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When Prayer Costs Everything

By Anita Mathias

 

Jesus in Gethsemane

 

Matthew 26 36-46–Blog Through the Bible Project
Gethsemane
 36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
I love these depictions of Jesus as fully human. Longing for friendship. Longing to lean on his friends. 
 
That is why Jesus is such a great friend to us, and knowing him is such a great experience. Because Jesus knows what it is to be really, really sad and to experience great sorrow.
 
Gethsemane means “oil press.” A garden area among the olive groves on the Mount of Olives.
 
 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
All through his life, Jesus has been modelling various types of prayer–in the prayer he taught his disciples, in his own prayers at the Last Supper, in his modelling of prayer for healing… 
 
Here he models prayer during an excruciatingly difficult time.
 
He asks his Father that if  possible, the cup of suffering may be removed from him.
 
But then he says that it’s okay if things happen not as he himself wishes, but as his Father wishes.  
 
Whereas, through God’s mercy, the cup of extreme suffering presents itself to us only rarely, every day of our Christian life requires this “death” : “Not as I will, but as you will.”
 
Sometimes, God calls us to small tweaks. Sometimes, what he calls us to feels like death.
 
Perhaps this prayer of the Lord’s should be incorporated into our daily devotions. “Lord, today, not as I will but as you will.” 
 
What would it involve for me? Spending more time with people rather than on work? Getting back on track a bit with my house, which tells the tale of Easter holidays? Not being so insistent on my own way in family life?
 
ESV Jesus falls on his face in a typical posture of abject humility in prayer and lays his life before his Father in complete honesty and surrender. Jesus faces the most agonizing struggle of his life to date at the moment when he is ready to accomplish the culmination of his life’s mission–to bear the sins of the world, which is what this cup signifies.
Jesus was the Lamb of God bearing the penalty for the sins of the entire human race. The wrath of God was turned loose upon him. This partly explains the agony of Gethsemane.
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Temptation surrounds us. Temptations to unhealthy food. To laziness. Selfishness. Untruthfulness. Bad temper. Dishonesty.
 
One is not to be blase about temptation, but watch and pray that one does not succumb. Because while our spirits are willing, parts of our human nature are very weak indeed. 
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
At first, he asks his Father to remove the cup from him, if it is possible. But then, as he hears his Father’s voice more clearly, he modulates his prayer.
 What he now says is, “If it is not possible that this suffering be taken away, may your will be done.”
 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Even in extremis, he has compassion on his disciples. And allows them to sleep.
 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
And he get up from his prayer, from his struggle unto death, fortified and resolved to face the bitter onrushing anguish with fortitude. 

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Premier Digital Awards 2015 - Finalist - Blogger of the year
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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Instagram post 2187417055488451246_1686032450 My day: admiring a Christmas cactus that my friend Judy gave me last year, photographing winter trees from the bedroom window, lunch with Danny, coffee and food with Irene at Brown’s. Some reading, some writing, some weights, a good day.
I am trying to get back into weight-lifting. It reminds me that life is probably designed to have hard, challenging and difficult stuff to keep us strong. Muscle not used simply disappears. The body reabsorbs it! Muscle used paradoxically gets stronger and makes the tasks of our days and lives so much easier. So here’s to a spot of weights, and breathing in and out through them and life’s seasons, challenges and joys... so help us, God
Instagram post 2186714755975443652_1686032450 A sunny day in Porto and Coimbra.
Now back home, back to Yoga classes and the like.
I find if I get a spot up front near the instructor and next to someone accomplished, and follow them as bravely and gaspingly as I can, I get a thorough workout, totally break a sweat, do things I was certain I could not do, and get so much stronger in the process.
A bit like following Christ. Read what he said, take a deep breath and do it as exactly as you can, and you will slowly find yourself becoming a little bit stronger, wiser and yes, happier! My thought for the day 🙂
#porto #portugal #ilovetravel #happiness
Instagram post 2185957583540871908_1686032450 Images from our week in Porto.
Both my grandmothers, for as long as I knew them, were homebodies, spending their days in just one or two rooms.
I love travel, and excitement, and living as big and expansive life as I can.
But I too spend several hours every day in a quiet room, reading, writing, thinking, praying... And in the quiet room, one can interact the best thoughts of men and women down the ages, and more with infinity.. God, The sweet Spirit, The Lord Christ. #porto #portugal #travel #novembersun #marriage #marriedlife #beaches #portoribeira #fun
Instagram post 2180132061531496763_1686032450 Images from the Ashmolean Museum’s exhibition in Pompeii, death suddenly arriving in the middle of hectic life. Leaving in its aftermath particularly fertile volcanic soil.
When we become stuck in bitterness, when we recount the same sad story, again and again, in our own minds and to others... we forget that EVERY death has the potential for resurrection.
Have you suffered financial loss, financial injustice, completely untrue slander, deep sadness, failure? I have. Many humans have.
Give it to God. Give it to God of resurrection. Ask him to bring beauty from those sad, dead things.
The soil in the aftermath of a volcanic explosion is particularly fertile.
God can bring new life and beauty from dead things.
He calls out to sad hearts, "Come alive. Come alive!" #pompeii # Ashmolean
Instagram post 2175440736861042753_1686032450 Thoughts on avoiding the holes we habitually fall into, and BELATED images from one of my favourite active holidays https://anitamathias.com/2019/11/11/an-autobiography-in-five-chapters-and-avoiding-habitual-holes/
Instagram post 2156925313647782363_1686032450 I am inspired and moved by the story of Dirk Willems, a hero of the Reformation who lost his life to save his enemy, and have written a little book about him. 
It's on http://Amazon.co.uk  https://amzn.to/2Bk9Shl  and on http://Amazon.com  https://amzn.to/2VQOSYN 
Please do consider reading it & reviewing it. I would be immensely grateful.  Thank you!
Instagram post 2156141167803371501_1686032450 Okay, an unabashed Latergram on our first day in Iceland in Thingvellir National Park. Isn’t it dramatic.  And a short blog  https://anitamathias.com/2019/10/16/on-checking-in-before-you-fly/ #thingvellirnationalpark #iceland #travel #beauty #joy #adventure #life
Instagram post 2148813562469383835_1686032450 Family walks in assorted parks and gardens.  On my new spiritual discipline of Bible-walking, listening to and engaging with Scripture on the hoof.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/10/06/the-spiritual-practice-of-bible-walking/ #walkingandpraying #walkingwiththeword #biblewalking #walkingwiththelord
Instagram post 2134504882437551900_1686032450 I am in New York for a couple of weeks, for my niece Kristina’s wedding. We are having an amazing time, and I have taken a zillion pictures, and it is hot. So here’s a #latergram album from our trip to cool Iceland last month.  I have also blogged on experiencing deep peace in times of political turmoil.
https://anitamathias.com/2019/09/17/deep-peace-in-times-of-political-turmoil/  #iceland  #ringroad #icebergs #glaciers #glaciallagoon #beauty
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