36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.38 Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter.41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
42 He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
Jesus Arrested
47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.48 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him."49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him.
50 Jesus replied, "Do what you came for, friend."Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.51 With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
52 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"
55 In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
* * * *
The first part of this passage is easy to just ‘discard’ because you’ve read it so often… I almost didn’t write about it, but really it’s in the Bible for a reason… and I think it’s important to remember that.
At the beginning of this passage, Jesus is clearly troubled about what is going to happen to him. So much so that Jesus asks God to, basically, change his will – so that Jesus doesn’t have to go through any suffering. However, right after saying this, Jesus also says that he only wants what God wants.
What stood out to me is that Jesus did feel pain and sorrow – although he was the perfect human, Jesus didn’t feel happy all the time. There are also many other stories in which show Jesus unhappy, but I don’t think that aspect is focused on often.
However, sometimes when we feel angry, sad or troubled we tell ourselves that we shouldn’t feel like that. Instead, we should be happy all the time because of the hope that we have. But Jesus didn’t live like that. Instead, in his pain Jesus only wanted the will of God. So we aren’t meant to always feel happy, rather we need to remember that in spite of the bad things in life we should still want the will of God, like Jesus did.
A few other points that stand out to me:
> Jesus was practically abandoned in one of his greatest times of need – while praying and when the crowd took him
> Everything that Judas says and does is a lie – just like Satan
> Jesus could have easily asked for help, but wanted to fulfil the scriptures – what does this suggest for us?
Sarah :)
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