, in a Garden called Gethsemane who was praying for her. The answer came to Him as He prayed, is there any other way. The Father responded there is no other way for Crissy to be saved, so Jesus said then I’ll go.

Is there any other way for Bill, no then Jesus said, I’ll bare this burden. Is there any other way for Brandon, Amanda, Kenneth, Annett, Retia, Dillon…no there is no other way, thin I will die for them.

The reality is that on that night, in his deeply distressed soul, a soul that was exceedingly sorrowful even to death had you on His mind! His burden that night was for you! It was what the Father wanted! The Father wanted you saved! You want to know who has prayed for you, It was Jesus!