Matthew 26:36-39, 41 (Phillips). Then Jesus came with the disciples to a place called Gethsemane and said to them, “Sit down here while I go over there and pray.” Then he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be in terrible distress and misery. “My heart is nearly breaking,” he told them, “stay here and keep watch with me.” Then he walked on a little way and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me—yet it must not be what I want, but what you want…Watch and pray, all of you, that you may not have to face temptation. Your spirit is willing, but human nature is weak.”
Observation
This passage always reminds me that Jesus was fully a man of flesh while also fully God. I don’t believe it was the God nature in Him that asked, “My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me,” nor was it the human nature that insisted, “yet it must not be what I want, but what you want.” He experienced first-hand the life-long struggle of our souls – choosing between the insistent selfish, my-way-or-highway demands of our human nature (control, fulfillment, recognition, pleasure, survival, significance before Men) and the selfless urgings of the Spirit (submission, self-sacrifice, obedience, trusting in God regardless of the circumstances, joy, peace, significance before God). He never sinned, so He always made the right choices when temptation arose. He knew we would not and, so He endured to drink the cup that provided redemption for us.
Impact on Me
“Watch and pray, all of you, that you may not have to face temptation. Your spirit is willing, but human nature is weak.” I am so grateful for repentance and forgiveness, for the right and privilege to be in Christ redeemed! I am also grateful that these do not expire or have a lifetime limit on number of uses or duration. Jesus understands me because He experienced life being tempted as I am tempted, choosing between right and wrong, selfless and selfish, pleasure and pain, sacrifice and survival, being faithful or faithless. He knew that there would be times when my human nature won the argument, when I would rationalize that I have human rights that supersede His or that the Spirit’s request was unreasonable, unsafe or impossible for me to do.
So, He chose to drink a cup of sacrifice, suffering, sorrow and love for me so I am able to:
- choose to be in Christ, submitted to His will and purpose,
- recognize and confess my failings and my weakness knowing I will not be rejected,
- choose to sincerely return and repent knowing I will receive grace and be reconciled to Him again, and
- have the opportunity to make a better choice the next time the temptation presents itself.
Each time I do this, my soul learns the wisdom of letting the Spirit win the argument about what to do rather than my selfish human nature, and the joy of submitting my will to His. Hopefully, I will choose to watch and pray so I will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Prayer
Lord God, what a giver You are – wise, loving, beautiful in Your holiness and faithfulness. I pray that Your Holy Spirit will work within me to make me wise enough to submit my wants and ways to Your will, just as Jesus did in the Garden. His faithfulness to be that sacrifice gave us the right to be again in Your Presence, even become Your children, restoring Your original purpose for our relationship. May I watch and pray so that I will hear on that day that I fulfilled Your will and purpose in my life. Make it so! In Jesus’ name.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 