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TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
February, 1940
43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. 44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words 45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and salth anto them, Sleep on now, and take your restj behold, the hour Is at hand, and the Son of man. is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let ns be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. LESSON TEXT : Matt. 26:36-46. GOLDEN TEXT : “Not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). DEVOTIONAL READING: Psa. 42:1-5. Outline and Exposition I. T he S orrow of S oul (36-38) B HE true humanity of our Lord closest to Him. He must have felt the need of human companionship in that hour of agony when His soul sensed the pangs i f approaching death. But there was no one who could ease the-terrific
limits and found therein the almighty strength required. IL T he S urrender of W ill (39-44) The Saviour saw the fearful shadow that would soon fall between Himself and the Father. It was the black shadow of sin — not His own, but humanity’s. The pure sinlessness of His soul cried out against the very suggestion of the approaching separation from the Father, the Author of purity and holiness. The threefold petition concerns the "cup,” that is, the sufferings to be endured at the hands of both a holy God and unholy men. Christ was not praying that t h e cross should be avoided; He never shrank from that (cf. John .12:27; Heb. 12:2). He was praying that whatever might be in volved in His sacrificial offering of Himself unto God and for sin might be completed, that nothing should be allowed to interfere with the fullest accomplishment of the Father’s will. The petition, thrice repeated, mani fests in clearest terms His life of obed ience to the Father, His dependence in prayer,- and His submission to His Father’s will (cf. Psa. 40:8; John 5:30; 6:38; Heb. 10). Thé shadow cast by sin was of sin past, present, and future. He was to die for the sin of the world, to taste death for every man, past and future, as well as for those of His own generation. No one can plumb the depths of sin fulness nor scale the heights of holi ness that are revealed in this passage. No one can fully comprehend the right eousness which makes our God a con suming fire, nor can one understand the awfulness of sin that made that fire blaze forth upon the devoted Head of this praying Man in the garden. There is mystery here which we cannot solve: The Lord of life was to die, the Holy One was to be made sin, the One who ever dwelt in the bosom of the Father was to be cast out and forsaken, the Light of the world was to be plunged into darkness. All this came upon Him because He chose to be our Saviour. It is our low views of sin and of holiness that keep us from understand ing this awful experience through which He passed. But we can understand in some meas ure the fullness of submission of One who could say, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Lk. 22:42). His was a will wholly surrendered to God. n i. T he S uperiority of the S pirit (45, 46) The Lord Jesus came from the place of agony with quiet calmness and full assurance. As a Man—One “in all points tempted like as we are” (Heb. 4:15, R. V .)—He had poured out His soul in prayer. What was the result? Though the disciples were found asleep, He was now fortified against every human lack; He was prepared inwardly for the ap-
BLACKBOARD LESSON
burden of soul except the Father, and therefore to the disciples He had to say: “ Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder” (v. 36). He was “sore troubled” (v. 37, R. V.) and “exceeding sorrowful, e v e n unto d ath” (v. 38, R. V.). In times of soul distress, the possibilities of relief that are offered by prayer have never been fully explored by any child of Adam. But the Lord Jesus Christ, in His hour of dire need, explored them to their
is revealed when He took with Him to the place of prayer the three disciples who seem to have been
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