Text: Matthew 26:17-46
“My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” —Matthew 26:42
“Pain is just a place where the will has been broken.” Those are the lyrics of a NEEDTOBREATHE song that keep coming back to me. We tend to leak streams of toxicities when we misinterpret our pain. In some cases those streams might roll into oceans of bitterness. That’s why the old saying rings true that hurt people hurt people.
None of us could ever fathom the agony that Christ endured in the Garden of Gethsemane, but as Oswald Chambers writes, at least we need not misunderstand it:
“The agony in Gethsemane is the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Saviour of the world. The veil is drawn aside to reveal all it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony is the basis of the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ is a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that Our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Every human being can get through into the presence of God now because of what the Son of Man went through.”
Gethsemane is where Jesus faced an exceedingly dark night of the soul—betrayal, anguish, alienation, and loneliness, followed by a torturous death. Here he shared in the human condition, suffering as a high priest who can sympathize not just with some of our hurts, but every last ounce of our pain (Hebrews 4:15). That sweat, in what became “like great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” is a picture of God’s son absorbing all of your earthly sorrow—even to the point of death (Matthew 26:38). The words in the Greek are expressive of the greatest misery imaginable.
To rescue us from ourselves, Jesus had to go through a place of intense pain. There was no other way to save us, but for Him to make our anguish his own. Suffering was part of His path of salvation. His passion wasn’t just physical torture, but intense rejection, emotional isolation, and haunting feelings of abandonment—the true existential condition of humanity.
Chambers believed that our own ‘Gethsemane’ experiences bring us into identification with the Lord himself, as we share in the fellowship of His suffering. Gethsemane literally means “oil press.” There, olives from the neighborhood were pressed under the intense weight of a beam-press to force the oil out. Olive oil was an important part of Jewish culture because of its many uses for seasoning food, healing wounds, and reversing the effects of poisons. Our own personal Gethsemanes have a similar affect. They press out our self-will so that we can flow from our Father’s pure will, and bring healing ingredients to a hurting world.
God never intends for our pain to make us bitter. He wants our self-will to be broken, in the same way that Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Paul said, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-12)
God is trying to do something redemptive with your pain. He is breaking your earthly self-will so that you flow with vitality in His divine will. Are you rightly interpreting your oil press? Think about that as you seek to abide in Him this week.
PRAYER
Father, not my will but your will be done. May this prayer never cease to be the anthem of my days, the surrender of my heart, the oxygen in my lungs, the obedience of my feet, and the servitude of my hands. Press me and pour me out for your glory, over and over again. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Reflection, Small Group or Family Discussion:
- In what particular situations is it hardest for you to stay awake?
- How do you react emotionally and physically when you are facing extreme stress?
- What kind of warning did Jesus give Peter, and how did Jesus react when He found His disciples sleeping a second time? (Matthew 26:40-44)
- What is amazing about Christ’s attitude and prayer?
- Why is it hard to give up our self-will? What might be holding you back from completely surrendering your present circumstances to God’s will?
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