NOVEMBER 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Conclusion: JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Conclusion: JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, each day I wake to thoughts of You and each day my spirit has HOPE for I know You are the LIGHT and that after every night full of darkness there comes morning and the drying of tears and the setting aside of my fears as Your Light drives out the darkness as the Son warms the inner parts of my soul. Jesus, forgive me for I fall victim so easily to self and am dissuaded by the world and I let the darkness start to take hold but You are as Faithful as the sunrise and each morning Your Mercies are renewed and as soon as I call Your Name Jesus, Your LIGHT rises in my soul and I can walk with HOPE into the new day You have created and graciously bestowed on this a sinner seeking the LIGHT! Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has drawn us personally into His Final Passover and His Betrayal by first telling the disciples that in “two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” (Matthew 26:2) Then Jesus is anointed with oil as Jesus explained: “For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial” (Matthew 26 12) which again drew serious attention to His Imminent Death on the cross at the Passover. The Passover arrives and Jesus proclaims: “My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples” (Matthew 26:18) and they gathered in the Upper Room where Jesus again makes it personal when at the beginning of the Passover Jesus announces: “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” (Matthew 26:21) Jesus always uses Scripture and He declares to His disciples as He begins sharing what was to be His Last Passover Supper with them before He was crucified: “The Son of Man indeed goes as it is written of Him…” (Matthew 26:24) Everything Jesus has done in His Ministry has pointed to “His Hour” and even as Jesus eats this Final Passover He continues to Teach and show by His Example how we are to live — for “Jesus took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take eat, this is My body.’” (Matthew 26:26) Jesus then took the wine and summarized in detail the Purpose of why He being the VERY Son of God and Son of Man had come down from heaven and had  taken on flesh: “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) At this point the disciples should have recalled at the start of His Ministry that Jesus went to John the Baptist who was preaching “repentance and the remission of sin” and who when he saw Jesus coming to be baptized in the Jordan proclaimed: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29) Now here at the Passover Jesus had been showing that He was the Passover Lamb and that just as God had instructed Moses at the first Passover that the Passover Lamb must be slain and the blood applied as instructed for deliverance from their slavery and now here at this Passover Jesus is giving instructions what to do with the shed blood of the Passover Lamb to be delivered from the slavery of sin! Jesus then goes from the Passover to pray in Gethsemane and there He asks the final, very personal question  “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)   that  makes it clear that Jesus intends for us to “enter into His labors” as He commands us to “Watch and Pray” (Matthew 26:41) Peter had boldly proclaimed his loyalty and Jesus made it personal for Peter and said that even the most loyal followers would betray Jesus and Peter would do it three times “before the cock crows”! Judas then betrays Jesus with a kiss and is seized as Jesus tells Peter who has drawn his sword to protect Him to put his sword “in its place” (which could be a “Render unto Cesar” scenario with the sword instead of money?) and then Jesus explained everything that was happening was part of the Master Plan of Salvation as Jesus explained about the betrayal and why Jesus had allowed this to happen to Him: “How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” (Matthew 26:54) and summarizes His entire Ministry: “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (Matthew 26:56) As followers we should listen to Jesus and trust that everything that happens is controlled and allowed by God and will be used for our good and His Glory!  Jesus is being led away to begin His final hours and to face the cross and the final Question He asks in the Gospel of Matthew is the most personal  Question of all and is also the most revealing of all the Questions into the very Heart of God!