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 His disciples in light of the fact that
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, His Burial,
and His Resurrection, and now Jesus makes 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,
Sin PAST, Sin PRESENT, and all FUTURE 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”?!?!?!
