Good Friday 2023
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
You know, there aren't many stories in history that have retained their power for 2,000 years. There are a few. You probably read some of them in grade school, maybe in college. But the story of Jesus' last days is one of those stories. It's one of those that fascinates. It's one of those that gathers up attention and won't let it go. I think that's partly because there are so many fascinating moments in it. There's the soldier's mockery of Jesus, dressing him up in a crown of thorns and putting a reed in his hand and a purple robe on his shoulders and mocking him, Hail, King of the Jews.
There's Pilate riding the sign and hanging it above Jesus' head as he hung on the cross. There's that little detail in Matthew that we just read a few minutes ago that when Jesus died, there was an earthquake and the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom to signal that access to God was now open. There's so many fascinating details in the story of Jesus' last days. But I think one of the most important and one of the most fascinating stories is the story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and I want to take you to that passage tonight.
If you've got a Bible, take your Bible and turn over to Matthew chapter 26. We're going to look at just a few verses out of here that we haven't had the opportunity to read yet tonight. The reason I want to take you to this story is because I think the story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane is one of the most mysterious and amazing passages in the entire Bible because it shows us Jesus' agony and suffering more intimately, I think, than we see it anywhere else. It's not the moment of greatest suffering. That would come later when Jesus was forsaken by his father. But nowhere, I think, in the story of Jesus' agony do we see his suffering and his heart more clearly. And nowhere, then here in the Garden of Gethsemane, do we see his agonize thoughts more closely. Nowhere does Jesus pour out his heart in prayer to his father like he does here in the garden of Gethsemane. And Matthew's gospel lets us see it all. The story of Gethsemane is in Matthew chapter 26 beginning in verse 36. Let me read the story. Then Jesus went with him to a
place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. Going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again for the second time he went away and prayed, My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Sleep, and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
As we look at that story, I want to draw your attention to two things in just a short amount of time this evening. I want to draw your attention to the agony that Jesus endured there in the garden. And then I want to draw your attention to the cup that he grasped and drank. The agony that he endured in the cup he grasped. I've often wondered as I've read stories in the Bible what it would have been like to go into the garden and find Jesus there praying.
It would have been a cold night because of the time of year, which would mean that on the dew-soaked soil of the garden, there would have been a fine mist rising off the ground. It would have been a moonlit night because of the Passover. The trees were ancient, hundreds of years old sometimes, and so their branches would have been gnarled and twisted and hanging down. And as you walked through the garden, you'd have to at times push those branches away as you made your way through the mists and through the dew. And there, off in the distance, maybe on a hill, maybe underneath a tree, you'd see Jesus on his face, weeping and praying to his Father, yet not my will but yours be done.
And I've often wondered what it would be like to walk up to Jesus in that moment and say, why are you suffering like this? And then to have him look up with his tears-soaked eyes and say, it's for you that I suffer. It's for you. We're going to take some minutes this evening and look that very Jesus full in the face and fall newly in love with him, I pray. So first thing I want you to see here is just the agony that Jesus endured in the garden.
The word Gethsemane, I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but the word Gethsemane has a meaning. What that word means is just olive press. That's what it means. It wasn't a proper name. It wasn't a place name. It meant olive press, which means that probably there was a place in this garden to press the oil out of the olives that grew there. We're not exactly sure why Jesus chose this particular place to pray. It seems to have been a place maybe that he frequented to pray to his father and to get away from the crowds and all the rest of it. We do know that Judas, the one who would betray Jesus, knew of this place, and even though he left dinner early and didn't hear about the plans post-dinner, he seems to have had a good idea that at least tonight Jesus would be here praying. Well on this night Jesus comes to that garden whether he'd been there before or not probably he had on this night he comes with his 11 remaining disciples. Judas has already gone off into the night to betray him. He leaves eight of them near the gate and he takes three of them Peter, James, and John deeper with him into the garden.
You can look there in the story he tells them my soul is sorrowful even to death so remain here and watch with me when he says my soul is sorrowful unto death he doesn't mean that he's sorrowful because of death he's not sorrowful here because of the death that's coming what it means is that his heart is seized with a sorrow and a heaviness that is so deep and so raw that it threatens his very life it's going to bring him unto death it's an incredible scene because Jesus is here suffering in a way that no human being could ever understand and yet he wants his friends near him he asks them to pray with him.
You know, this is one of those places in Scripture as Jesus falls on his face and prays that amazing prayer. My Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. As he prays that over and over again in the garden, it's one of those places in the Bible that honestly every preacher who wants to faithfully preach the Bible dreads to tread. You just don't want to go there because you're feeling in this moment the weight of eternity and there's not much that a preacher can say that will make it better or more affecting and the words that are used here to describe jesus are just incredible they're full of almost inexpressible darkness and pain you look at verse 37 says that jesus was sorrowful it says that he was troubled it means that it's very heavy this this weight that's on jesus's soul is pressing him down.
Some of you have experienced that kind of sorrow. Verse 38 says that he was very sorrowful. It's a different word that means he was literally surrounded by sorrow. There's no escape from it. Everywhere he turns, there's nothing but sadness and sorrow. In another gospel, the gospel of Mark, there's a word that KJV translates as sore amazed. In other words, shocked by what he sees before him. In Luke, the word is agony. Kind of inward conflict that tormented his soul.
It's dark language. It's sad language. It's affecting language. And yet at the same time, it's kind of strange language if you think about it, right? People throughout history have often looked at Jesus in the garden and they've heard the gospel writers say that he was so pressed down with sorrow about his impending death that blood came out of his pores like sweat. and they've looked at that, and they've wondered why exactly his soul was filled with such anguish about the cross. And why is he so worried about it when it comes right down to it?
Crucifixion is a horrible thing, but at the same time, thousands of people through history died by crucifixion. The Romans would line the roads, making their way into cities with people being crucified. There were two other people that would die with him the very next day on a cross. So it was a horrific death. It was bloody, it was humiliating, it was excruciatingly painful. But even so, history is just littered with people who went to death, even horrific deaths, without this kind of torment of soul that Jesus experienced.
The story of the Maccabees tells of Eliezer, this Jewish martyr who, quote, welcomed death with honor and went to the rack of his own accord. The Roman historian Tacitus tells us of Seneca, this Roman philosopher who faced his own forced suicide with no agony and no sadness at all. Peter, the apostle of Jesus, was so bold and so courageous in the face of death that he asked the emperor not to crucify him as Jesus had been crucified, according to tradition, but to crucify him upside down.
Polycarp, the early church father, faced his death by fire with courage and joy that left everyone, including the emperor himself, amazed. Hugh Latimer, who at the last second before the pyre was lit on fire, said to his friend Nicholas Ridley, Play the man, Master Ridley, because we're going to this day light a candle in England by God's grace that I trust will never be extinguished. All those people who died in horrific circumstances with courage. And yet here's Jesus lying on his face, asking the Father to let this cup pass from him.
Why? Well, it wasn't for fear of his enemies. I mean, that wasn't it. He had faced his enemies down over and over and over. The Pharisees challenged him. He challenged them right back. He was claiming kingship before their very eyes. He wasn't afraid of the Romans either. No, he would stand before Pilate in just a few hours after this time in Gethsemane was over. and tell him, you would have no power over me at all if it weren't given to you from heaven. He's not afraid of them. He's not afraid of the Jews.
He's not afraid of the Romans. Besides, if you know anything about the story of the life of Jesus, it's that all of these things that are happening to Jesus here are not just happening to Jesus. He's not a victim. He's not defeated. He said it. No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back up again. He's not driven to this. He's not driven to his face by fear of his enemies. He's also not driven there by the betrayal of his friends.
And many of those people through history who died on crosses or were burned at the stake or were felled by the sword, they never had to endure the pain of betrayal by one they loved. They never had to endure seeing a friend walk up and kiss their cheek so that the executioners would know which person it is they're supposed to kill. Many of them never had to endure that, but at the same time, many of them did. Their brothers turned against brothers, mothers against sons, sons against fathers. Many Christian martyrs died knowing that they'd been handed over to the authorities who killed them by someone they loved.
And betrayal by friends is nothing new. Besides, all you've got to do is read the story to know that Jesus' heart was not broken by the betrayal of Judas. He knew it was coming. He accepted it. He identified Judas and then offered him a piece of bread. In fact, Jesus knew that all of his friends eventually were going to betray him and abandon him. And he told them so. It also wasn't for the assault of Satan. And all the powers of hell were arrayed against Jesus as he died on the cross.
But that's not what drove him to his knees in Gethsemane. I mean, when Jesus faced Satan down in the wilderness, the Bible says that Satan departed until he could find a more opportune time, which means that Satan got beat. Jesus isn't afraid of Satan. I mean, probably all the demons of hell were whispering in his ear there in Gethsemane, just give it up, Jesus, they're not worth it. Think about who you are and think about who they are. Think about what they've done to you. Think about the way they've rebelled against your father.
They're not worth it. Why would you give up your life? for worms like them. But Jesus never listened to that. You remember what he said when Satan tempted him, get behind me, Satan. I mean, it wasn't Satan that reduced Jesus to lying flat on his face like this. So was it just the pain of death? The fear of the pain that was coming, the scourging, the thorns, the cross, the nails, the weight bearing down on the wrists?
no because if it were just the pain of death then we'd end up having to say that those martyrs polycarp and hugh latimer and eliezer the jewish martyr even peter himself we'd have to say that they all faced the pain of death with more courage and heart than jesus did so that can't be it so what was it and what was it exactly that made him cry out My father, let this cup pass from me and sweat blood in anguish because of it.
Why was it so different for Jesus? I'll tell you why. It was what was in the cup. It's the second point, the cup that he grasped and drank. If we're going to understand what was different about Jesus' death, if we're going to understand why when other martyrs could face their death with courage and boldness, why this put Jesus on his face, we have to understand what was in that cup. We have to understand that what was in that cup made Jesus' death different and more horrible than anything experienced by any other human being.
What made Jesus' death unique in all history was what was in that cup that he was about to drink to its dregs. So what was it? Well, the Old Testament tells us over and over again. Psalm 11 speaks of the cup being filled with fire and sulfur and a scorching wind. Ezekiel speaks of a cup filled with horror and desolation. Here's Isaiah the prophet. Wake up. Wake up. Stand up, Jerusalem. You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the cup, the cup of staggering.
Wake up. And here's Job. God stores up iniquity for the people. Let him pay it out to them. Let their eyes see their own destruction and let them drink of the cup of the wrath of the Almighty. See, that was the cup that Jesus was going to drink. That was the cup that he asked the Father to let pass. It was the wrath of the Lord God Almighty poured out against sin, full and awful and bitter from the froth to the dregs. That's the cup that the Father was holding out to Jesus and which he would now take.
But what was it? Just think about it deeper. What was in there? Yes, it was the wrath of the Father, but think about what that meant. In one of our readings earlier this evening, we read about the scapegoat, where the sins of the people would be put on the head of this animal, and the animal would be sent out into the wilderness to die. Carrying the sins of the people, Jesus, in drinking the cup, would become that scapegoat. He would bear sin. Jesus, the Son of God, who knew no sin, would become sin, as the Apostle Paul said, And his pure soul recoiled from the realization that he was going to be, in that moment, united to sin.
He was going to be united to rebellion against his father. That he would become loathsome. That scapegoat that was sent out into the wilderness was hated. It was sent out into the wilderness with the sins of the people on its shoulders. And that's what Jesus would become. That's why he recoiled. He also saw the horror. Just the sheer horror and evil of the sin that he was going to bear. I think so many times we think of our sins as just little mistakes.
Just a little white lie here or a little action that we take here. But we don't think of it in all of its God-rebelling awfulness. We don't think of an entire human race in rebellion against its creator. And yet Jesus knew the weight of sin. Jesus knew the weight of sin of a people who would spend their entire lives exalting themselves and worshiping themselves and throwing off God's authority. He knew the weight of a sinful people who would look in the face of God and say, you are not worthy of my worship.
He knew the weight of a human race who could with such ease kill and enslave and abort and hate and mutilate. he knew the weight of it. And all of that he knew would be heaped upon him. And it would become as if it were his. He also saw in that cup the terror. It was the absolute terror of the penalty that he would have to bear.
The curse of death pronounced in Eden. That's what he would have to bear. The rod of Jehovah, as one of our songs said. The sword of Jehovah buried in his heart. He would be abandoned by God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's what made him tremble. And he would face it all alone. Three times, three different times, his disciples slept. At this moment when he needed strength, no one on the planet was praying with him and for him.
No one was sharing his agony. They were all asleep. That's what was in the cup. But he did it, friends, because of love. I love what one theologian says, Jonathan Edwards. I love how he describes this. He says, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane was caused by a vivid, bright, full, immediate view of the wrath of God. The Father, as it were, set the cup down before him and gave him a near view of that furnace into which he was about to be cast.
He stood and viewed its raging flames and the glowing of its heat. And so he knew where he was going and what he was about to suffer. And then, having seen it, he acted, knowing exactly what he was doing. He took that cup, knowing full well the dreadful sufferings it contained, and drained it to the dregs by his own choice. And so his love to sinners like you and like me was shown to be all the more wonderful and glorious.
Isn't that beautiful? Jesus knew in that moment in Gethsemane that we were, as a human race and as individuals, hopeless unless he acted for us. That we ourselves, because of our rebellion against God, would have to drink that whole cup ourselves down to the bottom unless he drank it for us. And so he did. And then on the third day, as we'll celebrate just in two days' time, he rose from the dead. Friend, if you're here today, you need to know yourself and you need to know the Savior.
It's like I said at the beginning of this service. You need to know that you are a great sinner. You are a great rebel against God. and yet there is an even greater Savior who holds out his hand and offers you mercy. Put your faith in him, trust in him, repent of your sins, come to him and say, Jesus, I can't save myself. I'm hopeless unless you stand in my place and die in my place. I love that song that we sang just a little bit earlier in the service or heard.
What took him to this wretched place? What kept him on this road? It was his love for Adam's cursed race, for every broken soul. No sin too slight to overlook, no crime too great to carry. All mingled in this poison cup, and yet he drank it all. The Savior drank it all. The Savior drank it all. Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, we thank you and praise you tonight that you did not leave us in our sin and our rebellion against your Father to drink this cup of wrath on our own, but you drank it down to its dregs.
You drank it all the way to the bottom. The death, the punishment, the wrath, the agony, the separation, the abandonment, you drank it all for us. And so, Lord Jesus, we pray that there would not be a single person in this place tonight who would leave here without seeing the beauty of the sacrifice you made on our behalf and in our place. That there wouldn't be a single person in this place who would leave tonight without putting their faith and trust in you. Holy Spirit, we pray you would do the work of salvation even this evening and bring glory to Jesus, our Savior and our Redeemer.
In whose name we pray. Amen.