Matthew 26:39
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
How often do we humans think about the day when the mysterious cup trembled in our dear Redeemers hand? How few of us that confess to be His followers, realize that all this was done for us individually? How few who say, It was for me, that He let himself be placed into the hands of a hating world because He longed to show them the way out of the enemy’s death grip and clothe them with eternal life? So misunderstood was His burning love for a lost world, so misunderstood is He still, by many still today who have not grasped His character and the love that He has for each individual.
Here in the garden of Gethsemane, our Lord struggled immensely and the destiny of a lost world trembled in the balance. Should He refuse to drink from this cup, should He, the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of this world, offer Himself as our sacrifice? The result would be eternal ruin to the human race. We only have a faint idea of what it took, to give us access to eternal life, a faint idea of what took place on the day when the sun refused to shine and there was total darkness over the earth.
If we could fully comprehend the intense struggle that took place when Jesus was about to drink from the cup of intense suffering, we would realize more that our destiny was hanging in the balance. This realization should lead us to pledge our whole lives and energy to winning souls for Christ. Do we take Christ’s sacrifice for granted and assume that there could have been no other way? The struggle that Jesus went through shows that the Ruler and Judge over heaven and earth could have easily refused to drink from the cup. The angels would have come to His rescue and taken Him away from a world that was undeserving of such love. Too many of us seek an experience that requires little self-denial. We shy away from taking part in Christ’s suffering and we often seek our own will. Instead of clinging to the old rugged cross of Calvary, we cling to this fast-fading world, a kingdom that’s ruled by our greatest enemy. Our lives might say that for us, Christ died in vain.
If only we all could get a real life view of the crucifixion, so that we could be touched to the depth of our being, as we aught to be. As the sinners beside him mocked the Son of God, one of them was changed as he was beholding his Redeemer and he saw with new eyes the Savior of the world, hanging there right beside him. As unworthy, as he must have felt, he turns to his Lord and says, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom, and the Lord assured him, that his plea will be done.
We might not realize just how much this man’s desperate plea touched the Savior’s heart for this is the first mortal that acknowledged that he understood Christ’s mission. When almost everyone had fled or was burdened with grieve, as they saw him hanging there, it was this condemned sinners words, that must have sounded more amazing to the Savior’s ears then the sound of a heavenly choir singing. Here at last was a man, a man who moments before mocked him, here was a man who was convicted that this truly is the Redeemer of the world. It was the faith of this sinner, that gave him a right to the kingdom, he had faith at a time when the world had lost faith in the one whom they once confessed to be their Lord. As his heart went out to Christ, Christ gave him assurance of eternal life. He finally saw his Redeemer, his one and only hope and the peace that must have entered his heart when Christ assured him that he will have a place in his kingdom, is a peace that this world can never give us and neither can they take it from us.
Although the beasts in the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills are his, he was dependent on a stranger’s kindness for an animal on which he was to enter Jerusalem as a king.
Zechariah 9:9
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
The whole city was moved when they saw their king riding into Jerusalam and many were the shouts of Hosanna and they called him Lord but there was no one there to call him Lord when he was high and lifted up on the cross of Calvary. How unfortunate that Christ’s followers, the ones he healed and gave words of comfort to, were now silent, to call him Lord! How much more then any other time, should he have been called Lord and have been exalted for the costly price that he was paying to redeem man? How unfortunate that the only one that called him Lord, was the thief on the cross?
Crucifixion drained the life and energy out of the body but these 2 robbers next to Jesus used the little breath they had, to mock Jesus but shortly after, one of them was moved and convicted and he called his Redeemer, Lord!
What a stunning transformation. The thief no longer mocked Jesus, now he defends Him. What changed? We don’t know when the repentant thief began to fear God, but we find clues when we look at the Scriptures and think what the thief experienced alongside Jesus.
John states that Jesus died before the robbers (John 19:32-34). This means that the repentant thief was able to observe everything that happened when Jesus was on the cross, including His cry: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). We do not know what the thief thought when he heard these words, but it’s not difficult to imagine that something like the following went through his head: “if He was ready to forgive the man who drove the spikes into His hands and feet, maybe He was ready to forgive me. While the priests and rulers, in their self-righteous scorn, fail to see his divine character, the repentant thief’s eyes are opened. This teaches us that the vilest sinner may find pardon and salvation through the blood of Christ.
Gone is the day when he humbly rode into Jerusalem on a donkey but the day is just before us, when we will be seeing him in the sky, riding a white horse as he leads heavens armies Revelations 19:11, on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelations 19:16. Great was the multitude when he was exalted and they sang Hosanna in the highest but few were the people that now stood by his side and calling him Lord, when he looked like anything but a king.
How true is this still today? Great is the multitude that presses in and that is claiming his name because we think that this road is mostly filled with things that will be to our advantage. How quickly we shrink back and follow him only at a safe distance when we realize that being connected to him is not filled with constant joy, without trials.
How many of us are afraid to follow him with our whole heart because it will require us to be mocked? The world will look at us in the same way they looked at him, for they cannot stand the light that is shining in their paths. Christianity, is being surrounded by a little flock of people that will do his will and walk in the truth. It is being attached to a small group that will be called different and that will be labeled falsely. If we find ourselves surrounded by a large group of Christians we might not be on that narrow road that Jesus talked about. We could be part of a group that could be as clueless and unstable as this large group that cried Hosanna to the king one day and a few hours later they with confidence cried crucify him. The road is narrow, it can and will at times be lonely but it is a road that leads to a home that will keep our hearts fully satisfied for ceaseless ages. The home of the redeemed will make us see just how empty and dark this wretched life here on earth really was.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14
