Sunday, November 4, 2012
LIFE OF JESUS (34)
The Culmination of His Life (2)
In the Garden
Matt. 26:30-56
a.
Following the Lord’s
Supper, they went to the Mount of Olives, hill country located east of
Jerusalem. Either at the
conclusion of their Passover meal, or at the Mount of Olives, Jesus
uttered the prayer recorded in John 17.
b.
Jesus arrives at the
Garden of Gethsemane which was located on the Mount of Olives, with His
disciples. John 18:2 tells
us that Jesus frequently went there to pray with His disciples.
c.
Jesus announces to His
disciples, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this
night.” (Matt. 26:31-35)
He then quotes from Zechariah 13:7.
However, even in that He assures them of His resurrection.
Peter rebukes Jesus saying, “I will never deny You.”
Jesus responds, “Before the rooster crows (twice – Mark 14:30)
you will deny Me 3 times.”
SOME say this is an inconsistency of accounts.
It is NOT, because Mark mentions the specific details, while the
other gospels mention the time that counts.
(Consider – 1 goes into 2, so to mention 1 of 2 times is still
truthful and totally accurate).
Nevertheless, all the disciples likewise say they would die for Jesus
before denying Him.
d.
Jesus then proceeds to
the Garden where Jesus tells most of His disciples to wait while He went
and prayed. He took with
Himself Peter, James and John as He went further.
In the Garden, being very apprehensive, He tells the 3 to watch as He
goes to pray.
Jesus then goes a little further and falls to the ground saying, “Abba,
Father, all things are possible for You.
Take this cup away from My; nevertheless, not what I will, but
what You will.” (26:39, Mk. 14:36-37)
At some time during this occasion, Luke records that an angel appeared
to Jesus from heaven and gave him strength. (Lk. 22:43)
He then returns to His disciples and finds them asleep.
He warns them, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (26:41)
Jesus went and prayed a second time, the same words.
He then returns and finds His disciples sleeping again.
He prays a third time the same prayer.
Following this, He returns to His disciples and wakes them up
informing, “It is time!”
“Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
(26:45-46)
e.
As Jesus is concluding
His speech, Judas finds Him and comes with a great multitude with swords
and clubs (as if expecting a confrontation) (Matt. 26:47).
The temple guard was dispatched from the chief priests and elders
to arrest Jesus (John 18:3).
Judas kisses Jesus on the cheek, which was a sign to the crowd that He
was the one. Jesus confronts
Judas, “Are you betraying Me with a kiss?”
John records that Jesus stepped toward them and asked, “Who are
you seeking.” When they
said, “Jesus of Nazareth”, He said, “I am He!”
They then drew back and fell to the ground.
Jesus again identifies Himself and requests that they release the
others. (Jn. 4:4-9)
f.
Luke 22:49-50 records
here that Peter took his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the
High Priest (Malchus – John 18:10),
Jesus responds, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by
it. Or do you not think that
I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than
twelve legions of angels?
How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”
(Matt. 26:52-54)
NOTE: A Roman legion consisted of about 6000 soldiers, so Jesus was
saying He could have prayed to the Father and more than 70,000 angels
would have come to His rescue.
It is from this that the song, “Ten Thousand Angels” was written.
John ads to the words of Jesus, “Shall I not drink the cup which My
Father has given Me?” (Jn. 18:11)
Luke 22:51 says that Jesus touched the ear of Malchus and healed him.
g.
Jesus then says to the
guard (Luke 22:52-53), “Have you
come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs?
When I ws with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize
Me. But this is your hour,
and the power of darkness.” Jesus exposes their underhanded
techniques and attributes their conduct to “the power of darkness” which
is a description of Satan and his followers (cf. John 1:5, 3:19-20,
Eph. 5:11, 6:12, etc.)
Following this, Jesus surrenders to the guard.
They arrested Him and bound Him and led Him way (John 18:12).
h.
All His disciples
forsook Him. (Matt. 26:56)
a.
This was the beginning
of a series of events that Jesus WILLINGLY endured for us.
Recall how He could have called down a divine army if He so
desired. Also, He instructed
Peter to put away his sword.
We are reminded of His words to His disciples on a previous occasion
when He said, “My father loves
because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This command I received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18)
Heb. 12:2 speaks of Jesus, at the finish line of the race of life is
there. The writer described
Him saying, “who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
b.
In the Garden we find –
i.
Loneliness
- They all forsook Him.
Throughout this account we find Jesus was alone.
At times, even while His closest disciples were with Him, He was
still alone. As He prayed,
they slept. In the end, they
all forsook Him, if only for a short while.
Many of us face loneliness at one time or another – it is at such times
that we need to be on our guard lest it lead to discouragement,
desperation and sinful decisions.
God has provided us with a brotherhood to help us in such times if we
will reach out to them – Heb. 12:12 calls for us to “strengthen the
hands that hang down.”
1 Thess. 5:14 calls on us to “comfort the fainthearted.”
REMEMBER, that even in our loneliness, our Lord will never forsake us –
cf. 2 Tim. 4:16, Heb. 13
Will we forsake the Savior?
At His most crucial hour, those who knew Him best and had been
with Him, forsook Him. Will
we?
ii.
Fear and sorrow – both Jesus and His disciples experienced these things.
The disciples were faced with uncertainty.
Jesus in His humanity faced His darkest hour on this occasion.
The descriptions of His demeanor in the Garden are
soul-wrenching. Jesus
falls down in prayer, He is described as being exceedingly
sorrowful in soul. Luke
22:44 speaks of His agony and His sweat became as great drops of blood
falling to the ground.
His disciples were certainly sorrowful as well.
Exhausted by the events and storm of emotions they faced.
Yet, as with loneliness, we cannot let fear and sorrow keep us from
moving forward.
2 Tim. 1:7 says, “For God has not
given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
iii.
Betrayal –
by a close “friend”. This is
perhaps one of the saddest scenes in the Garden.
He was an apostle who had witnessed many of His great miracles.
Judas knew better, but in greed he betrayed his Lord.
And if that were not enough, he did it with a kiss on the cheek.
A sign of affection turned to betrayal.
Matt. 26:50 finds Jesus asking Judas, “Friend, why have you come?”
There are not many sorrows greater than the betrayal of a close friend
(or brother in Christ). But
it happens. We need to live
so that we don’t betray one another.
Furthermore, may we NEVER betray our Lord.
WE live a persistent life of sin, we are betraying Him.
I am reminded of Hebrews 6:6 speaks of those who fall away and
continue to live in sin having crucified the Lord again and put Him to
an open shame.
We sometimes sing, “I’ll never forsake my Lord.”
May that be true, but let us not forget - 1 Cor.
10:12.
With the above descriptions of this scene, it would be enough to
overwhelm most. But Jesus
made it through. Because in
the Garden of Gethsemane we also find:
iv.
Prayer – 3
times Jesus earnestly prayed to the Father.
He also warned His weary
disciples to do the same.
James 5:13 says, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray!”
Vs. 16 says, “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man
avails much.”
v.
Strength and comfort – even while Jesus felt alone, He wasn’t. God was there.
He sent an angel who gave Him
comfort in His difficult hour.
May we continually remind ourselves of this when we face troubled times
of loneliness, fear, sorrow, etc.
vi.
Obedience –
In His prayers, He concluded, “Not as I will, but as You will,” and
“Your will be done.” (Matt. 26:39, 42).
We cannot use troublesome times to excuse us of our need for obedience.
IT must always be there.
Even Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered –
Heb. 5:8.
vii.
Resolve –
While Jesus agonized, in the end, He knew what He needed to do.
And He determined to go through with it.
Matt. 26:45-46 says that after he finished praying He woke up His
disciples and said, “Rise, let us be going.
See, My betrayer is at hand.”
He was ready to finish the job.
Friends after we have agonized over our circumstances, let us
resolve that we are going to do the right thing.
1 Pet. 2:21-24 says, “For to this you were called, because Christ
also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in
His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, not was deceit found in His mouth’;
who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return, when He suffered, He
did not threated, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having
died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you are
healed.”
Will we keep that which we have committed to Him until the last day? (2
Tim. 1:12)
viii.
True love –
Just prior to this He demonstrated His willingness to die because He
loved them (and us) - Greater love has no one than this, than to lay
down one’s life for His friends.” (John 15:13).
John 13:1 says, “He loved them to the end.”
Truly His love surpasses understanding (Eph. 3:19)
When we consider the events that transpired as a result of the
love of Jesus for us, beginning in the Garden that night, it ought to
truly humble us. Let us from
time to time go to that Garden and recall how much He endured for us.
He deserves that!