The account in Matthew’s Gospel of Yeshua the Lord’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-44) is one I have read many times. In a recent reading of it however, it was though it was being highlighted for me that the Lord did not pray once, He did not prayed twice but that He prayed three times. This drew me to ponder more deeply and my thoughts were arrested by the question: What did Yeshua actually pray?
Considering this, the first thing which struck me was that from the first, Lord Yeshua desired and prayed that God’s will, not His, be done. I noticed how the Lord’s prayer changed slightly in His second prayer and though He repeated the second prayer as His third, there was something which held my attention in His third, ‘Thy will be done.’ It seemed to convey more deeply, more powerfully to me the settled will of Yeshua – that God’s will prevail – which had marked His very first petition.
Matthew 26:36-44 records this:
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” 39 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.” 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
The parallel accounts in the other Gospels reveal that this was a very real time of the Lord wrestling with what laid ahead of Him (see Mark 14:32; Luke 22:39-45). Matthew’s account does not take away from this: note e.g. ‘He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death…” (Matthew 26:37-38). Consider this was Lord Yeshua the Messiah Himself.
In the first petition, Lord Yeshua prays this: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will.” (v.39).
In the second petition, He prays this: “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” (v.42).
The account says that the Lord repeated this prayer a second time: ‘So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.’ (v.44).
Could there be any greater encouragement to pray through to the settling in our hearts that God’s will, not ours prevails, in times of painful, difficult and even dangerous trials? In the face of any suffering which may be allowed or visited upon us, our suffering will never – can never – be more than what Lord Yeshua went through for us in that garden, through that night of betrayal, arrest, sham “trial”, sentence into a morning of physical assaults, mocking and scourging before being hung on a cross upon a tree becoming the Sin Offering on account of our sin and for our redemption – to death. Because there was no other way that you and I could be saved! Nevertheless, the suffering you and I will and do experience in this life, in the time of suffering is very real – this cannot be denied.
As I thought on this awe-full account of our Lord in that garden, words from Hebrews 4:14-16 flowed into my thoughts, which says this:
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (underlined for emphasis)
What a deep comfort in times where we find it a painful wrestle to truly lay down our desires, our plans, our hopes – our will – to the accepting of God’s will for us, even though the answer may be not as we would choose it. Though it may well involve temporary pain (consider Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
Later as I reflected again on the above, what came to mind was the account of Paul’s suffering where he prayed not once, not twice but thrice – he asked, he sought, he knocked. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9a records Paul’s testimony:
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
He asked deliverance for a deep suffering – the answer probably wasn’t what Paul would have immediately chosen (otherwise he would have prayed differently). Yet God will was not deliverance, but strength equal to the trial.
May we too find God’s grace sufficient for us in painful seasons to enable us to follow Paul’s example who followed Yeshua the Lord who Himself said to the Father ‘not My will but Yours.’
Through God’s grace, in following the example of Yeshua the Messiah, Paul was able to say this:
Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:9b-10)
God bless you.
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