Sermon tomorrow Jesus goes to the garden to pray
Takes three guys further into the garden to pray with him
Then leaves them to go even deeper into the garden
Overcome - if it is possible take this cup from me, not my will Disciples sleeping
Second prayer - if it is possible take this cup from me, your will be done Disciples sleeping
Third prayer - same words Wake up, it is time Suddenly the hillside had people coming from everywhere
Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss That is not what a kiss is for Jesus knows what it is like to have a friend turn on him
a sword chops off an ear Jesus reveals that he has 12 legions of angels at his disposal
What is keeping him from calling them? He has said it already - not my will, but your will be done - Jesus is going to do this all exactly as God the father wants him to do it.
Off to the trial false witnesses cannot get there story straight. finally one says, "he said he would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days" The priest asks him, "Are you the messiah, the son of God?" Jesus answer, "it is as you say, and soon you will see the son sitting at the right hand of the father and coming on the clouds of heaven
Blasphemy You have heard it yourself. What does he deserve? Death
Peter denies he knows Jesus three times servant girl - you were with him - nope servant girl - you were with him - with an oath - nope crowd - your accent gives you away, you were with him - calls down curses, I don't know him rooster crows three times he went outside and he wept bitterly
Why is peter crying? All he wanted to do was to be loyal to Jesus. All he wanted was to live and die for Jesus. All he wanted was to prove to Jesus that he was indeed a true friend.
Why was peter unable to do it? it happens very fast. the time of testing comes, and the moment is there for just a second. Will you stay true to Jesus or will you run. Every disciple ran. Every single one.
Did Jesus do a bad job of training his disciples? No
1) a possible answer - no holy spirit to give them the power to do the miraculous.
2) it is prophecy - this is the way it has to be
3) We can see ourselves in the story - some days we are the ones betrayed, struck and abandoned - as we enter this side of the story we understand that there is nothing we face that Jesus did not also face. Some days we are the betrayers who leave our friends alone, and walk away - When we find ourselves in need of forgiveness, we can pause for a moment and feel the weight of our betrayal, and like Peter we weep. And that is as far as we are able to go in this passage, we weep.
But there is one more lesson
4) But there is another lesson we see here. 12 legions of angels sat on the edge of our planet, ready and willing to step in. The words would no sooner have been out of Jesus mouth than the planet would have been leveled. Completely cleansed, judgment dispensed, but that is not the way it went down. Why? Because God loves us. Really loves us. He loves us enough to tell his son to submit to a mickey mouse trial in the middle of the night. His only crime, "that he said he was God," which of course he was, and therefore it was not a crime. Why are we unaffected by this message. How can we possibly sit in a room and listen to this story without jumping to our feet and crying out, "Stop." Don't do it Peter. Do not betray, Jesus. Die with him. Do not let Jesus die alone. Do not let his trial come and go without a single person coming to his defense.
Jesus is the most beautiful, most incredible person to ever walk this planet. All he did was love people. All he ever did was to offer grace and mercy to sinners. He stood boldly before the "religious leaders" and called them out for their hypocrisy. He explained over and over that God wanted true worshippers, and as people realized they were not worshipping the true God, their anger flared, and plans were made to kill Jesus.
We also find ourselves having to make a choice. Will we run away? Will we fight against Jesus? Will we accept him as savior?
