Opening Prayer
Wake us, Lord Jesus! Wake us, and keep us awake with You! Amen.
Text: Matthew 26:39–46
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 asleep, 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.” He went away again a second time 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, he who betrays Me is at hand.”
Devotion
When the Old Testament High Priest was to carry the blood of atonement into the Most Holy Place, he enshrouded himself with incense, kindled with fire from the altar in the Holy Place. So Christ, our High Priest, did the same in Gethsemane [with the incense of prayer]. – Man is unwilling to die, and here is everything that is called death. Death and condemnation confront Jesus everywhere. His pure nature had to tremble at the pains of death and hell, and this He expresses in prayer: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” So frightful is the baptism with which He was to be baptized that even He, the only Chosen One, our Immanuel, sweats drops of blood in dread of it. O sin and hell, how frightening you are! The Lord expresses to the Father exactly what He feels. He is anxiously afraid of death; that is part of His suffering atonement. That He had to endure, and then He must pray just as He does: “If it is possible that the world can be saved some other way, then let it happen, take this cup from Me. Father, if you can give Me the world’s sin, which is now My sin, without My having to die for it, then let it happen!”
But even here, in the most difficult affliction, His human will submits to the Father’s will in deepest, fullest obedience. O what a perfect High Priest we have, but what a hard battle He endures for us! He prayed “with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear” (Heb 5:7). Was the cup taken from Him? No, His righteousness must fulfill the requirements. But we see from these words of the Holy Spirit in Hebrews what we also hear in the Lord’s own words: His prayer beginning to end is about the Father’s will. That remains clear to Him. Out of the terrible struggle, out of the bloody sweat and baptism of agony, out of the haze of death, He emerges again and sees clearly that the cup is given to Him by the Father. The angel shows Him this truth – and then the victory is won. The quiet Lamb goes to His death like a strong lion, with willingness and perfect patience.
Closing Prayer
But what shall I say? How incredibly great is the love with which He loves us! How infinitely high is the price with which He bought us! Can you hear what happens in Gethsemane, and still despise His grace? World, you are bewitched by Satan, – but I adore You, Lord Jesus, and I thank You for Your agony and bloody sweat, and Your victory over the devil here and everywhere. I thank You for Your fervent offering of prayer, and I will patiently fight, quietly suffer, and deny all my own will for Your sake! Grant me grace for this; grant me grace, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Hymn
See how, anguish-struck, He falleth
Prostrate, and with struggling breath,
Three times on His God He calleth,
Praying that the bitter death
And the cup of doom may go,
Still He cries, in all His woe:
“Not My will, but Thine, O Father!”
And the angels round Him gather.
See how, in that hour of darkness,
Battling with the evil power,
Agonies untold assail Him,
On His soul the arrows shower;
All the garden flowers are wet
With the drops of bloody sweat,
From His anguished frame distilling –
World’s redemption thus fulfilling!
But, O flowers, so sadly watered
By this pure and precious dew,
In some blessed hour your blossoms
‘Neath the olive-shadows grew!
Eden’s garden did not bear
Aught that can with you compare,
For the blood, thus freely given,
Makes my soul the heir of heaven.
Kingo: Over Kedron L 317:5.6.8 ELH 295:4-6 tr. J. Jeffrey and DeGarmeaux;
tune: Over Kedron