Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 

Matthew 26:36-39

We last met on Palm Sunday and celebrated Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem riding a donkey.  The crowds welcomed Him as King, blanketing His path with clothing and palm branches, shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:9).  We gather here, tonight, on this Holy Thursday, remembering the events of the evening when He surrendered Himself for us, focusing on two small portions of the evening.

First, during the Passover Feast, Jesus instituted holy communion.  Second, after the feast, Jesus walked with the disciples across the Kidron Valley to an olive garden on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, where He prayed shortly before guards arrived to arrest Him.  Through the events we see the pinnacle, the climax of Jesus’ teaching that week, and we see Jesus in the place where we should all strive to be – face down, praying, “Not as I will, but as you will.”  Totally surrendered to the Father, not out of obligation, but love.  But how can we possibly get to that place? Through continuous communion with Him through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Communion with Him through prayer, by studying His holy word, through Godly fellowship, through service, and by intentionally remembering.  “Not as I will, but as you will.”

Holy Communion.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s go back to that Passover Feast that evening.  Matthew records a portion of it like this, at chapter 26, verses 26-29:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  Matthew 26:26-29

Jesus holds bread and He refers to it as His body.  He holds a cup filled with wine and He refers to it as His blood.  “This is my blood of the covenant.”  Why?  And why does He refer to covenant? 

Let’s consider three aspects of this.  1) The setting of the Passover Feast itself is ripe with meaning.  2) The phrase “blood of the covenant” forces us to look back to an event that happened way back in Exodus, and 3) the reference to covenant in this context causes us to remember Jeremiah’s prophecy. 

We are familiar with the thought that Jesus’ blood washes away sin, cleanses, opens the door to the kingdom of heaven, prepares us for communion with God.  Through the cross, through the blood, through Jesus, we gain life. 

As the disciples gathered to share the Passover Feast with Jesus, they came with a set of expectations.  They knew the event was designed to cause them to remember the Exodus, and God’s holy, saving, loving, gracious, yet terrifying hand at work.  In Exodus, we see the blood of the lamb saving lives, and in the process, providing life. 

While their ancestors were enslaved in Egypt, they cried out to God and God heard their cries and He sent Moses to deliver them from slavery.  In Exodus 12, as God planned the final plague, the tenth plague, the plague of the firstborn, He gave very specific instructions.  On a certain day each household was to select a one-year-old male lamb without blemish and take it home.  Four days later, at a specific time, each household was to kill the lamb, mark the doorposts with its blood, roast the lamb and eat it all that night with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. 

At midnight that night, the Lord passed through Egypt, striking dead each firstborn human and firstborn animal He encountered, except those dwelling within homes marked by blood of the lamb.  Because of the horrific events that night, Pharaoh let God’s people leave Egypt.  The blood of the Lamb saved them and delivered them from slavery.

After that horrific but lovingly gracious night, God asserted ownership of each person saved by the blood of the lamb.  At Exodus 13:2 God said, “Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine” (Exodus 13:2).  He claimed ownership of each life saved through the blood of the lamb.  The Passover feast was a ritual of remembrance, so that each generation thereafter would know and remember God’s mighty, terrifying, yet gracious, loving hand.

As the disciples ate the lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, they knew what the meal symbolized, and they remembered.  The blood of the lamb saves, delivers, and gives life, and God claims ownership of each person who is saved by the blood.

In Genesis, God equates blood and life.  At verse 9:4 He says, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” Blood is life. 

When John the Baptist introduced Jesus, John referred to Him as “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).  The imagery of Jesus as the lamb of God was out in the public even before His ministry started, and here, by saying “my blood,” Jesus introduces the thought that He is the final Passover lamb, the final Passover sacrifice.  And His blood is life.

We have this depth of meaning from the setting of the Passover Feast.  What did Jesus mean by “blood of the covenant”?

Blood of the Covenant.  By using that terminology, Jesus refers to a different event in Exodus.  Later in Exodus, at chapter 24, as God’s people camped at Mount Sinai, we see blood sealing a covenant between God and His people, and blood cleansing His people so they might share a meal in communion with Him.

God called Moses, Aaron and seventy elders of Israel to Mount Sinai.  Moses had written God’s holy word, the Book of the Covenant.  They offered burnt offerings to God, and Moses took half the blood and threw it on the altar.  Then he read the book to them.  And they all said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient” (Exodus 24:7).  Then Moses took the other half of the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8).  Then they all went up and God appeared, and they ate and drank, they feasted in God’s presence.

They entered covenant with God by promising obedience to His holy word, they were cleansed and purified by the blood of the sacrifice, and they feasted in communion with God.  The blood of the lamb sealed the covenant and purified them so that they could commune with Him.  The life of the lamb, which is its blood, cleansed, purified, and enabled them to commune with God and enjoy the abundance of His presence, symbolized by the feast.

Isn’t that what the blood of the Lamb does for us?

New Covenant.  When Jesus used the words “blood of the covenant,” He certainly referred to the events of Exodus 24, but what covenant?  In Exodus, Israel promised obedience to God’s holy word.  Was Jesus referring to that covenant?

Yes, but with a giant change.  As Israel demonstrated over and over, it is impossible for mere humans to abide by God’s holy word through our own power, but through Christ Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit and God’s transforming, loving grace, it is possible.  Jesus refers to the New Covenant foretold by God through the prophet Jeremiah, at Jeremiah 31:33,

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Jeremiah 31:33

Obedience to God is of critical importance, but we need His holy transformation to make it possible, and through His holy transformation we desire to be obedient, not out of obligation, but love.  It’s like when you do things for your spouse, not because you have to, but because you want to do them, and you want to because of your love.  Underscoring the importance of obedience through love, during that Passover Feast, Jesus repeatedly gave a new commandment.  He said,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34-35

 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  John 15:10

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  John 15:12

We need His holy transformation.  The new covenant is God’s holy will written on our hearts through His new life, and through that, our lives of praying and seeking Him and loving others and abiding in His love.  All of Jesus’ teaching that week comes together here, and through it all we reach the point of being able to surrender to Him totally, praying, “Not as I will, but as you will,” and we do so out of love.

Prayer in the Garden

After the feast, they walked across the Kidron Valley and a short way up the Mount of Olives to an olive garden, where Jesus prayed.  He knew everything was about to change.

This is the climax of the week and the place we should all strive to be – the place where we fall on our face in prayer saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  May we each discover that place, where we surrender our will to His, where we pray that His will be done, and actually mean it, and we position ourselves to actually discern His will and follow through on it.  Matthew writes,

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  Matthew 26:36-39

As Jesus spoke these words, everything turned.  The beautiful evening of teaching and feasting and praying – communing – with the Son of God, the Holy One, the perfect One suddenly turned dark.  Everything changed, Judas led guards to arrest Jesus. 

Jesus had a choice.  He could have called on angels to rescue Him, to save Him from the hour, but He did not.  He knew what was about to happen and He pursued the plan because it was God’s will.  He chose God’s will.  When He prayed, “Not as I will, but as you will,” He was making a choice.

We each have a choice, well not a choice really, we each continuously make choices, and the cumulative effect of our choices reveals our character, who we really are.  Whose will are we pursuing?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about prayer, saying,

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.  Matthew 6:9-10

And later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  Matthew 7:21

Jesus urges us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and He says people who do the Father’s will are the ones who will enjoy everlasting communion with Him.  In the garden, during that climatic time, Jesus prays for God’s will to be done, and then He acts in accordance with the prayer.  He lovingly goes through the agony as God’s holy servant.  It is much more than willing surrender; it is loving surrender.  As Jesus taught earlier that evening, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  The example Jesus gives us must not be overlooked.  It is of critical importance.  It is the pinnacle, the culmination of His teaching that week.

But How Can We Know God’s Will?  I offer two thoughts. 

First, God’s holy word presents His will.  We need to know Scripture.  And as you open His holy word, please pray asking God to open your eyes and mind so that you might see and understand.

Second, at Romans 12:1-2, God’s holy word says that our ability to discern God’s will is a gift developed as our minds are transformed and renewed and sanctified by our gradual surrender to and acceptance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  The passage reads,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.  Romans 12:1-2

As we should expect, Jesus’ teaching, and His actions, and God’s holy word fit perfectly together.  Through Jeremiah, God foretells a time when His holy word will be written on the hearts of His people, and they will be transformed, and they will know His holy will, and they will act in a manner befitting of bearing His holy name, and they will do so out of love not obligation.  Through His blood and the unleashing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus created that time.  The blood of the Lamb saves, it purifies, it prepares us to commune with God the Father through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

As we prepare to commune with our Lord and Savior at His table, please know that all who genuinely seek to commune with Him are welcome.  As we gather, together, communing with God through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, may you genuinely seek Him, and surrender to Him, and abide in Him, and commune with Him.  Amen.