Thy Will Be Done on Earth As It Is in Heaven
Thy Will Be Done on Earth As It Is in Heaven
Matthew 6:10; Mark 14:32-42
March 10, 1999
Our Lord’s prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane are a most puzzling event in the account of his suffering and death. (Mk 14:32-42).
32They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." 35Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36Father, " he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." 37Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." 39Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. 41Returning the third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
Not only is this episode puzzling, it leads to the most difficult petition in the Lord’s Prayer to comprehend, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” A world of difference exists between this prayer and the Savior’s high priestly prayer spoken just before going to Gethsemane. In this prayer, Jesus asks the Father to give him the glory he had before the world began. Then he prays for his disciples, that they be protected from the Evil One. And, he asks the Father that all believers see his glory that was his from before creation (John 17:5, 15, 24).
What a prelude to Gethsemane. Jesus prays that the cup of suffering be taken from him. But he adds, “Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). What a cross to bear. What a cup to have to drink. And none of it due to his guilt.
We, Too, Carry a Cross. Comprehending the intensity of Jesus’ agony is hard to imagine, we can relate to it. At times we also dread what’s coming—unpaid bills, a loved one’s death, illness, disability, operations, loss of employment, long-standing family problems—to name just a few. These we typically view as crosses. But, from a biblical perspective, the crosses Jesus talks about are those we carry because we are disciples. Our Lord said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
A secretary who rejects the advances of her boss; a salesman who will not tell lies or half-truths, carries a cross. Another cross may be some impediment which we believe makes us less effective in our work for the Lord. Paul asked the Lord three times to take away a “thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” The Lord’s answer, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (1 Corinthians 12:7-9). But, even these crosses are light when compared to the cross upon which our Lord suffered and died. He endured the full brunt of God’s wrath for the sins of every human being. Thank God Scripture says, “By his stripes you are healed.” How could we ever hope to endure such judgment?
God’s Will Is Done. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled: “I have trodden the winepress alone” (63:3). We cannot fathom what Jesus endured; how the sweat from his agony mingled with drops of blood (Lk 22:44). Medically, I’m told, it is possible for small blood vessels to break permitting blood to mix with sweat. Even so, I find it hard to imagine what kind of burden could cause it. Yet, we are told in Scripture that Jesus’ bloody sweat was so copious it formed drops that fell to the ground. What a lonely, terrible struggle he had to endure. It was a cross that only one person could endure. God’s will is done.
Who Can Understand? It is not possible to comprehend God. As someone observed, “If I could understand God, I would be God!” Even the apostle Paul says, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom of God. How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34). Toward the end of his miseries Job admits, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3)
Even so, by the grace of God and with the guidance of the holy Spirit as we hold firmly to God’s Word, we can and do know certain things about God. We know, for example, that God wants all sinners saved. Jesus said, “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life” (John 6:40).
It is also God’s revealed will that believers lead godly lives. The Holy Spirit inspires these words, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). But there are certain spiritual truths that God keeps hidden; things the Bible does not answer. Thus St. Paul says, “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11).
God’s also reveals his will as irresistible and resistible. No one has a choice about being present on judgment day: “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat” (Romans 14:10). Jesus also stresses God’s irresistible will in the parable of the wheat and weeds (Mat 13:24-30, 36-43), the good and bad fish (Matthew 13:47-50), and the sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46). But, regarding salvation he shows that his will can be resisted. Although God wants all persons “To be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), and, “He is patient …, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), many will reject the Word and “resist the Holy Spirit” just as Stephen said the Jewish leaders did (Acts 7:51).
The Devil, the World, and Our Sinful Selves. In the Small Catechism, Luther identifies three sources that oppose God’s good and gracious will: the devil, the world, and our sinful nature. We see them at work in the account of Jesus’ Passion. It begins by noting that the devil “entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus” (Luke 22:3-4).
It continues with Simon Peter’s vehement worldly denial of Jesus, swearing “I don’t know the man” (Matthew 26:72, 74); with Pontius Pilate’s contempt for truth; with the mob of public opinion shouting, “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:22); and with those who insulted and mocked Jesus, saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!” (Mat 27:40).
Humanity’s “sinful nature,” in opposition to God’s will, surfaces when the Twelve abandon Jesus in Gethsemane shortly after Jesus admonishes Peter: “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41). At all this we might exclaim, “Is there no help?”
Of course there is! Consider the will of God toward us as demonstrated in Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion. Isa 53:10 “Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.” Consider also these words of Jesus, Joh 6:38-39 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. “This is my Father’s will, that I loose none of those he gave me. But that I raise them up on the last day.” This is the point. In his suffering and death, Jesus names us heirs to an eternal future in a home where the will of God is always done without opposition or objection. Thus, we pray, Thy Will Be Done on Earth As It Is in Heaven. Amen.