Gethsemane
Pastor Casey McCormick, Mt. Pulaski Christian Church

[March 27, 2024]  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.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

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.”

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

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.”

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

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. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Matthew 26:36-46

Jesus had never appeared to be afraid to die. This scene feels out of place. He came all this way to do this, and now he asks for a way out. He goes back and forth between God and his friends, asking them to pray, asking God for another way.

Jesus, who spoke the world into existence, calmed the storms, walked on water, cast out demons, healed people, even brought the dead back to life, was so scared about what was about to happen that it nearly killed him!

First, let me tell you what I think it was not. Jesus was not scared to die. He was not afraid of the physical pain he was about to endure.

Instead, Jesus recognized that he was about to feel all the power and grossness of all of the world’s sin, past, present, and future. It will all flow through Jesus on the Cross. We know how terrible one sin can feel. He will take them ALL. It was NOT the weight of the Cross, but the weight of our Sin!

Jonathan Edwards asked the question, “Why would God open up for Jesus the horrors of the cross like this here in Gethsemane?” It almost seems cruel; and, in one sense, a little risky: What if seeing these things made Jesus want to back out? Why not wait until Jesus was secured to the cross to show him all this?

Edwards’ answer: It was so we could see the extent of the price he was willing to pay to redeem us.

Jesus “joyfully” (Hebrews 12:2) went through with something so terrible, knowing it was still worth it for two reasons. His obedience to God the Father, and his love for YOU and ME. Jesus is our example. Jesus is our hope. Jesus is all we need.

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