Matthew 26:36-40

Matthew 26:36-40

At that time, Jesus came with His disciples into the place being called Gethsemane and He says to the disciples, “Set yourselves here until I should pray after going over there.”  And after taking Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along, He began to be sad and to be distressed.  Then He says to them, “My soul is very sad – even unto death.  Remain here and keep alert with me.”  And after continuing on a small amount He fell down upon His face while praying and while saying, “If it is within your power, let this cup move past me.  Nevertheless, not as I desire but rather as you desire.”  And He comes to the disciples and He finds them while sleeping.  And He says to Peter, “So, you all are not capable for one hour to keep alert with me?” 

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Notice that once more we see Jesus not just with His disciples but also pull His three inner core along with Him.  Jesus knows that in the most emotional and the most trying times, we need to be intentional about modeling and transparency.  He wants the disciples to experience His final moments of freedom.  But He especially wants His inner three to see this turmoil.  It isn’t as important that everyone who looks up to Him sees this.  But it is especially important for His inner core to experience this moment.

Do you think that it is significant that in Jesus’ very last act in freedom He is gathering His closest disciples around Him?  What does this say to you?

Second Thought:

I am always amazed by the depth of passion in Jesus’ plea before the Father.  He asks for the cup to move past Him.  He asks that some other way be found.  He has gone to love these disciples.  He has grown to love their company and their presence.  He knows how much pain is going to be brought upon Himself and the disciples in the next few days.  He looks ahead at all of that with grief and sorrow.  That is significant to realize.  However, in the end Jesus is with the Father and not with His own desires.  No matter how much He would like to keep things as they are, it is better to be in the will of the Father.  This is also a very important thing to see.

Why is it important to see that Jesus longed for the comfort of keeping things the same?  Why is it important to see that Jesus humbled Himself to the will of the Father?

Third Thought:

As I translated this section of the Greek, a very interesting grammatical point presented itself.  This is actually why I decided to stop the passage with Matthew 26:41 and save the rest for tomorrow.  In verse 21, Jesus says, “So, you all are not capable to keep alert with me for one hour?”  However, let me put it in the word order of the Greek.  It’ll sound a bit like Yoda speaking, but it is important.  Jesus literally says, “So, you all are not capable for one hour to keep alert with me?”  When Jesus speaks, He puts the words “with me” at the end of His question.  The emphasis is not on the length of the duty (one hour) but on the company of the task (with me).  This puts an incredibly different spin on this passage.  Jesus is not bothered by the fact that they couldn’t focus for a small time, Jesus is bothered that they let Him down personally.  The size and scope of the task isn’t what is important, it is the relationship built in the task that is important.  Jesus calls us to literally work with Him.  When we fail to do God’s will, we are not just disobedient to the task, we are hurting the relationship.  Thanks be to God that He is so forgiving, because I know that I need the forgiveness constantly!  And He does forgive us, most assuredly.

Why is it important to understand that Jesus is bothered more by the relational implications than by the scope of our failure?  Do you put value on the things of this life in terms of tasks or relationship?  What about the people in your life who are important to you?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 26:41-46