The Purpose of Gethsemane

As we meditate on the power of the Cross and Christ's Resurrection, I am struck by how important Jesus' time of prayer in Gethsemane was. In Matthew 26:36, Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray. He "began to be sorrowful and troubled" and he was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Matthew 26:37,38). He was fully God and fully human, and it's amazing how we see his human side here--he was troubled, sorrowful, overwhelmed.

And then he went to pray.

His first prayer was:

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39)

After telling his disciples to watch and pray, he went away again and his second prayer was:

"My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." (Matthew 26:42)

These prayers seem very similar but today I was amazed at how different they are and how the tension and sorrow in Jesus' heart was dealt with through prayer. In His first prayer, He asked the Father that if it was possible, He wanted the cup to be taken from Him. But this was not about what Jesus wanted, He knew that. It was about what the Father wills. The tension here is obvious but the bottomline is clear--"not as I will, but as you will."

In the second prayer, the tension seems to have subsided a bit and now it's not about Jesus as much as it is about the Father. He says, if the cup can not be taken away unless Jesus drinks it, He will do it because He wants His Father's will to be done.

After this prayer, He went back to His disciples, and went back to pray the same prayer again. And after that, he was ready. Ready to go, ready to face His betrayer, ready to drink the cup, and ready for the Cross.

Matthew does not say that Jesus was not troubled or sorrowful anymore, but after Jesus prayed and talked to His Father, told Him what He felt and heard from His Father, He knew what He had to do. His time at Gethsemane was not just a break between dinner and the betrayal. It was the strength He needed from His Father to face His cup.

Like Christ, we all need to hear from God and bare our souls to Him in Gethsemane. As we remember and thank God for the Cross and the Resurrection, may we be like Christ and get our strength from the Father.

Thank You, Jesus--"the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).

Happy Easter!