NOVEMBER 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS -Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord when I stop and realize what You gave in terms of Yourself for the good of others, I am ashamed at what little I have done for the eternal security of even my own family. Lord, forgive me of the sin of omission and may I from this day forward look for each opportunity that You will place in my life that through serving those in need that I will be serving You. Lord You gave Yourself without conditions that we may inherit the kingdom — an inheritance that You paid so high a price for but gave freely, Lord let me die to the old sinful self and serve others as You served, not for my benefit, but for the Glory of God!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has just shared the Passover with His disciples and made it clear that this Passover would be His Last Passover until He partakes of the Passover “with [them] in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29) which is a very powerful statement to the disciples for Jesus has been talking about His Imminent Death as the Passover Lamb! Jesus and His disciples rose from the Passover Meal and have now entered into the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus told them, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” (Matthew 26:36) Matthew then writes: “And [Jesus] took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.” (Matthew 26:37) Peter had just sworn his allegiance to Jesus up to and including his own death so when Peter hears Jesus saying He was going to “pray” and then observes that Jesus is “sorrowful and deeply distressed” and knowing that Jesus has announced His Imminent Death it is understandable that Peter would have been concerned — but when Jesus said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me” (Matthew 26:38) that you would certainly think Peter would be on guard!? But  alas, “[Jesus] 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.” (Matthew 26:39) In quick succession Jesus has announced His Death, Burial, Resurrection, made it clear that He would meet them in “My Father’s kingdom”, Jesus had at His Last Passover Supper demonstrated His body would be broken and His blood shed for the “remission of sin”, Jesus then left the Upper Room Passover with His disciples and entered into Gethsemane where He began to “pray”, and there in Gethsemane Jesus became “deeply distressed” and “exceedingly sorrowful” and then “fell on His face” and Jesus cried out, “O My Father…” which should serve as the Perfect Example of how we should face both life and death by Trusting God The Father! Jesus KNOWS that He will be RESURRECTED but the fact that He is asking His Father to “let this cup pass from Me” is an indicator that JESUS KNOWS that there is going to be great pain involved on the cross! Nowhere else in Scripture does it state that Jesus is “deeply distressed” nor “exceedingly sorrowful” or that He requests His Father to change His situation so we can be certain that Jesus was making the Ultimate Sacrifice! Jesus knew that His Father would allow the great weight of ALL SIN to be put on His Shoulders and the Father has made it clear from the Garden of Eden that the penalty for sin is death!  Here in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus knows that He must feel the pain of death for EVERY SIN ever committed in the Past, the Present, and all Future — literally ALL Sin!!! If Jesus is going to Sacrifice His Innocent Life for ALL SIN then He would have to suffer the Penalty for ALL SIN and Jesus knows that at some point that the Father would have to abandon His Only Begotten Son because God the Father cannot look on sin and it is my belief that Jesus is distressed because He has NEVER BEFORE been left ALONE by HIS FATHER — but for the FATHER to be FAIR AND JUST, JESUS MUST SUFFER DEATH ALONE AND SHED HIS BLOOD or the SACRIFICE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE! That is the Supreme Responsibility Jesus was about to face and He was both “distressed” and “sorrowful” on a scale we cannot imagine but it tells this TRUTH OF GOD — ONLY THROUGH JESUS IS THE REMISSION OF SIN POSSIBLE!!! It is a small wonder that Jesus is concerned and commanded His disciples to “watch with Me” and I can hear the disappointment in His voice when the disciples went to sleep on Him and Jesus asked,  “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40). Surely each of us that reads the Scriptures knows the Sacrifice was Supreme and those that do not read the Scriptures know that sin is a very serious issue in every life so when we become aware that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that His Purpose was to be our Savior then we should accept the challenge to “pray and watch with [Jesus] one hour” or do you find yourself as I do keeping company with the disciples and Peter and we are sleeping on our “watch”?!?!?!