Selfless Faith

In Matthew 26:40, Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ”So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?“

As I go through this section, Peter reminds me of myself in my own failures. While Peter, James, and John were all sleeping, Jesus address Peter specifically. Peter was the one who said He would never deny Jesus, even to the death. Peter and the other disciples couldn’t even stay awake for a little while as Jesus was praying for them. There are so many things that I want to do in Jesus name but I fail time and time again on just the basic things. I thank God daily that salvation has nothing to do with the effort of man. This is a demonstration where Grace is superior to the Law. As Moses needed his hands to be held up by Aaron and Hur when His arms were tired in Exodus 17:12, the Law needs to be held up by man. However, Jesus received no assistance from man to bring salvation. His grace is sufficient for us.

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In Matthew 26:39, Jesus went a little beyond them (James, Peter, and John), and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus causes a lot of controversy and debate in the lives of people who refuse to believe and trust in Him. A lot of religions will say all roads lead to heaven. Jesus said He is the ONLY way to heaven. Someone has to be wrong. How upsetting would it be for Jesus to endure the cross just to find out that God the Father made a mistake and He could have simply tried to work towards “Nirvana,” try to be re-incarnated enough times to become a cow, or live in hope that His good deeds would outweigh His bad deeds. The worse would be to get to heaven just to find out it did not really exist. It doesn’t make much sense yet it sounds good to those who “want to do their own thing.” The devil thought He had Jesus trapped at this point. He was getting ready to pounce on Jesus. It seemed like Jesus was questioning the cross. However, Jesus said the devil’s most hated words! Jesus said to God the Father, “Not as I will, but as YOU will.” I’m sure many of us have said that in our walk with Jesus. Usually that lasts about five minutes (if that long) until we are off trying to accomplish our own will again. Let us try to live the life that God has purposed for us by living according to His will and not our own.

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In Matthew 26:37, Then Jesus said the disciples, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

Pain and tragedy are the most difficult aspects of this life we have to deal with. It tests what we are really made of. They either prove how much faith we have or that we never had faith at all. I believe death was the toughest obstacle Jesus ever had to face. We being human, as much as we try not to think about death, we know we are all destined to die at an appointed date. However, in the case of Jesus, He being the infinite God who lives eternally did not have to taste death and should not have had to either. If there was any pride in Jesus, it would come out now. I’m certain the devil was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to catch Jesus with His guard down to destroy Him. Even my own pride, just like with the disciples’ pride, I couldn’t understand how Jesus, the Holy One of God, would have to die such a wicked and horrible death. When Jesus told the disciples of His death, Peter’s response was (and I’m paraphrasing), “No way, Lord! I think you’re crazy!” However, if we reference back to Isaiah 64:4, God having infinite power and wisdom was planning something that “no eye had seen and no ears had heard” and Paul adds in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “for those who love God.” Praise the Lord for our sake now that death is just a stepping stone into eternity!

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In Matthew 26:37, Jesus took with Peter and the two sons of Zebedee (James and John) with Him further into the garden and began to be grieved and distressed.

We tend to lose sight of the fact that Jesus Christ was also a human being made of flesh and blood just as we are. He had the same heart that pumps blood, the bodily organs, emotions, thoughts, and feelings that we have. He was not a robot or a computer programmed to turn on and off or say things at a certain time. The cross was not easy to endure. It was not an easy option to choose and even harder choice to go through with it. Have you ever been accused of doing something that you did not do? I hate taking the blame for something that I did not do. It is hard enough to take responsibility of what I actually did. What separates Jesus from mere man is while in His humanity He was distressed over the fact He would be judged as a sinner although He NEVER sinned, in His deity, she showed why and how He is the true and the living God , the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end by never deterring from the path of the cross. He stayed on the cross, crucified, embarrassed, ashamed and forsaken in His flesh, being made a curse so we could be blessed forever. People seem to say “Jesus Christ” as a curse word. Ever wonder why? To me, it seems that His work on the cross is so powerful that it has become a curse to them who refuse to believe and trust in His Holy name. We can talk a good a good game but Jesus has already played the game and He is victorious and He has extended his victory to us as well.

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In Matthew 26:36, Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

A lot of people want to do something for God. They jump at every opportunity to be involved in any activity available. Jesus told His disciples to sit in a particular spot while He went up to pray. That would not work well for many of us today. We just need something to do. Sometimes God really wants us to sit, reflect, meditate, and pray while He is working on our behalf. Jesus was going to pray for strength as He was heading to the cross for our sake. I believe Jesus asked them to just sit there and wait on Him as there was nothing else they could do. Everything else was left up to Jesus and His miraculous and gracious work on the cross. Our salvation was in the hands of Jesus based on whether He would stay on course and go willingly to the cross or whether He would give up and run. Many people think they can work on being good people to make it to heaven without Jesus Christ. If it was left to us, we would be in a world of trouble (as if this one is not bad enough). As we have seen, there is nothing God wants us to do for our salvation. It is His completed work. We just have to sit, believe, and know that it has already been accomplished.

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