December 03, 2007 Matthew 26:51-54

12/03/2007

Matthew 26:36 - 39 (HCSB)

³⁶Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. ³⁸Then He said to them, “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow—to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with Me.” ³⁹Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Matthew 26:51 - 54 (HCSB)

⁵¹At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his ear.⁵²Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in place because all who take up a sword will perish by a sword. ⁵³Or do you think that I cannot call on My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than 12 legions of angels? ⁵⁴How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

You may recognize this passage as the prayer and betrayal of Jesus at Gethsemane. Judas had conspired to betray Jesus to the Chief Priest and had come with the temple guards to find Jesus privately. But what I like about this passage here is the contrast we see in Jesus.

As humans, we sometimes have difficulty seeing Jesus as totally God and totally human at the same time. We tend to think that if He were totally God, that He could not experience the full range of human emotion. It would be like the gambler with the ace up his sleeve. Would that Gambler really worry about losing if he knew he had the extra ace?

Likewise, if He were fully human, how could He do the things that only God can do? Remember, Jesus walked on water and had raised Lazarus from death.

In the first passage above, we see Jesus going into the garden to pray. He knew His betrayal was at hand. But what did He do? What did he say? “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow.” He was troubled and in emotional agony.

Can you remember when you were a child and you broke something in the house and you knew when your parents found out you would be in big trouble? The anticipation of that judgment and punishment tormented you.

This passage in Matthew 26:36-39 tells us that Jesus was tormented by the thought of what He would go through. He had already told His disciples that He would die on a cross. This thought alone drove Him to pray “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” But He knew His destiny and yielded to what must be done: “Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Then a few verses later, when Jesus is taken into custody, one of the disciples acts to defend Jesus and succeeds only in cutting off the ear of a Temple attendant. What then does Jesus say? “Do you think that I cannot call on My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than 12 legions of angels?” In this passage we hear of the divinity of Jesus. He had at His disposal, the armies of Heaven, yet he yielded to the actions of humans so that the scriptures could be fulfilled.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that we have a God that can understand and relate to our deepest sorrows, yet He also commands the legions of Heaven? Isn’t it also wonderful to know that He chose to suffer and accept on Himself our sin so that we might be with Him?

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