“Your will be done”
Twice more, the Savior goes away to seek his Father’s fellowship. He goes to pray to Him. He does not always pray the same thing. His prayers are surely not word-for-word repetitions. Each prayer is the deep expression of his heart’s distress.
Matthew gives the thrust the second time: “If this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Without analyzing these prayers in an unworthy way, one can perhaps still see a difference in emphasis. The first time, the distress linked to draining the cup was foremost. The second time, the emphasis is on the Father’s will. The Son wanted to fulfill it, whatever it would cost Him.
It is similar to an earlier occasion in John 12:27. There, the Lord Jesus first expresses his distress: “Father, save Me from this hour.” Then his gaze turns from his own distress to the Father: “But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name!”
As there it is about glorifying the Father’s name, so here it is fulfilling the Father’s will. That is what ultimately decides. If the Father was to be glorified and His will carried out, then the Lord Jesus wanted to endure everything for it. Wonderful Lord!
“So sleep on”
When He comes to the disciples a second time, they were asleep again. There was no sign of watching, despite his renewed appeal. Their eyes were heavier than their hearts. Did He speak to them again about their drowsiness? We read nothing about it. Perhaps He only looked at them. It only says that they did not know what to answer Him (Mark 14:40).
Had the tempter already achieved success in sifting them? Had they already begun inwardly to take offense at Him? In any case, the Lord does not exhort them again to watch. He knew they were not able to do so.
A third time, He withdrew from them, prayed, and “said the same thing once more” (Matthew 26:44). He did not use exactly the same words each time. But the prayers moved in the same direction. Then the agonizing struggle was over. In complete inner calm, He returns to his disciples.
From John 18:11 we know that the Father had given Him the cup. And He had accepted it. Not from Satan’s hand, not even from God’s hand as Judge. But from the Father’s hand: “The cup which the Father has given Me, am I not to drink it?”
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