The Son in Sorrow, Part 1

Matthew 26:36-39

INTRODUCTION

Those of us who have been in the church for a long time are probably familiar with the hymn "Hallelujah, What a Savior!" written by Phillip Bliss. It begins,

"Man of sorrows!" what a name

For the Son of God, who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

The phrase "man of sorrows" is taken from Isaiah 53:3, which says the Messiah would be "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." The Lord was indeed a man of sorrows. There is no record in Scripture of Jesus ever laughing, but there are many statements about His grief. In John 11:35 He wept over the grave of Lazarus. Prior to that He groaned deep within Himself when He saw the impact of sin and death (v. 33). And as Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem, He wept over its evil and unbelieving population (Luke 19:41).

Yet none of Christ's sorrow over disease, unbelief, disobedience, ignorance, or rejection can compare to what He experienced in Matthew 26:36-46. The sorrow He experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane was an accumulation and intensification of all the sorrow He had ever known in His life. To study the suffering of Jesus in this text is like treading on holy ground. We will attempt to explain something that is inexplicable. It is mystery too profound for mortal man, and perhaps even the holy angels. We stand in awe of the God-Man--fully aware of His deity--yet see Him suffer pain, as if He were not God. It is indeed too much for us to understand.

Matthew 26:36-46 is powerful. The Lord is in the garden of Gethsemane, just prior to His capture, mock trial, and execution. This passage details one aspect of His preparation for the cross. But it also prepares the disciples. While Christ had to endure His struggle in the garden to fulfill God's plan to defeat the devil, it also is an important element in the disciples' preparation. Out of that experience they would learn the profound lesson of verse 41, where our Lord says, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Ever and always the teacher, even in the midst of an unbelievable and inexplicable struggle with the enemy, the Lord saw beyond His own experience to teach His own. In His struggle He saw a great lesson--one that teaches us how we should face temptation and severe trials.

To see our way through this narrative, and to draw a poignant conclusion, I want to give you five key words: sorrow, supplication, sleep, strength, and sequence. But before we look at them, we need to establish the context of this passage.

LESSON

I. SETTING THE SCENE (vv. 36-37a)

"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee."

A. The Time

1. Reviewing Christ's prediction

"Then" sets up a chronological flow. It places us just after the Lord predicted the disciples' denial and desertion. They denied they would ever do such a thing, but they did, just as Christ said they would.

2. Reviewing Passover week

The setting is midnight on Thursday of the last week of our Lord's life. His few years of ministry are complete. The Galilean, Judean, and Perean ministries, along with miracles and healings, have ended. It is now the Passover in Jerusalem in the year [sc]A.D. 33 or A.D. 30 (depending on which date is used for Christ's birth). He came not only to attend the Passover, but also to be the Passover. On Saturday He arrived in Bethany to stay with His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. On Sunday crowds came to Bethany to hear Him teach. On Monday He rode into the city of Jerusalem to the hosannas and praises of the people, who proclaimed Him as their Messiah. On Tuesday He cleansed the Temple. On Wednesday He entered the Temple and both taught the people and rebuked the religious leaders. On Wednesday evening He ascended the Mount of Olives and taught the disciples about His Second Coming. On Thursday Peter and John made preparations for the Passover, and that evening Christ and His disciples ate the Passover meal.

The time is now near midnight. Christ and the disciples had finished the meal, sung the final hymn, and left the upper room. They passed through the city of Jerusalem and out the Eastern gate just north of the Temple, descended the slope of the Temple mount, crossed the Kidron brook, and ascended the Mount of Olives. They stopped for a brief time on a slope of the Mount of Olives where the Lord warned the disciples about their impending defection. Finally they had arrived at the garden of Gethsemane. Here, in a short time, Jesus would be taken prisoner. But before that, Christ interceded with the Father. The Lord used that time of prayer to instruct His disciples and us how to deal with severe temptation.

B. The Place

Gethsemane probably means "olive press" in Aramaic. Apparently, that name was given to a garden, or an area that included a garden, on a slope of the Mount of Olives. It was called Gethsemane because the mountain was filled with olive trees. Very few remain today, and those that do are old and gnarled. Some might even date back to the time of Christ, but we don't know for sure. The wealthy people of Jerusalem maintained gardens on that western slope of the Mount of Olives, just east of the city. They had to--there was no room in the walled city to keep gardens because the population was so dense.

The garden of Gethsemane was a familiar place to Christ and the disciples. John 18:2 tells us they often went there. It was private--secluded from the bustle of the crowds in the city. Christ could go there to spend the night in prayer to His Father or instruct His disciples.

We don't know who owned the garden. Whoever did is another of the nameless people who served Christ toward the end of His life, such as the man who furnished Him with an animal to ride into Jerusalem and the host who provided the upper room. Commentator William Barclay said, "In a desert of hatred, there were still oases of love" (The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1958], p. 384). They are nameless to us, but they are not unknown to God.

C. The People

1. Establishing the guard

When they reached the garden, somewhere near the top on the gentle slopes of the Mount of Olives, Christ told His disciples, "Sit here, while I go and pray yonder" (v. 37). Most likely, the garden was fenced or walled in, and Christ probably positioned the disciples just inside the entrance.

a) An important opportunity

The disciples knew what was about to happen. Previously Jesus had told them it was time for Him to die: "Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified" (Matt. 26:2). In verse 31 He tells them, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night; for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." With such a significant crisis before them, they should have taken the opportunity to pray. When Christ said He was going to pray, the disciples should have followed His lead.

Christ had a good reason for asking the disciples to stay at the entrance of the garden--He needed some seclusion. With the disciples guarding the entrance, He could be assured His time with the Father would not be interrupted. So He set the disciples like a watch to guard Him, but also to pray.

However, there is no indication that they even uttered a breath of prayer. They had heard Christ's prediction, but they existed in an arena of smug self-confidence. They perceived themselves as invincible, confusing their good intentions for power. That was foolish. As a result, they didn't pray as the Lord went on.

b) An intense objective

There is little doubt of what Christ was going to do. He told them He was going to pray. The Greek word Matthew used is proseuchomai, an intense word always used of praying to God, as opposed to euchomai, which can refer to begging or requesting something from someone. Christ was going to pour out His heart to God.

2. Instructing the leaders

Christ left all the disciples at the entrance to the garden, with the exception of Peter, James, and John, whom He took with Him. They alone of the disciples were present when Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead (Mark 5:37), and when He was transfigured (Matt. 17:1). Perhaps Jesus wanted to balance their experience of His glory with a glimpse at His humiliation.

a) Christ's reason for choosing the three

Commentators through the years have debated why Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him. We know He couldn't take all the disciples because someone had to guard the gate. And He had to leave a strong enough contingent there to discourage people from looking for Him. Furthermore, a large group of disciples would attract attention to themselves, drawing people to them instead of Christ. That explains why Christ left a large group at the entrance, but why did He take Peter, James, and John with Him to pray?

(1) Companionship

Some claim that Christ wanted those who loved Him most to be with Him to sympathize and support Him. That's a nice sentiment, and I believe it contains an element of truth since He obviously loved their companionship. But I don't believe that was His primary reason for taking them.

(2) Observation

Others believe Christ considered Peter, James, and John the weakest disciples, and therefore He couldn't let them out of His sight. But Christ gave more of Himself to those three than any of the others. Additionally, not much could be said for the success of His discipling efforts if they were still the weakest after three years of special consideration. Our Lord was a better teacher than that!

(3) Instruction

I believe Jesus took them because they were the three leaders. He had a lesson that all the disciples needed to learn, but He couldn't take all eleven with Him and still maintain a guard at the entrance of the gate. Jesus took Peter, James, and John because the other disciples looked to them for leadership. Whatever they learned they would communicate to the rest.

b) Christ's skill in conveying a lesson

Our Lord is always the teacher. Even though He agonized over going to the cross, He used His agony as a means for instruction. He wanted to make the most of the situation, so through His experience He taught the three disciples how to face temptation. The key to overcoming temptation is not smug self-confidence, which denies the possibility of failure, but dependence on God through intense prayer.

Jesus didn't need the disciples' help or sympathy. He never asked them to pray for Him. He didn't take them so He could keep His eye on them, otherwise why would He leave them and go on further (v. 39)? He may have gone beyond them thirty to fifty yards--Luke says He went a stone's throw (Luke 22:41). Jesus didn't want to patrol them, and He didn't need their support or sympathy. But He did want them to learn how to face a trial, and pass on that lesson to others. I believe Christ also wanted them to see something of His agony that they might better understand His love.

There is a garden of Gethsemane in all our lives. Perhaps you're now experiencing agonizing trials and temptations. The deep sorrow of a trial is something we all must pass through sooner or later. When faced with the bitter cup of trials, our social nature pushes us to reach out to others for our strength. But we expect too much from them. Even our dearest and holiest friends, however willing their spirits might be, are still burdened by weak flesh. We need to learn to rely on God. Christ found His support in God, and He didn't ask for sympathy.

Jesus didn't need to patrol the disciples; His three-years work was complete and He was ready to leave. The Holy Spirit would take over where He finished. Jesus took the three disciples to instruct them in how He faced a trial.

c) Christ's remedy for facing a temptation

Christ's humble acquiescence to His task provides a remarkable contrast to the confident boasting of Peter and the other disciples, who claimed they could handle the trial and wouldn't deny Christ.

(1) What sinless humanity acknowledges

Humanity is weak. Sinful fallen humanity will not acknowledge its weakness, but sinless unfallen humanity will. Jesus was conscious of the weakness of His humanity. Although He was perfect and sinless, He was human. His death proved His humanity was weak, and death is the essence of weakness. Tears are a sign of human weakness because they're a sign of pain. Agony and suffering are a sign of human weakness. God knows no pain, agony, or suffering. But when He became a man, He experienced those things on our behalf.

(2) What sinless humanity feels

What Jesus knew about His unfallen sinlessness the foolish disciples could not recognize in their fallen condition. When a man enters into a severe trial, he must not look to other men, but to God for his strength. That the disciples refused to do. They flunked a less severe test; Christ passed the severest test in the history of humanity.

The writer of Hebrews said, "We have not an high priest [Christ] who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (4:15). When you go to the Lord with your needs, you're not talking to a high priest who doesn't know how you feel. He was fully human. He was "touched with the feelings of our infirmities"--He experienced the weakness of humanity, yet without committing sin. As He prepared to go to the cross, He experienced suffering, sorrow, and grief in the garden through the severe temptation of Satan. In the midst of that temptation we can sense His dependence on God. We can have victory in the midst of our trials by depending on God.

The Beginning and End of Christ's Temptation

Jesus' ministry began and ended with severe temptations. In Matthew 4, at the beginning of Christ's ministry, Satan tempted Him after He had fasted forty days in the wilderness. How many waves of temptation did Jesus face that first time? Three. In like manner Jesus faces three waves of temptation in Matthew 26:36-46. Satan attacked Him at the beginning and end of His ministry, and Jesus was victorious on both occasions.

Both temptations were personal and private solicitations to evil by Satan. We would have no insight into them if they had not been revealed to us in Scripture. But Jesus reveals both encounters to teach us profound truth. In the course of the first encounter early in His ministry, Jesus answered each temptation with Scripture. Throughout the second, Jesus responded to each temptation with prayer. When we face temptation we have two weapons at our disposal. Second Corinthians 10:4 says, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God." Those weapons are the Word of God and prayer. Ephesians 6:17-18 says to take "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always." If the disciples never learned anything but that, they would know enough to defeat the enemy. If we're to handle every temptation that comes our way, we do so by relying on the Word of God and the power of prayer.

II. UNFOLDING THE TEXT (vv. 37b-46)

A. Sorrow (vv. 37b-38)

1. The essence of Christ's sorrow (v. 37b)

"[Christ] began to be sorrowful and very depressed."

After having gone some distance further into the garden with Peter, James, and John, Jesus began to be sorrowful and very depressed.

a) The anticipation of the cross

Our Lord began to experience deep anguish. Jesus didn't go to the cross and die and then rise again without feeling anything. Every omniscient thought that anticipated the cross repulsed Him. He agonized over the reality of the cross. He despised everything connected with it--guilt, sin, death, isolation, loneliness, and estrangement from God. He didn't take it on coolly and calmly, as if He were turning a page in a book on redemptive history; it brought Him indescribable agony. His horror of the cross so repulsed Him that it's beyond our understanding.

Yet our understanding of the magnitude of the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ is enhanced by knowing this: each time Jesus thought about the cross, He died. His omniscience allowed Him to experience His own death. Because He fully understood everything, He fully experienced His death before it ever happened. Is there any wonder that He was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3)? The pain of the cross was always with Him, but it was in the garden that it reached its apex. His victorious endurance of that pain shows how much He loved the Father and submitted to His will, and how much He loved sinners.

b) The agony of depression

Christ's anticipation of the cross brought terror, pain, and sorrow. The Greek word translated "sorrowful" (lupe[ma]o) means "deep sadness" in this context. According to one commentator the word translated "very depressed" (ad[ma]emone[ma]o) probably means by derivation "to be away from home" (R.V.G. Tasker, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], p. 252). Home is where comfortable things are. Home is where you belong, where your family is, where love is, where you're at ease and feel accepted. Jesus was away from home. He was isolated in conflict with hell. Such a conflict was deeply depressing. Psalm 42 is a Messianic psalm that contains a description of this experience: "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" (v. 7). Desolate loneliness and sorrow caused Christ to be deeply depressed.

Why Was Christ Depressed?

Christ was depressed not only about what had happened, but also what would happen.

1. The defection of Judas

Jesus Christ is the most fascinating human who ever lived. As the God-Man, who knew only love and did only what was right, He was full of goodness, grace, mercy, and kindness. He was the trusted friend, lover of souls, and gracious master adored by holy angels and guarded by Seraphim. Yet He was humiliated by a wretched traitor--an earthly Lucifer who spit on his holy privilege.

2. The desertion of the eleven

Christ was the source of the disciples' lives. He was the resource for their needs, the comforter for every grief, and the lesson for every point of ignorance. He was their faithful teacher, loyal friend, encourager, forgiver, and supporter. Yet He was forsaken by those whom He would never forsake. He spent three years with men who turned their backs on Him and ran to save their own lives. You would be depressed if those you loved and invested your life in forsook you.

3. The denial by Peter

Christ invested most of His time in Peter. He was not ashamed to call sinful Peter His friend. He was not ashamed to give Peter leadership of His disciples. He was not ashamed to make Peter His brother, and share all His eternal riches with him. Yet Christ was to be the object of Peter's shame. Wretched, sinful Peter would deny and curse his holy Lord.

4. The rejection by Israel

The Messiah's own people rejected Him. He is the Lord of their covenant, the King of glory and grace, and the source of their hope. He came to redeem them, yet He would be rejected by them, murdered by their unbelief.

5. The injustice of men

Christ established the laws of the world. He is the God of equity, fairness, and truth. Yet He would be cheated by the petty courts whose lies would deny Him justice.

6. The cursing and mocking of the soldiers

Angels continually praise Christ. For all eternity He knew nothing but praise, adoration, and exaltation by holy creatures for His eternal perfection. Yet He would be spit on, mocked, and belittled by the profanity of stupid men.

7. The bearing of sin

The spotless, sinless, holy Son of God would become sin. At the moment of His death He was so identified with sin that He would be called sin, even though He knew no sin. Such an experience repulsed everything in His holy nature.

8. The abandonment by God

Christ is the beloved of the Father. God says of Him, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). He is the object of eternal love. Yet He would be abandoned by the Father. In addition Christ is a fellow of the Holy Spirit and member of the angelic association. He who communes with holy creatures, the eternally glorious friend, would be left alone--forsaken by even the holy hosts.

9. The imminence of His death

As God, Jesus is immortal and eternal--He knows no death. As human beings, we come into the world tasting death our whole life long. Although we are fallen and sinful, still we are repulsed by the spectre of death. How much more would death repulse Christ, who never knew its taste? The writer of Hebrews says, "By the grace of God, [Christ] should taste of death for every man" (Heb. 2:9). He would face something an eternal being could never face, but as a Man He would die for all men. Jewish scholar Alfred Edersheim said, "He disarmed Death by burying his shaft in His own Heart" (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980], p. 539). 

c) The attack of Satan

Christ's depression was not theater; it was reality. All that He struggled with was overwhelmingly depressing, and it amounted to a life-and-death struggle with Satan. There's no doubt in my mind that Satan was at the heart of Christ's temptation in the garden. Christ would not have experienced any struggle unless Satan was present. Certainly Christ could not have struggled with His own nature because His nature was sinless.

(1) His method

I believe Satan tempted Christ in the garden in much the same manner as in the wilderness. The gist of Satan's temptation that first time was, "Make stones into bread, jump off the Temple, and bow down to me and I'll give You the kingdoms of the world" (Matt. 4:1-12). Satan's ploy was to show Christ His worthiness of a better life--that He should not allow Himself to be so deprived. But that's typical of Satan. He wants us to think we deserve more than we've got (cf., Gen. 3:1-5). And I believe Satan used a similar approach in the garden: "You are the Son of God! Why are You allowing a rabble to take You captive and execute You? Why is Your face in the dirt, in agony crying out to God? Why be humiliated by the desertion of eleven disciples and the betrayal of one wretched traitor? You deserve better than that! You're too worthy. You're the Son of God. Take what You're entitled to!"

(2) His motive

Satan wanted to keep Christ from the cross. In His first temptation Satan tried to get Christ to claim His Kingdom immediately, therefore bypassing the cross. Later, Satan used Peter to convey the same temptation. Jesus said to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me; for thou savorest not the things that are of God, but those that are of men" (Matt. 16:23). Peter didn't understand God's plan. Satan brought three waves of temptation upon Christ in the garden in his attempt to stop Him from following God's plan.

2. The extent of Christ's sorrow (v. 38)

"Then saith he [Christ] unto them [the three disciples], My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death; tarry here, and watch with me."

The Greek word translated "exceedingly sorrowful" is perilupos, which means "to be surrounded by sorrow." He was engulfed in sadness. Jesus said His soul--His inner being--was drowning in sorrow to the point of death. His sorrow was enough to kill Him. It is possible for a man to die from sheer anguish. The capillaries can burst, and that happened to Christ. As He began to sweat in His agony, His perspiration mingled with the blood escaping through His sweat glands (Luke 22:44), a condition known as hematidrosis. Christ could have died from His anguish right there in the garden if God had not sent an angel to strengthen Him (v. 43). When He was crucified, Christ died very fast, so fast the soldiers didn't have to break His legs. His anguish was so severe that death was imminent.

Christ's anguish on the cross cannot be isolated--His entire life was full of sorrow. So He retreated to the Father, saying to the disciples, "Tarry here, and watch with me" (Matt. 26:38). Obviously Christ wanted them to pray with Him. They should have because He warned them about what was coming.

B. Supplication (vv. 39, 42, 44)

Verse 39 says, "He went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed." Verse 42 says, "He went away again the second time, and prayed." Verse 44 says, "He left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time." With each wave of temptation Christ retreated into seclusion with the Father in prayer, as His grief and sorrow continued to escalate. One hint of that is Luke's reference to Christ's beginning His first prayer to the Father in a kneeling position (22:41), but Matthew says He fell on His face (26:39). Obviously Christ began by kneeling but soon was lying prostrate with His face on the ground.

1. The first supplication (v. 39)

"He went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."

a) The elements of Christ's prayer

(1) His comfort in God's love

Every time Christ prayed to God He called Him "Father" except once, when God forsook Him while He hung on the cross bearing the sin of the world (Matt. 27:46). But His prayer in Matthew 26:39 is the only record in Scripture of His referring to God as "My Father" (emphasis added). He talked to God in intimate terms, something foreign to Judaism. The Jews struggled with Jesus' use of "Father" for God because they didn't refer to God as their personal Father. To them He was the Father of the nation, and there was no intimacy in that. But in verse 39 Jesus carries His intimate approach one step further and says, "O My Father." In his gospel Mark said He cried "Abba, Father" (14:36). While Jesus clung to His intimacy with God, Satan tried to pry Him from the Father's will and purpose. But Jesus would not be released from that intimate relationship. He would not distrust His Father, just as He would not make bread on His own, credit Himself as the Messiah, or take on the kingdoms of the world apart from the cross (Matt. 4:1-12).

(2) His conflict over God's plan

After addressing God in such intimate terms Christ said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39). That is a prayer of resolution and resignation to the will of God. When Christ says, "If it be possible," He was not asking God if He had the power to let the cup pass from Him, for He knew God had the power to let it. But He was asking if it were possible within the plan of God. Was it morally possible--was it consistent with God's plan to save sinners--to let Christ redeem sinners in another way? Christ endured unbearable anguish in the garden. In fact, just after this first prayer Jesus began to sweat great clots of blood (Luke 22:44). The Greek word for "clots" is thrombos, from which the English word thrombosis is derived. Christ did not try to avoid God's redemptive work, but the degree of such agony led Him to ask if there were another way to accomplish it.

(3) His consumption of God's wrath

The cup Christ would drink symbolizes the experience He would endure. He would consume the cup of divine wrath to its bitter dregs. Psalm 75:8, Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 49:12, and other scriptures refer to the cup of judgment or the cup of wrath. Christ would endure the fury of God over sin, Satan, the power of death, and the guilt of iniquity. Our Lord desired to avoid that part of God's plan if there were another way.

(4) His commitment to God's will

Remember that Christ once said, "For this cause [death] came I unto this hour" (John 12:27). Therefore it is no surprise that our Lord concluded His prayer by saying, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39). Jesus once told Peter, "Thou savorest not the things that are of God, but those that are of men" (Matt. 16:23). He came into the world to do God's will, and that was His absolute and total commitment.

Christ's supplication reveals His genuine agony because we see His desire to be relieved of it. However, it was followed by His commitment to do God's will, no matter what the cost. That is the way we all should face temptation, with confident prayer and commitment to the will of God. Jesus trusted God. The intensity of His struggle brought out the best in Him because He approached it correctly. But it brought out the worst in the disciples because they approached it incorrectly, even though their trial was infinitely less severe than His.

Focusing on the Facts

1. What caused Jesus to be a man of sorrows?

2. Where is His sorrow most clearly observed? What can we learn from it?

3. At what time does Christ's intercession with the Father in Matthew 26:36-46 take place?

4. Where was the garden of Gethsemane? Why was it probably called Gethsemane?

5. Why did Jesus and His disciples often go to the garden of Gethsemane?

6. What opportunity did some of the disciples let pass when Christ left them at the entrance to the garden?

7. Why did the Lord ask several of the disciples to remain near the entrance to the garden (Matt. 26:37)?

8. What was Christ intending to do in the garden?

9. Why did Jesus want Peter, James, and John to accompany Him further into the garden?

10. What is the key to overcoming temptation?

11. Why shouldn't we rely on friends when facing a trial?

12. What does sinless humanity acknowledge?

13. What two weapons does the believer have at his disposal when he undergoes severe temptation from Satan? Explain.

14. What made Christ sorrowful and depressed (Matt. 26:37)? Elaborate on several possibilities.

15. What was Satan's method for tempting Christ in the garden?

16. What was Satan's reason for tempting Christ?

17. Explain the extent of Christ's sorrow (Matt. 26:38).

18. What physical position did Christ take as He prayed to the Father (Matt. 26:39; Luke 22:41)?

19. In what manner did Christ address God? Why is that significant (Matt. 26:39)?

20. Explain Christ's statement, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matt. 26:39).

21. What does the cup in Matthew 26:39 symbolize?

Pondering the Principles

1. What do you normally do once you realize you are in the midst of a trial? Do you turn to God for help, depend on your friends, or seek to get out of it on your own? Read 1 Corinthians 10:12-13. What does that passage teach you about the solution to a trial? Who delivers you out of a trial: yourself or God? How will the deliverance occur? Read Galatian 6:2, 5 and 1 Thessalonians 5:14. What role should other Christians play in your trial? The next time you face a trial, how will you respond?

2. In Matthew 26:39, in the midst of great sorrow, Jesus cries out to God saying, "O my Father." That reveals His great intimacy with God. How intimate are you with the Father? The depth of your relationship to Him depends on how much time you spend each day studying His Word and praying to Him. If you truly want to be closer to God, find some activities you can cut out of your schedule so you can spend more time with your Father. You'll be rewarded by knowing Him better than ever before.

3. Read Matthew 26:39. How would you characterize Christ's commitment to His Father's will? How would you characterize your commitment to your Father's will? How do you respond when your desires seemingly differ from the direction God is leading? The next time that happens, will you be able to say as Christ did, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39). Memorize that verse for the next occasion.