Page 21 - Living Light Spring 2024

Friday March 22 - “Your will be done”
“My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And
again he came and found them sleeping. Matthew 26:42-43
Luke, a doctor, wrote in his Gethsemane account that ‘... being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground’ (Luke 22:43-44). Jesus’ intense anguish and sorrow brought on symptoms of hematidrosis, a rare medical condition. He knew what was going to happen. 700 years earlier Isaiah 52:14 foretold that the Messiah’s appearance would be ‘disfigured beyond that of any man’. In the prophetic Psalm 22 the Lord is described thus: ‘My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead’ (vv 14-15).
I love that strengthening angel. The King of Heaven, worshipped and adored unendingly, was reaching the limits of his human endurance. Tomorrow, cursed on the cross, Jesus would hang alone, but at this moment he received heavenly comfort and love. Scripture says that angels fill heaven with praise, fight in God’s armies, deliver messages and are ‘ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation’ (Hebrews 1:14).
When human friends failed Jesus, heavenly servants arrived to express the Father’s love. Amid life’s sufferings we can believe that God sends angels to help us too.
Father, please despatch angelic help to people who desperately need it today. Amen.
Saturday March 23 - The hour of betrayal
“See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of
sinners. Rise, let us be going.” Matthew 26:45-46
The time had come, and Jesus went to meet his enemies – a great crowd armed with swords and clubs who identified him by the traitor’s kiss.
Jesus knew exactly who he was. When, in Matthew 16:13-20, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? ...and who do you say that I am?” Peter’s answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” was ‘revealed to him from heaven’ and Jesus confirmed it was true. As ‘Son of Man’ he was fully human. As ‘Christ’ he was God’s anointed Messiah and King, who would restore Israel to everlasting glory. As the ‘Son of God’ he is part of the Trinity – God himself.
Yet, ‘he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death’ (Philippians 2:8). Jesus knew Judas would betray him to those who would condemn him to death, that the Romans would mock, flog and then crucify him and that he would then rise from the dead. Jesus told his disciples several times what would happen – that he ‘must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things..., be killed and on the third day be raised to life’ (Matthew 16:21) but they could not take it in.
Gethsemane reveals the hidden glory and unending love of Jesus Christ our risen Saviour, who voluntarily gave up his life to rescue us from death. Take some time to ponder and thank him.
Jesus, Redeemer and Eternal Friend, accept our worship and gratitude for Gethsemane and the cross. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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