MATTHEW REFLECTION - Week 8
We’ve finally reached the end of the gospel of Matthew!
Well done if you’ve made it through, or even if you’ve managed to journey through bits of this book – there has been so much to learn and discover along the way that even if you’ve only read a day or two, here or there, I’m sure you would have encountered something interesting, challenging or both!
This last week of readings covers huge amounts of theological riches and we can’t go into it all now.
I spoke last Sunday on the Great Commission in Matthew 28 – so if you want to hear more on that, you can listen to that here.
Then we have Jesus’ infamous cry from the cross in Matthew 27, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” – We looked at some of the nuances of that in some Easter blogs a while back, which you can read here and here.
Instead, what stood out to me this week is a passage that may be familiar to many, but is worth revisiting. That is Matthew 26:36-46.
A brief summary; Jesus, after the last supper and before his arrest, goes with his disciples to Gethsemane and prays. He prays the same thing three times – the significance of which we can return to shortly.
But these prayers paint the picture of the most human side of Jesus. We are confronted with a man wrestling with faith and anxiety. A man wanting to trust in God fully, but struggling with the reality of that.
Whilst some stories of Jesus’ life make him seem so Godly, so perfect and almost unattainable in the example he sets, here we encounter a Jesus we can relate to. Here, we find a point of empathy with Godself in Jesus.
The prayer he prays is simple in its form, but deep in its eloquence:
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup pass from me; Yet not what I want, but what you want.”
You really could write books just on that verse – I’m sure people have- but what do you take from it? Do you remember the first time you read or heard that and what it made you think?
For me, it suggests a number of things. First and foremost, I continually try to model the attitude of Jesus in this prayer by facing challenges in my own life with the prayer of ‘not my will, but yours’. This accepts the greatness and wisdom of God. To surrender our own desires, even in the face of anguish, is to not only remind ourselves of God’s sovereignty but actively invite it into our situations.
Have you ever tried praying that in a tight spot? It isn’t easy.
What do you imagine God felt on hearing that prayer of Jesus’?
Beyond that, a question has come to my mind, I think for the first time, reading through Matthew this week.
It is around the relation to the preceding story. In Matthew’s gospel, just before this passage is the story of Jesus telling Peter that he will deny him three times. The follow up to this is normally in two parts – the first, Peter doing the denying, is in Matthew’s gospel (at the end of Chapter 26), and the second, Jesus asking Peter if he loves him, found in John 21.
If we put that John passage to one side and focus on Matthew’s gospel, then the fact that Jesus prays the same prayer three times could be of relevance. Currently, I can think of three readings of a comparison between the stories.
Jesus is also denying God – this feels paradoxical from a trinitarian position, but is Jesus mirroring Peter’s behaviour in trying to avoid the very thing that he was there to do? I don’t know if there would have been a plan B, but in this story, it seems like Jesus would have been open to exploring some options!
Jesus as example – though his prayer begins with a request of getting out of the situation, he acknowledges that God’s plan is the right plan and, ultimately, goes through with it. Peter says he wouldn’t deny Jesus but then does, but Jesus, for a moment, doubts his purpose, but trusts God and does it anyway.
The disciples as further disappointment – Peter, in particular, had just (in our text at least) promised not to deny Jesus, not to let him down. But in the next moment, he, James and John, the special three disciples, go with Jesus in his hour of need, and fall asleep! Jesus says ‘My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me’. Clearly, these were some men in need of a double espresso, because not even the heartfelt plea of their dear friend was enough to keep them awake. THREE TIMES this happens!
There is clearly some significance to triplicates.
Something can happen once easily enough. Time to change your ways.
Something can happen twice. Sharpen up and learn a lesson.
But three times? That’s definitive.
Both Jesus’ praying three times and the disciples sleeping three times communicate that there is a definition in this situation. Jesus is definitely on his own, the disciples are definitely not there for support and Jesus is definitely questioning what he has to do, but also definitely willing to follow God’s will.
I’m sure there is more to explore, but I’ll finish for now on this – repetition and persistence in prayer is so important.
This is a slightly different take on the passage, but perhaps it took three times of praying it for Jesus to mean it fully?
I’ve certainly prayed things multiple times, but experienced my heart changing as I’ve come to pray the same thing again. One of the most powerful aspects of prayer is what it does to the heart of the person praying.
If there are situations in your life that you want to bring before God, try the Jesus model of praying.
Keep it short, keep it simple, and keep it going!
See what God does in you and in your life when we pray like Jesus does in this passage.