STORY OF JESUS 16
In Gethsemane
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The Saviour's life on earth was a life of prayer. Many were the hours He
spent alone with God. Often did He send up His earnest petitions to His heavenly
Father. Thus He received strength and wisdom to sustain Him in His work, and to
keep Him from falling under the temptations of Satan.
After eating the Passover supper with His disciples, Jesus went with them
to the garden of Gethsemane, where He often went to pray. As He walked, He
talked with them, and taught them; but as they neared the garden, He became
strangely silent.
All His life, Jesus had lived in the presence of His Father. The Spirit
of God had been His constant guide and support. He always gave God the glory for
His works on earth, and said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing."
John 5:30.
We can do nothing of ourselves. It is only by relying on Christ for all
our strength that we can overcome, and do His will on earth. We must have the
same simple, childlike trust in Him that He had in His Father. Christ said,
"Without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5.
The terrible night of agony for the Saviour began as they neared the
garden. It seemed that the presence of God, which had been His support, was no
longer with Him. He was beginning to feel what it was to be shut out from His
Father.
Christ must bear the sins of the world. As they were now laid upon Him,
they seemed more than He could endure. The guilt of sin was so terrible, He was
tempted to fear that God could no longer love Him.
As He felt the awful displeasure of the Father against evil, the words
were forced from Him, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death."
Near the gate of the garden, Jesus had left all His disciples except
Peter, James, and John, and He had gone into the garden with these three. They
were His most earnest followers, and had been His closest companions. But He
could not bear that even they should witness the suffering He was to endure. He
said to them:
"Tarry ye here, and watch with Me." Matthew 26:38.
He went a short distance from them, and fell prostrate upon the ground.
He felt that by sin He was being separated from the Father. The gulf between
them appeared so broad, so black, so deep, that He shuddered before it.
Christ was not suffering for his own sins, but for the sins of the world.
He was feeling the displeasure of God against sin as the sinner will feel it in
the great judgment day.
In His agony, Christ clung to the cold ground. From His pale lips came
the bitter cry, "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me;
nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." Matthew 26:39.
For an hour Christ bore this terrible suffering alone. Then He came to
the disciples, hoping for some word of sympathy. But no sympathy awaited Him,
for they were asleep. They awoke at the sound of His voice, but they hardly knew
Him, His face was so changed by anguish. Addressing Peter, He said:
"Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour?" Mark
14:37.
Just before He bent His footsteps to the garden, Christ had said to the
disciples, "All ye shall be offended because of Me this night." They
had given Him the strongest assurance that they would go with Him to prison and
to death. And poor, self-sufficient Peter had added, "Although all shall be
offended, yet will not I." Mark 14:27, 29.
But the disciples trusted to themselves. They did not look to the Mighty
Helper as Christ had counselled them to do. So when the Saviour was most in need
of their sympathy and prayers, they were found asleep. Even Peter was sleeping.
And John, the loving disciple who had leaned upon the breast of Jesus,
was asleep. Surely the love of John for his Master should have kept him awake.
His earnest prayers should have mingled with those of his loved Saviour in the
time of His great agony. The Redeemer had spent whole nights in praying for His
disciples, that their faith might not fail in the hour of trial. Yet they could
not remain awake with Him even one hour.
Had Christ now asked James and John, "Can ye drink of the cup that I
drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" they
would not have answered so readily as they did before, "We can." Mark
10:38, 39.
The Saviour's heart was filled with pity and sympathy at the weakness of
His disciples. He feared that they could not endure the test which His suffering
and death would bring upon them.
Yet He did not sternly reprove them for their weakness. He thought of the
trials that were before them, and said:
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation."
He made an excuse for their failure in duty toward Him: "The spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41. What an example
of the tender, loving pity of the Saviour!
Again the Son of God was seized with superhuman agony. Fainting and
exhausted, He staggered back, and prayed as He had prayed before:
"O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink
it, Thy will be done." Matthew 26:42.
The agony of this prayer forced drops of blood from His pores. Again He
sought the disciples for sympathy, and again He found them sleeping. His
presence aroused them. They looked upon His face with fear, for it was stained
with blood. They could not understand the anguish of mind which His face
expressed.
The third time He sought the place of prayer. A horror of great darkness
overcame Him. He had lost the presence of His Father. Without this, He feared
that in His human nature He could not endure the test.
The third time He prays the same prayer as before. Angels long to bring
relief, but it may not be. The Son of God must drink this cup, or the world will
be lost forever. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The
woes of a doomed world pass in review before Him.
He makes the final decision. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He
has left the courts of Heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to
save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression, and He
will not turn from His purpose. His prayer now breathes only submission:
"If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will
be done."
The Saviour now falls dying to the ground. No disciple is there, to place
his hand tenderly beneath his Master's head, and bathe that brow, marred indeed
more than the sons of men. Christ is alone; of all the people there are none
with Him.
But God suffers with His Son. Angels behold the Saviour's agony. There is
silence in Heaven. No harp is touched. Could men have viewed the amazement of
the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the Father separating His beams
of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how
offensive in His sight is sin.
A mighty angel now comes to the side of Christ. He lifts the head of the
divine sufferer upon his bosom, and points toward Heaven. He tells Him that He
has come off victor over Satan. As the result, millions will be victors in His
glorious kingdom.
A heavenly peace rests upon the Saviour's blood-stained face. He has
borne that which no human being can ever bear; for He has tasted the sufferings
of death for every man.
Again Christ sought His disciples, and again He found them sleeping. Had
they remained awake, watching and praying with their Saviour, they would have
received help for the trial before them. Missing this, they had no strength in
their hour of need.
Looking sorrowfully on them, Christ said, "Sleep on now, and take
your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the
hands of sinners."
Even as He spoke these words, He heard the footsteps of the mob in search
of Him, and said:
"Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray
Me." Matthew 26:45, 46.
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