Jesus asked the Father that the cup might pass from Him, but added, “Yet it must not be what I want, but what you want” (Matt. 26:39, Phillips). Twice after praying He found the disciples (whom He had asked to stay awake with Him) sleeping.
”Are you still going to sleep and take your ease?” He asked. “In a moment you will see the Son of Man betrayed into the hands of evil men. Wake up, let us be going!” (Matt. 26:46, Phillips).
Jesus’s prayer was for whatever God wanted. How could God want His beloved Son to be betrayed into the hands of evil men? We know the answer—because He had the salvation of the world in mind. Yet the answer is still fraught with mystery—salvation through a terrible evil. And still He works His holy will through holy paradoxes.
Let us try to focus on this one, of all the mysteries that stretch our faith almost to the breaking point—the anguished Son of Man kneeling in the garden, a loving Father hearing His prayer, while evil men are on their way to capture Him. There would be suffering—unspeakable suffering and death—but God knew there would be glory. There would be a resurrection and an ascension.
Lord, help us, in our sorrows and pain, to stay our souls on the promise of glory.
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:17-18, NIV).
**Excerpt originally published in Guided by God’s Promises p. 319