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This week many HS students took PSAT, which is a pre-test. SAT stands for  Scholastic Aptitude Test, a standard measure of student academic readiness for reading, writing, and math comprehension for college and university admissions.

Generations of students have taken this test, which usually takes 2-3 hours and causes many students to stress and sometimes lose sleep. But SAT scores are not supreme. They are but one snapshot of a student’s ability and identity.

Side note: I have B.A., M.Div, and classes toward D.Min (ABD) but never took SAT. Stop stressing…  

The reality is that life is comprised of multiple essential examinations and evaluations. And while there are many helpful books to study, there is one that surpasses them all to prepare us to pass the test: it’s God’s word, the Holy Bible. Let’s look into Scripture to discern how Jesus faced his test and how that may apply to us.

EXAMINE    Matthew 26:31-46

³¹ Then Jesus said to them,

The context is the last night of Jesus’ life. It’s holy week and “Maundy Thursday.”[1]

Jesus has prepared a special meal with the disciples. The Passover meal was celebrated annually for the Jews to remember God’s protection of His people from the tribulation plagues, and God’s rescue from slavery among the Egyptians. So, this meal is a highlight and holy experience for Jesus and the disciples as He spends His last few hours investing in their life and teaching them.

“You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

While the disciples have grown close to Jesus, their faith is still underdeveloped. Jesus predicts they will fall away. Their dreams of Jesus becoming a military king are disillusioned. That was never Jesus’ intent. He came as a messianic servant. So, the disciples will stumble for a moment, but their faith will grow following the resurrection.

The disciples’ downfall was also prophesied 600 years before, and Jesus references Zechariah 13:7 with himself as the shepherd who will be struck, and the sheep disciples scattering.   

³² But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

Note Jesus’ bold confidence to predict His resurrection. This statement is also informative for the following verses when Jesus prays for another option to not face an excruciating death. His faith is vulnerable, but it isn’t weak.

Don’t mistake vulnerability for weakness. People who endure struggles are not any less human, not minimized value, nor reduced faith. It’s ok to talk about your troubles; don’t hide your hardships but allow others to support and pray for you.

Don’t mistake vulnerability for weakness. People who endure struggles are not any less human, not minimized value, nor reduced faith. It’s ok to talk about your troubles; don’t hide your hardships but allow others to support and pray for you.

³³ Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” ³⁴ Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” ³⁵ Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

All the disciples were thinking it, but Peter has the guts to speak it. Peter and the disciples think more highly of themselves than they ought. And this thinking believes the worst about others and the best about self. Hmm, sounds like something we all can be guilty. And Jesus wasn’t naïve toward Peter. He knew Peter better than Peter knew himself. In fact, Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. For Peter, Jesus decided to profoundly personalize His insight by documenting Peter’s 3x denial before a rooster crow.

Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves.

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³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”

At this point, Gospel geography takes the scene. Previously, in Mt 23, Jesus was in the Temple area rebuking Pharisees. In Mt 24, Jesus took the disciples up the Mount of Olives for teaching about end time signs of His return. Then in Mt 26, Jesus travels a few miles to Bethany for an evening meal, and then a late-night stroll downhill to Gethsemane. Gethsemane was a remote walled garden where Jesus could frequently enter & exit for rest and prayer (Jn 18:2).^[2] The word means “oil press,” and the area was filled with olive trees, which were a common fruit pressed for their oil.

Gethsemane is symbolic of both pleasure and pressure. It would be the last place on earth Jesus would have His freedom, and it was a place Jesus would use to prepare Himself for the spiritual and physical battle of the cross. Likewise, prayer is our weapon against adverse circumstances or adversarial people. When you are facing a spiritual battle or challenging circumstances, the best action we can take is retreat in a Gethsemane-like place for refreshment and prayer.
If you fail to pray, you plan to fail.  

³⁷ And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”

Jesus took the disciples to pray but specifically He took three disciples: Peter, James, and John. It is a tender and tenuous moment with Jesus needing the support of friends.

All throughout Jesus’ life He displays calm and control. He is completely confident in His identity as the Son of God, clear in understanding His life purpose. His whole life has been building to this moment, and we observe that He starts to feel the gravity of His circumstances.

It is astounding how Jesus has for so long calmly faced the prospect of death should now seem horrified (Mt 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:12). We can only read with shock and awe

• that eternal Word of God who spoke the world into existence is now hyperventilating;
• that the Prince of Peace who calmed chaotic storms and walked on wild waves is now being overwhelmed;
• that the Son of God who cast out demons is now tormented with darkness;
• that the perfect Lamb of God would shoulder the sins of the world.
• that the Healer of diseases and one who raised the dead will now immensely suffer with the shedding of blood.  

Matthew records Jesus being sorrowful (λυπέω = deep pain; sometimes used describing pain by war[3]) and troubled. Then Jesus says, He is περίλυπος – all-encompassing sorrow, even unto death. Such extraordinary grief is the kind of emotion you’d face if a family member was kidnapped, viciously tortured, and inhumanely murdered. While some may know these earthly experiences, none have known it on the grand scale of all humanity for all eternity.

For Jesus, He is not prone to dramatize any event, but is literally almost dying with agonizing prayer, and sweating great drops of blood (Lk 22:44); a condition called “hematidrosis” where your body is under such trauma that your capillaries burst. An example would be a drowning victim forcefully screaming for help and the blood vessels in your face rupturing. Luke’s Gospel references an angel from heaven strengthening Jesus during this moment (Lk 22:43). We also know from John’s Gospel some of the items Jesus prayed for was not just for Himself facing the cup of God’s wrath, but for Christians facing the world’s wickedness (Jn 14-17). The author of Hebrews reminds us Jesus prayed “with loud cries and tears with godly fear” (Heb 5:7).

³⁹ And going a little farther 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.” ⁴⁰ And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ⁴¹ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴² Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³ And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

There are other times in the Gospels we see Jesus praying with immediate response from the Father. Yet, this time Jesus is falling under the weight of pressure and laying prostrate in prayer. And then, inexplicably, Jesus prays for an alternate path to providing salvation – “let this cup pass from me.” Any words that I could offer to help anyone understand what is going on will fail. Jesus the 2^nd Person of the Trinity is beginning to feel the separation of intimacy He has eternally shared with Father God. Jesus consistently drew strength, power, and hope from prayer but this time He receives silence. Jesus has nowhere else to turn but asking the disciples to stay awake and pray.

Yet, they sleep and snore. In the most significant moment of human history, and the most stressful moment of their friend and Lord, the disciples are not brave and heroic but floundering and inept. Three times Jesus prayed and found sleepy friends and a silent Father. I/we cannot imagine the torrential restlessness Jesus was facing in this moment.

I try to imagine… Anyone who claims to fully understand is woefully overestimating ability to discern divinity. Imagine…

• one of my children about to experience a significant surgery, or a critical circumstance in their life and they come to me for help, but I close my eyes and turn my face away. This is merely a micro-hint of what Jesus experienced.
• a spouse having a dark and troubled time wanting just to be held, but I am unresponsive.
•  Jesus facing consequences of sin alone…

Isaiah 53:6 “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all

Isaiah 59:2 “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake, [God] made [Jesus] to become sin, who knew no sin, so that in [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God.”

Even before the humiliation, horrors, and hell faced in the crucifixion (mocked, stripped, beaten, scourged, nailed, stabbed), the spiritual separation Jesus faced in Gethsemane was as worse than the physical pain of the cross. Jesus drank the cup of God’s bitter wrath[4] that we might drink the cup of blessed salvation[5].

Jesus drank the cup of God’s bitter wrath that we might drink the cup of blessed salvation.

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⁴⁵ 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. ⁴⁶ Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Jesus is at wits end with the disciples, mocking their sleep but instigating them for the moment that awaits they will not be able to sleep.

• Imagine a soldier exhausted from days upon nights trekking through the harsh terrain w/o sleep, hoping for a couple hours of peace BUT awakened by rapid gun fire and grenade explosions. In that moment sleep is irrelevant.
• Imagine an intruder in the middle of the night enters your home but alarm scares them away. You don’t go back to sleep that night.

Jesus knew the hour is at hand. Judas, the betrayer, was in route and steps away. Jesus’ hour reminds us to not merely count the days but to make the days count.  

Jesus’ hour reminds us to not merely count the days but to make the days count.  

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> What do you want your loved ones to know and remember?
> Are you slumbering or sleeping on individuals or a community that is depending on your prayers & support?
> If Jesus were to return, how would you want to be found spending your time?
> Are you spending more time doom scrolling social media, or watching sports than any comparison of reading your Bible and praying to God?
> Are you more concerned about convincing people of your political views than helping people know about the grace and truth of the gospel of Jesus?

APPLY/TAKEAWAYS

Peter, James and John were with Jesus at 3 different occasions

• Jairus’ dead daughter resurrected (Lk 8:49-56)
• Jesus’ transfiguration where He predicted His death & resurrection (Mt 17:1-13)
• Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane before betrayal and death (Mt 26:36-46)

Likewise, James was first martyr. Peter was crucified upside down. And John was the last martyr.

• Jesus changed the world by dedicating his life to 12 disciples and focusing on 3. Do you have a community group where you’re gathering in faith, growing in hope, and going in love? SPBC encourages you to register for our family groups… friendship and discipleship doesn’t happen by accident but by making yourself available.

• Jesus’ prayer was saturated with surrender even to the point of sweating blood. He released His will to the Father. One the surface it appeared the Father did not answer Jesus’ prayer. Jesus was betrayed. Jesus was deserted. Jesus suffered excruciatingly. And Jesus died. But God answered Jesus’ prayer in 3 days with resurrection victory. And through Jesus’ life and ministry, He believed this would occur bc He spoke it multiple times.
  
  Today, we can be thankful even for what appears as unanswered prayer. God is teaching us to trust and refining selfish desires. God allows us to wait so that our faith would not rest in our own actions or ability but His grace.

• Jesus didn’t fail the Father or abandon us. Scripture would be just as holy if it described this event and Jesus, the Son of God, chose to display His power and conquer His betrayer and enemies. BUT while Jesus would be holy we would still be hindered from access to heaven or God.
  
  Yet, since Jesus did not fail the Father’s mission or abandon us, the veil of the Temple that forbid access to God’s presence was torn. So, “by the new and living way that Jesus opened for us through the curtain, that is his flesh…” we can draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith that we’re fully forgiven (Heb 10:20-22).

• While Jesus and disciples were praying, enemies and demons were plotting. Jesus wasn’t surprised when Judas arrived; He knew he was coming. And that’s exactly why Jesus planned His actions of prayer. Prayer strengthened Him for the battle that was to come.

Ephesians 6:10-11 “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

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[1] https://growinggodlygenerations.com/2016/03/23/the-final-days-of-jesus/

^[2] Wayne Dehoney, “Gethsemane,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. Chad Brand et al. (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 644.

[3] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/λυπέω

[4] See Mt 20:22-23; Jn 18:11; Rev 14:10; 16:19; Isa 51:17, 22.

[5] See Psalm 116:13