It’s not likely that any of us will face crucifixion on a cross, but there will be times we suffer. We will experience our own little Gethsemane’s. Our times of distress won’t come close to the degree of suffering Christ experienced, but they will be devastating to us. It might come in the form of a diagnosis, a lawsuit, the death of a loved one, divorce papers, a pink slip from our employer, or a variety of other possibilities that have the potential to leave us crushed in despair.
In times of suffering, we are prone to react in a handful of predictable ways. Some of us go into full meltdown mode. Others of us crawl into bed and pull the covers over our head. A few of us set up camp in a state of denial. And the most sinfully self-reliant among us will be delusional enough to try to fix the situation on our own. (I am talking to myself here). But in Jesus’ time of distress, he went to Gethsemane to pray.
In Matthew 26 we find Jesus finishing the Passover meal with his disciples. To say the least, it was a stressful dinner. Jesus identified Judas as the one who would betray him, he predicted Peter’s denial, and there was the awkward foot washing, which Peter initially protested.
Leaving the Passover meal, Jesus was faced with the magnitude of the looming events. The cross was imminent. The text says that Jesus was “sorrowful and troubled.” (Matt 26:37)
If there was ever an understandable time to have a full-blown meltdown, it was now. But he doesn’t. In the thick of unfathomable stress, Jesus takes his three closest disciples with him and goes to Gethsemane to pray.
Appropriately, Jesus prays, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt 26:39) Clearly, in times of distress, there is nothing wrong with asking God to remove the troubling circumstance. In fact, we’d be foolish not to, because sometimes he does.
When Jesus prays the second time, an interesting shift takes place in his request. He says, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” (Matt 26:42) Notice how he uses the negative adverb this time. I don’t want to read too much into the text, but is it possible that as he prayed, Christ begins to sense that the cup wouldn’t be passed?
Christ asks a third time. (Matt 26:44-45) When he arose from his third prayer, Jesus stirs his sleeping disciples and says, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
As Christ prayed, we see a dramatic transition from being full of sorrow and distress (Matt 26:37) to rising with confidence to meet his betrayer. (Matt 26:46) God hadn’t changed the circumstance, but he had provided Christ the strength he needed to face the cross.
And so it is with us. There are times we pray for God to remove a difficult circumstance and he does. Other times, he doesn’t change the situation, but he provides the grace we need to get through it. Both scenarios are graced-filled answers to prayer. When faced with our own Gethsemane’s the only reasonable response is prayer. If Christ relied on prayer to fulfill his mission on earth, how much more should we?
