Gethsemane
Pastor Casey McCormick, Mt. Pulaski
Christian Church
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[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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
[Text from file received from
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