Jesus, the disciples, and many followers and family members have just finished the Passover Supper and Jesus has given the great command to love one another. Jesus has also said that one of his disciples, one who has followed him and been by his side for three years now, will betray him. Judas leaves the table and the disciples leave the upper room singing hymns as they travel to the garden to pray.

Jesus knows that the tension between the governing leaders both civic and religious has grown to a point of no return. In his faithfulness to proclaim the Word of God Jesus challenges the elite to the point that they want to see him dead, out of their way. They believe that Jesus is destroying their power and seriously disrupting and undermining them and the structures of the day. With this on his mind Jesus leads the disciples and especially the inner circle, Peter, James and John to pray with him. He tells them to keep awake and pray.

The writer of Matthew helps us remember that Jesus is a genuine human being, that he is both human and divine. We can hear the depth of despair that Jesus encounters. He is filled with sadness, deeply grieved about what he believes will take place. As far as we know Jesus has followed God's will all his life up to this point. Now comes the agonizing hours of his trial and death. Jesus prays to God, using the term Father, which here can be interpreted as the more intimate word "Daddy." In full union with God, yet fully human Jesus asks if it is possible for this cup to be taken from him. The term "cup" is a metaphor for the word death. It is used many times throughout the Bible.

Jesus has a choice at this point. He is praying for guidance, for strength, to fully understand God's will for him. He is free to rebel against God's will. He could choose to renounce all that he has said, save his life and run the other way. He does not go to the cross as God's robot. If Jesus was only divine, there would be no agony; there would be no concern about the cross. The cross would be an empty pantomime. Matthew does not portray Jesus as a martyr who does not flinch faced with severe torture. Nor does he present Jesus as a powerful mystic who can rise above the pain, numbing his senses. No…Jesus is human…his heart breaks with grief…so he prays. (Douglas Hare, Interpretation: Matthew)

The fact that his closest disciples could not stay awake and pray with him…be present with him in this hour of decision…must have been bitterly disappointing to Jesus. Not only will he suffer from those who hate him but those who he thought loved him cannot bear to be present with him through the toughest times. They will abandon him. As the powerful story unfolds it is only the women who are close to Jesus who follow him to the cross and to the tomb.

As Jesus continues to pray he says, "My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." Jesus surrenders his will to God's. Jesus could have saved his own life but to do so would be to ignore God's will. Jesus shows us that praying frequently and earnestly helps align our will with God's will. Now comes a tough theological issue? We often hear it said that God sent his Son to die on the cross for us. He died as a suffering sacrificial lamb taking away our sins… I wonder… what kind of God would do that? … Is this really about sending someone to purposely die a horrid death filled with shame and agony? Or is there something more to be learned from this garden story? I believe that Douglas Hare, a New Testament scholar, offers helpful insight to this question when he says, "Jesus' most important sacrifice was not his blood but his obedience…in the New Testament "blood" and "sacrifice" are metaphors for obedience, which was Jesus' real offering to God." (see Heb. 10: 5-10)

Jesus was obedient even when it meant his own life. This truly shows a great love and a great trust. The next tough question is "Did he really need to die?" Couldn't there be another way? Jesus answers this one himself when he tells the disciples that new life cannot come without death. He uses an everyday example; a grain of wheat must be buried in the ground, die to its current state so that new life, a new plant can spring forth out of the darkness of the ground into the sunlight of the day. That new wheat plant has the capacity to produce many more seeds from the one seed that was planted.

If Jesus turned away at this point I do not think we would be here this morning. If he had not surrendered his human will to God's will we would not know this story or as a congregation be called the Body of Christ. The Church would not have been formed. Jesus was obedient until death. The greatest offering of love that anyone can give is their life. My friends, Jesus fervent prayers were answered. He was given deliverance from death, not by avoiding death but through resurrection from death. He was given new life and the Body of Christ rose up.

So what can we take away with us this morning? What from this story is our story? What are the places in our lives that God is asking us to let go of…to surrender our will to God's? What as individuals and as a community of faith has to die so new life can occur? Usually our natural reaction is to fight death, to fight changes that God calls us to make. Our human condition or our human nature is to think about what we want and to avoid that which causes us pain or struggle. Our fear…fear of the unknown, fear of change, or death often blocks us from following God's will. Holy Week which begins today is an excellent time to pray fervently and sincerely seek God's will for our lives. If you choose to open yourself to God's will, to surrender to God's way, to be obedient to God, it does not necessarily mean that life will be easier or without struggle. In fact the opposite may be true. But the Good News is that even though life may not be as you had hoped or expected, if you commit to doing God's will or being obedient to God's call, life will be infinity richer and more abundant, not in the material sense, but rather in the quality of presence we can be for others and the world. May this Holy Week as we journey to Jerusalem be a time of time of deep searching, of worship and prayer, surrendering our wills to God's will. May it be a sacred and holy time of renewal and new life.



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