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| Watch Tower in Israel |
Mathew 26:36-38
NKJV
Then Jesus came with them to a place called
Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit
here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply
distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with
Me.”
NLT
Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called
Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he
became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep
watch with me.”
Christ’s agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with
sin. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to
make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony is the
basis for the simplicity of our salvation. Because of what the Son of Man went
through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very
presence of God. ~ Oswald Chambers (emphasis is mine)
“My soul is crushed with grief to
the point of death.”
Everyone knows someone who passed
away and has felt grief over that loss. Depending how close you were to that
person, that grief can be even heavier, even overwhelming. No one can tell you
when you’re supposed to be over it, or if you ever will. All we can do is lean into God and trust that
He will walk us through.
But, man, that phrase. “My soul is
crushed with grief to the point of death” That sticks hard! Especially knowing
that He knew what He was about to go through. I can’t grasp the idea / thought
/ feeling of being crushed in the spirit; let alone so crushed in the spirit
with grief to the point of death. Think about that visual for a minute, read
verses 39-44. Jesus said, “keep watch with me” …yet the disciples slept. They
who walked with Him for three years; they who saw the miracles; they who saw
how Jesus loved people.
Keep watch with me, that’s all He
asked of them. Yet they slept. I think about how often I slept when Jesus
needed me to keep watch. There was that person who needed me to grab a hand and
just talk to them, but I slept. Then there was that one the was covered in
tattoos that made me nervous, but I slept. There was also one who looked like
they had it all together and lived a perfect life, I didn’t know they were
dying inside…I slept. Then there was me and the mask I was wearing…I was asleep
there too!
We need to stop sleeping and keep
watch with Jesus, we need each other. We were not meant to go it alone, grab a
hand or raise a hand. We all need help, keep watch because His Soul was crushed
to the point of death. Our only response to that is hushed worship.
“Jesus went to his death knowing that it was his Father’s
will that he face death completely alone (Matthew 27:46) as the sacrificial, wrath-averting Passover Lamb. As his
death was unique, so also his anguish; and our best response to it is hushed
worship.” (Carson)
Keep watch with Him.
Pastor Cory
