The Garden of Accomplishment 2
Matthew 26:36 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. "Could you men not 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 body 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 is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
Joy, excitement, relief, accomplishment.
After working with fiancées for six weeks in pre-marriage counseling and then joining the two as one in the Lord’s house, there is a sense of joy, a sense of excitement, a sense of relief, a sense of accomplishment.
We receive these feelings as pastors after leading new people into God’s Word for 16 weeks and then hearing their vows of faithfulness as they stand before the Lord’s altar and then receive Christ’s body and blood for the very first time in their new congregation. We receive these feelings after talking with a family a number of times and then standing with them before the Lord’s baptismal font as they are baptized and brought into God’s holy family through these baptismal waters.
Joy, excitement, relief, accomplishment.
Maybe we receive these feelings after a building project we have been working on as a congregation. It may be something large like spending $2 million on a school expansion and new gymnasium. It may be something much smaller like spending $30,000 on a bathroom renovation. Maybe it is an increase of ministry like adding a Preschool or adding an additional teacher or calling an associate pastor or starting a daughter congregation. Joy, excitement, relief, accomplishment.
Yet when you read the accounts of Jesus in Gethsemane recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus certainly was not feeling any joy or excitement or relief. He says that He was sorrowful, troubled, and distressed to the point of death. He had just taught and prayed and washed dusty feet in the Upper Room with His disciples. He had established a New Covenant in His body and blood. The sinless Lamb had eaten one last Paschal meal. Then Jesus leads His eleven disciples out to a familiar place of prayer for Him – the Garden of Gethsemane in the Mount of Olives.
It is nearly midnight when they leave the Upper Room and descend through the streets of the city. They pass the Lower Pool and exit the Eastern Gate and walk back out of Jerusalem. The roads are lined with the fires and tents of Passover pilgrims. Most are asleep, heavied with the evening meal. Those still awake think little of the band of men walking the dusty road.
Somewhere within the city walls the twelfth disciple darts down a street. His feet have been washed by the man he will betray. His heart has been claimed by the Evil One. He runs to find Caiaphas.
While Evil is mustering its forces, Jesus and His disciples sing a hymn, then He leaves eight of them in the outer part of the Garden. He takes Peter, James and John deeper into the Garden. They are the ones who have been with Him since the very beginning – the miraculous catch of fish, the call to follow, the mount of glory. He needs their presence to comfort and strengthen Him. The Lord of the universe doesn’t want to be alone. He asks them to remain awake and watchful at this late hour for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The final encounter has begun. Jesus can see what the disciples cannot. He sees the staging of Satan. He sees the dashing of the demons. He sees the Evil One preparing for the final battle. Satan, the host of hatred, has seized the heart of Judas and whispered in the ear of Caiaphas. All hell is breaking loose.
It all began in one Garden, the Garden of Eden, now it will all begin to end in another Garden, the Garden of Gethsemane.
This Garden quickly became for Jesus a Garden of slumber with His disciples falling asleep. It becomes a Garden of betrayal with one of His close friends betraying Him with a kiss. It becomes a Garden of the prediction of Peter’s denial, the Garden of arrest of Jesus and a Garden of escape by His closest friends (who have just promised that they will always stand by Jesus).
This then became a Garden of accomplishing the Father’s will. It is what Jesus was born to do. It is what Jesus had been living for His entire life. It is what had been His Father’s plan since before creation.
Never has Jesus felt so alone. What must be done, only He can do. An angel can’t do it. No angel has the power to break open hell’s gates. A man can’t do it. No man has the purity to destroy sin’s claim. No force on earth can face the force of Evil and win – except God.
So He goes into battle to accomplish what no angel, no person could accomplish.
For all the times we have been lazy and slumbering in our daily walk as Christians or apathetic in our ministries as servants of the Gospel, Jesus stayed awake and alert. For when we have drunk deeply from the Kool-Aid of ease and temptation, Jesus drank every last drop of the cup of God’s wrath. For when our flesh is weak and our spirit isn’t even all that willing, Jesus remained strong and ready to do His Father’s will. When we have run away from confrontation because of our connection to Jesus, Jesus always accepted us back and reinstated us into His ministry.
When we have acted as Jesus’ dearest friend, but then betrayed Him for money or sex or popularity, Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested and beaten. When we have promised in our confirmation vows to remain faithful unto the point of death, but then denied Jesus at the mere mention of persecution, Jesus gives us a look of forgiveness. When we have shouted Jesus’ praises among a crowd of His followers on a bright Sunday morning, but been strangely silent among a crowd of His critics on a dark Friday afternoon, Jesus went to the cross. When we have despaired at the loss of a loved one, forgetting the resurrection promise, Jesus rose from the Easter grave.
In the Garden, Jesus knew what would be happening. He knew before the war was over, He would be taken captive. He knew that before the victory would come defeat. He knew that before the throne would come the cup. He knew that before the light of Sunday would come the blackness of Friday. He knew that before He would rise from a grave cut out of rock would come the crucifixion upon a rock.
It is truly amazing what is happening in this Garden. Here is the Lord of life praying in the darkness. The One who is beyond all time asking for one simple hour of faithfulness. The gentle, mild face of the newborn Babe is the One who is sweating profusely with the agony of what is going to be happening over the next few hours. The One who comforts is the One needs to be comforted by an angel in the Garden. The Good Shepherd is being led to the slaughter by the sheep, for the sheep. The Son of the vineyard owner is being killed by the tenants of the vineyard.
And Jesus prays … and He prays … and He prays yet again.
His final prayer is for us. His final pain is for you. His final passion is for you.
He prays a simple yet eloquent and effective prayer: “Lord, not my will, but yours be done.” Truly astounding when you consider that He is praying, “Lord, though I am God, I want to accomplish your divine will.”
This is a Garden of prayer. A Garden of solemnity. But certainly not a Garden of joy or excitement or relief. But it does become a Garden of accomplishment.
For Jesus is accomplishing His Father’s will. The Seed of the woman is stepping down upon the head of the Ancient Serpent. The male child is raising His arm to bring His sword down upon the seven-headed dragon. Abraham’s great descendant is heading off to die so that we Gentiles might be called Abraham’s descendants and be numbered as the stars in the sky or the sand along the seashore. Great David’s greater Son is heading into David’s holy city, singing the Psalms of Ascent for He will be laid in the bowels of the earth.
As Christians, we celebrate the cross and the empty grave. And we are right to do so. For there at Calvary’s cross, Jesus accomplished our atonement. There at the Easter tomb, Jesus secured our resurrection from the grave.
But it is here in the Garden that He made His decision. He would rather suffer hell for you than go to heaven without you.
Here in this Garden Jesus is praying to accomplish His Father’s will. What was once broken in one Garden – Eden – Jesus is accomplishing in another Garden – Gethsemane. Amen.
Christian Worship Supplement #717 – “When You Woke that Thursday Morning”
1 When you woke that Thursday morning, Savior, Teacher, faithful Friend,
Thoughts of self and safety scorning, knowing how the day would end;
Lamb of God, foretold for ages, now at last the hour had come
When but One could pay sin’s wages: you assumed their dreadful sum.
2 Never so alone and lonely, longing with tormented heart
To be with your dear ones only for a quiet hour apart;
Sinless Lamb and fallen creatures, one last paschal meal to eat,
One last lesson as their teacher, washing your disciples’ feet.
3 What was there that you could give them that would never be outspent,
What great gift that would outlive them, what last will and testament?
“Show me and the world you love me, know me as the Lamb of God;
Do this in remembrance of me, eat this body, drink this blood.”
4 One in faith, in love united, all one body, you the head,
When we meet, by you invited, you are with us, as you said.
One with you and one another in a unity sublime,
See in us your sister, brother, one in ev’ry place and time.
5 One day all the Church will capture that bright vision glorious,
And your saints will know the rapture that your heart desired for us,
When the longed-for peace and union of the greatest and the least
Meet in joyous, blest communion in your never-ending feast.
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