On the night Jesus was betrayed He took His disciples with Him to Gethsemane and asked them to pray with Him. He was burdened and He needed prayer, needed His friends to stand with Him in this hour of great need.
He left the majority at a certain spot and took His three closest friends with Him a ways farther. He then left them there to "watch and pray" and He went farther still.
There was no fanfare, no formal preparation, He just fell down at the Father's feet and prayed, fervently prayed. He prayed with such intensity that He was actually sweating blood.
It is my belief that Jesus did not want to die. He knew what lay ahead of Him and baulked. He could have laid this burden aside and bypassed all the agony He faced. After all, He was perfect and truly did not deserve to die. We were the ones who deserved death. Not just physical death but also the second death, spiritual death, separation forever from the God who created us. He would have had perfect right to do this…But He did not.
Three times He sought release from this destination and three times He showed us true character and courage by telling the Father, "Not MY will but YOUR will be done…" (Emphasis mine). I don't think there were ever more courageous words spoken. Jesus had a mission from His Father and He courageously pushed past the temptation to call on the protection He alone deserves. Twelve legions of angels! Who could take Him with that wall of warriors surrounding Him? He did not avail Himself of that protection. He laid aside His rights so that we the helpless ones, could have the doors of salvation opened to us. A mission and courage. Courage and a mission.
There is no greater love than one lay down his life for his friends…
Jesus, perfect God, perfect man, WILLINGLY laid His life down for us, we who truly deserved to be put to death.
Courage is not the absence of fear but the determination to move forward in spite of the fear.
With just the slightest observation we can see an example that blows our socks off. We are not often, in this country, called on to lay down our life in the name a great cause. Jesus did not have a good cause. He came to pay the price for ungrateful rebels who not only could not conceive of who He was but also, with no evidence at all, asked that a murderous rebel be released and He be crucified. I can't say that I would not have been one of these ungrateful ones and, indeed, I find myself ungrateful even knowing all of this. Hindsight is 20/20 but it does not mean we learn from it. God, however, looked at us in pity and love and felt we were a good cause and He paid the price we deserved to pay.
Thank God He loved us so much that he sent His one and only Son to suffer and die so that we could live with Him in paradise forever.
There is a lot to think about in this one particular passage of scripture.
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