22:39,40
Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives to pray. Note that it says “as usual”. We need to develop good habits of praying, praising, Bible reading etc, so that when crisis points arise we have a good foundation and are better able to deal with the situation. at the onset of a crisis it is usually too late to suddenly develop good habits!
Then notice that Jesus says to his disciples “pray that you will not fall into temptation”. He was still concerned for them and their well being. We also know from the other gospel accounts that they were to keep watch. Maybe this was to watch for the coming guards, or to keep watch in the sense of praying. Either way, they failed miserably.
22:41,42
This demonstrates the humanity and full reality of the situation. The events of the cross, the physical suffering inflicted, and experiencing the wrath of God, were real. This is something that makes no sense to our human understanding. Elsewhere Paul says it was an offence to the Jews and nonsense to the Greeks. Islam considers it impossible that God would allow Himself to be treated in such a way. Yet He did. So Jesus prayed that if there was any other way then let this suffering be taken away, but above all else, the Father’s will must be done. This teaches us much about following the Lord. It is normal and OK to find things difficult at times, for Jesus found things difficult. What we need is not the ability to not find things difficult, but the commitment to the Father’s will even when we are really struggling. Then there is the matter of the Father’s will. There is so much misunderstanding about the cross, especially from those who talk about “cosmic child abuse”. Such people do nothing but demonstrate their own stupidity and spiritual blindness. The Father and the Son were in complete agreement over what needed to be done in order to save humanity. The Father sent the Son, the Son came willingly and went to the cross willingly. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were working together in complete unity.
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