There are many stories in the Bible about what happens when we (man that is) decide God needs some help in fulfilling His plans, and we set about to do so. Just because these stories are captured and printed in the Bible does NOT mean that each episode was designed as an object lesson for us to follow; rather, they are presented to show us what problems we bring about when we do this. At the outset of any such example story, our intentions are good, our plans are solid, they make “common sense”, and they would appear to have achieved the goals God had in mind. All of this sounds true. But what it leaves out, is a dependent faith upon God alone to do what He has promised. We begin to “steal” some of the responsibility from God and lay the burden upon our own shoulders, hoping to share the accomplishment of fulfilling what indeed was only supposed to be what God alone can really do. And because we are human, we insert our humanity, our ideas, our practicality into what was supposed to be divine, beyond our abilities to accomplish (indeed beyond the capabilities of any man) – and what results is far from the plans of God, and deep into the messes we are capable of making – all of it done, in the name of God.
Now there are many things that God has asked for our help in doing. Things like loving each other, forgiving each other, showing mercy and compassion. The basics. In doing these things we are not trying to “accomplish” something, rather only trying to see in ourselves, how much we need God to truly accomplish even the basics; and trying to benefit others by reflecting His love. What I am referring to however is far beyond the basics, but promises that need a divine intervention. When we try to help God get those done, by doing some of the work ourselves, problems ensue, and messes follow. Take for consideration an early example committed by the “father of the Jewish faith”, namely Abraham. Despite him seeming to singularly be seeking the true God in his time (he wasn’t, the priest Melchisidek proves that). Abraham was promised a son, and from that son, a nation, kings, and the salvation of the earth. But Abraham was getting old, very old. His wife along with him. So Sarah decides to “help” God, by handing Abraham her servant to impregnate and fulfill God’s promise. Abraham agrees with this plan, and executes it, Ishmael is born. But Ishmael was NOT the promise, he was the result of our mistake of thinking “we” could do what God alone could do.
Despite our mistake, it was no fault of Ishmael, and God loves Ishmael and blessed him, and his lineage survives to this day (fairly numerous themselves). But the animosity between Ishmael and Isaac also lasts to this day (and it is unlikely we may ever see peace in the middle east because of it). Abraham makes yet another mistake in Egypt when he lies to Pharaoh to keep Pharoah from committing murder to steal his wife. If God had not intervened, Abraham would have lost his wife anyway. Just because Abraham was known as the father of the Jewish faith, does not make him perfect. And when he broke trust with God, and tried to help God himself, instead of trusting to the promise of God, that required divine intervention, things went wrong, with lasting effects wrong. These early stories are not told for us to emulate, they are told for us to learn from and avoid repeating. But we seem bent on ignoring the lessons of broken trust and getting out of them, what only our selfishness could derive. In Abraham’s case for example, we justify multiple marriages (as if that is what God had in mind). We say that because God loved Ishmael and his mother, it must be OK with God that this happened (in effect blessing the idea of multiple marriages). It was not. It was human weakness that did this, not the plan of God. But it is man’s selfishness that derives only this “justification” from what should have been a cautionary story.
Fast forward to the time of Christ. Matthew in his gospel to his contemporaries focuses hard on identifying the traitor Judas, and describing his crimes in great detail. From reading his gospel one could easily get a sense that Matthew was not too fond of any betrayer and not very interested in “why” Judas would do this great evil, only that he did. But motives matter. Consider for a moment how this may have been a case of “man” trying to help God do what man believed God was supposed to do and had promised to do. Everyone in these days believed the Messiah would come to throw off Roman oppression and build a kingdom that would never end. The disciples believed this too, no matter how many times Jesus said otherwise. Matthew believed it, as did Judas, and Peter. But Jesus despite clearly being the Messiah, was failing to accomplish what God had promised He would do (according to their interpretation of scripture at the time). Jesus had too much love in Him. Now sometimes, only when faced with the emminent threat of death, do we do what needs to be done to survive. Judas may have been sure that if Jesus were actually faced with death, He would rise up, and become the king and conqueror each of the disciples believed Him to be. But they were all wrong. Wrong about their interpretation of timing, and of scripture, and of the real role of the Messiah, which was far greater than their limited interpretations would have allowed.
When faced with death, Jesus would choose to die. His divinity would lay down its power in order that His sacrifice would save us all. It is the basis of our salvation, that Jesus would herein take on our punishment for us. But even though the reward was great, the cost was great as well. Matthew picks up the story in chapter 26 beginning in verse 36 saying … “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. [verse 37] And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. [verse 38] Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” Jesus knows what is coming. But He is not happy happy joy joy, skipping down the merry road – instead He is as sad as He has ever gotten. It is not so much the death that bothers Him. It is the absolute dread of being separated from His Father. He has never known that. He is not sure He will be able to come back from that. He may forever be marred by the stain of our sins, and unable to ever again enter in the Father’s love. That eternal separation would be beyond words of sadness to describe. And Jesus fears that fate more than any other, for separation from the love of God, is the literal definition of “hell”.
So to help Him in His greatest time of need He takes a few of His disciples further into the garden, and asks for prayer. Matthew continues in verse 39 saying … “And 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.” Nevertheless “Not” as “I will”. The will of Jesus was to avoid the risk of eternal separation from the Love of His Father. That love was all He had ever known. And Jesus did NOT want to risk ever losing it. Even our salvation did not change the mind of Christ on this matter. But Jesus did what we all fail to do, when our needs would turn us to a different path – He submitted His own will, to the will of the Father, trusting in God to know better than Himself. It is here where the story of Abraham is undone. It is here where the countless other stories in the Bible find a different ending. Jesus does, what mankind has steadfastly refused to do – to submit Himself, and His will, to the will of the Father. And it is in this example, how our salvation is truly born. And in no other. Jesus does not want to do this thing, but He trusts God to know how to proceed, according to the will of the Father.
And now shift your focus from a Jesus unwilling to proceed if left up to Him, to the heart of His Father instead. Here Jesus presents the Father with an opportunity to call the whole thing off. The Father must also risk eternal separation with His only Son for this plan of man’s salvation to work. And let’s face it, we have given the Father no particular reason to “want” to save us, outside of His own inherent love for us, a mystery none of us truly understand. If anything, we have been very bad children. We constantly deny Him. Spit in His face. Tell Him He is to blame for every bad thing that ever happens to us, never taking any responsibility ourselves, or putting Satan on trial. Nope, it is all an “act of God”. We must be filled with poo and its stench to the top of our skies. Jesus on the other hand is perfect, and is built of perfect love. Jesus is His only Son, who has never done a single thing wrong ever. It is Jesus in whom He is well pleased and very proud. And it is this perfect Son, that God the Father must risk eternal separation from in order that we poo-poo people can be reconciled. Those odds are a no-brainer, at least for any of us. But God the Father must, in spite of the desires of His own Son to perhaps call this whole thing off, must continue on course – not for Jesus – but for us. What kind of love is that? That God the Father must push forward, when even His own Son does not have that will to move on. How hard must this have been on God the Father, and yet He does what must be done, to see us redeemed from our poo.
Jesus needs strength and encouragement, just knowing His disciples (an example of who would be saved) would be praying for Him, might comfort Him. But Matthew continues in verse 40 saying … “And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? [verse 41] Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Instead of mankind actually helping God when He needed it the most, we went to sleep. Then and now. Jesus asked for just an hour of prayer from Peter if no one else, but that hour had already passed in sleep. Notice Jesus asks that we pray to “enter not into temptation”. It was a temptation to avoid the risk of losing the Love of God the Father forever. The plan for man’s redemption could not be seen past these moments. Jesus could call it quits right here and no one would blame Him. He might have retured to heaven, and allow us to take on our own punishments. He could have wiped out Satan, his angels, and mankind forever – and declared evil had met its just fate. This was the temptation Jesus wanted to avoid even thinking about. But when we might have helped offer Jesus comfort, we preferred to sleep instead.
Matthew continues in verse 42 saying … “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. [verse 43] And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.” Jesus again submits Himself, and His own will to the greater will of His Father. If it is possible to tempt God the Father, it is being done right here. And yet no answer of comfort comes from God the Father to His only Son. His Son must choose to submit His own will in darkness, in solitude, without assurance – the risk is real, and the outcome can only be had if both God the Father and His only Son are willing to risk it. Mankind sleeps on, unable to comfort when comfort was needed most. This is now the second time Jesus has asked for a way out, but ONLY if that is the will of His Father. His Father provides no verbal response, but I am certain tears must be flowing from the throne in heaven, where no creation has ever witnessed the Father weep as He must be doing now. The universe is witnessing the heart of God the Father break as it has never done, and in spite of His own pain, He pushes forward for the sake of us – we will never be worth the pain we caused on this day, except in the eyes of our God. The universe sees now what love means, and how far it would go to redeem that which is lost. It would break the heart of God, yet He would push on. Satans arguments fall into dust, never to arise again in all of the rest of the universe, except earth.
Matthew continues in verse 44 saying … “And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. [verse 45] Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” In the pinnacle of agony, Jesus asks one final time, if there is another way out of this. And the silence in response gives Him His answer. It is not the answer He wants. But it is the will of His Father. The tears begin to secede as determination must now harden in its stead. This time, Jesus needs no further comfort from mankind. Instead He will let them sleep, for He is certain now in what must come, no matter the risk – love is greater than the risk. His love, and the love of His father. They will both risk it all for us.
It is interesting that Jesus proscribes prayer to avoid temptation, and we pray so little, so lightly, and so focused on ourselves. We pray for things. We pray for health. We pray (worst of all) for money. We trust God so little, that what we truly “need” is already in our lives, or coming when and how it should. What we miss in our prayers for ourselves, is a prayer to avoid even “temptation”. A prayer to avoid even being presented with the possibility to sin, or the desire to sin; rather to avoid both as ONLY our God can take from us. I wonder if our God, can still take comfort when we finally do what He asks of us in this regard. Or if like in that night in the garden, He still finds His entire church fast asleep. When Jesus asked His faithful for their help in the form of comfort found only in prayer – we failed Him. Do we fail Him still?
We could have been part of a positive story of helping God, even if only once, but instead we would demonstrate what the human ideas of helping God truly look like …
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