Right before Jesus was about to be cruelly executed, He wanted to spend one last night alone with His beloved disciples. During their last meal together, Jesus again reemphasized His message to them on how it is more important to be a servant TO all than to be served BY all (Luke 22:24-27). He takes it a step further to prove His point by washing their feet (John 13:4-17). What a beautiful last message He gave to them! I have always loved how Jesus' last moments with them as a man (before He appears to them in the resurrected form of God's Heavenly Son), is to remind them to love one another.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Loving one another and treating each other with the love of Christ is so vitally important to our testimony that it was one of the last things Jesus spoke about before being crucified. He did not tell them to become famous and seek wealth. No, He told them to be humble servants and treat each other with love. To help out one another and be kind so that people will be drawn to them by the spiritual fruit they bore. Their love and humble attitudes were to shine the light on Jesus Christ and His love for us. When others see a heavenly light in you, it can lead them to asking you why you shine and you can lead them to Christ!
After the last supper with his disciples, Jesus takes them to the Garden of Gethsemane. In part because He wanted some time alone with them away from other people, but also because He knew this was where His destiny needed to be fulfilled; where He was about to be betrayed by Judas. He had one last message for them:
Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Luke 22:40
Remember in The Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6:5-13, when Jesus tells them to pray "And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one." Again Jesus is reminding them to steer clear of temptation. You can read more about what I wrote on the subject of temptation in Part 1 of the Prayers of Jesus Christ at: https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-prayers-of-jesus-christ-part-1.html May we also follow Jesus' advice and do our very best to avoid temptation of sin. May we strive to truly be born again and daily seek to walk down paths of righteousness. (And he said to them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23)
Although we can try to imagine what Jesus was feeling a few hours before He was about to be tortured to death, we cannot fully grasp His emotions. The best I can equate it to was the few moments before I was about to be rolled into surgery (I had an ovarian tumor and an ovary removed in January 2019). I was willingly allowing myself to be cut open and have pain inflicted upon me. I was allowing this more so for my precious husband's sake than for my own because if that tumor was cancerous, I had to have it out. I needed to live for him. But I was fighting to live, not to die. I was unselfish for one person who loved me, not for billions that denied my name and betrayed me. And, it was one small area of my body that would suffer pain, not head to toe. Oh, and though I felt pain afterwards, I had pain medication and I was unconscious while the pain was being inflicted. See, my circumstance is not even a teeny tiny fraction of what Jesus willingly allowed Himself to go through. Why? Because He loves us and does not want even one soul in Hell.
And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:41-42
Can we be so brave and humble to pray those same words? How often do we demand our own way? How often do we scold God for not doing things our way? How dare the Creator of the Universe and all things living past, present, and future, not listen to our plans? How dare the King of Kings try to help us by choosing a different path we want to go down? When I am on my knees, I try to make it a habit of saying, "Jesus, I surrender my whole life into Your hands. Do with me as You will." While there will be times in my life I will want to take those words back, I usually mean them with all my heart and soul. And will trust Him no matter what He chooses for me.
Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22:43-44
Some people may try to tell you that fear is a sin. While I believe that fear is the opposite of faith, it is not a sin. Jesus was sinless, and yet the above verse shows He was afraid. Of course, He was, He was willingly allowing Himself to be led like a sheep to the slaughter.
It is a scientific fact that sweating blood only happens in extreme cases of fear. You can read about it here: https://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t018.html Yet, Jesus still prayed that God's will would be done and He followed through on God's will for His life, but ours! I repeat, not for His life, but ours!
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. John 15:12-14
And yet, He did not ask the angel to stay and fight for Him or to take Him away. He stood His ground and let His mission to beaten, bruised, and murdered be fulfilled.
While I do not believe in getting so caught up in angels that we worship them or put more emphasis on them than on Jesus, they are vitally important to us physically and spiritually. I will write more on this subject another day.
When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” Luke 22:45-46
Again, Jesus mentions falling into temptation. It is so very important that we not fall asleep in our spiritual walk with the Lord. We must pray every day that we do not fall into temptation. I am going to take this a step farther and mention that temptation to habitual sin is not the only trap of temptation into which we can fall. Jesus knew His disciples were about to be tested as they never imagined and that they would be tempted to fall way from their faith. In order to stay grounded in Christ, we must not fall into the temptations of television or movies, not just because it takes us away from pursuing the things of Christ, but also because it is detrimental to the condition of our souls (please listen to this entire David Wilkerson sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Fn0yMSwQc). We should not play computer games or reading fiction (which I am guilty of) or spend hours on any other activity that take us away from reading the Bible and praying. Life is meant to be enjoyed, but let's not put playing before the Lord and neglect spending time with Him first.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness... Matthew 6:33
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