Jesus knew what was coming and He knew when. He knew how little time He had left, and He knew how little of all this His disciples were actually absorbing. Even while they were walking from that Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane, they wanted to know if Jesus was getting ready to overthrow the Roman government.
It had to have been discouraging for Him.
One of the side effects of discouragement is that it opens you up to temptation. When you’re down in the dumps, anything that promises relief (even temporary relief) starts to look good.
That’s the place Jesus was in when He went to pray in the Garden. He was discouraged. He may have been frightened. He had worked so hard to get here, but He may have wondered if it would matter at all in the long run. Would any of this stick in the minds of these addle-brained disciples of His?
Maybe He should resort to force.
He could have done that — called a million angels down from heaven to slay the mob that was already on its way to Him. Had fire rain down from the sky. Toppled the Temple and established once and for all a Kingdom on earth.
Jesus had been tempted before, at the beginning of His ministry. He had gone out into the wilderness by Himself and fasted for 40 days. Satan himself showed up and tried to get Jesus to take a shortcut, to flex His muscles for all the world to see. Luke tells us that after Jesus won that showdown, the devil left Him alone for a while. But he was just waiting for a more opportune time (Lk 4.13). Perhaps this lonely night was finally that opportunity. Here was Jesus, weakened and afraid.
It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine the old devil sidling up alongside Jesus, whispering in His ear. “Go ahead, flex those muscles. Pulverise these people. Wipe this city off the map. They rejected You first. It’s payback time!”
How tempting would that have been? Jesus could have gotten out of this ordeal right then and there. But what kind of message would that have sent? Jesus never used His power for personal gain, and He wasn’t going to start now. He used His power to help others.
Sometimes there are no shortcuts through the fiery ordeal. Sometimes you just have to put your head down and keep moving forward.
And so Jesus, with a heavy sigh, repeated the words that He had probably said more than once before, “Nevertheless, Father, not My will but Yours be done.”
Prayer
God of all comfort, may I learn the wisdom of quickly turning to You and Your resources when I find myself in times of disappointment and discouragement. I know that when I face unhappy situations, I become particularly vulnerable to temptation. When I am despondent, I am tempted to medicate myself with resentments, short-term pleasures, self-indulgence, withdrawal and other sinful pain-avoidance strategies. And I know that these stratagems only exacerbate the problem. Knowing these things, I ask for the grace at such times in my life to look to You for my needs and to fully submit to Your good will for my life. May I rest in You and put my hope in Your promises and goodness. Only then will I know the peace that surpasses all comprehension and guards my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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