Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Was Jesus Scared of Death? | New Testament | Matthew 26

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

What had Jesus trembling in the garden? What cup did he ask God to take from him? Was Jesus afraid of physical suffering? In today's episode, Keith looks at Matthew 26and shares what Jesus's death accomplished. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Matthew 26

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Okay, so we pick up the story in Matthew Chapter 26. It's hours before the death of Jesus. Jesus and his disciples have shared the Passover meal together. Now Judas leaves to betray Jesus to the Pharisees, and the rest of the group sings a hymn together and then leaves for the Garden of Gassimony.

Jesus tells his disciples to wait for him, except for Peter James. in John, who he takes further into the garden to pray with him. Verse 37, Jesus began to be sorrowful and troubled. He said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little further, 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.

Three times Jesus will ask the father to take this cup from him, And three times he will say, not my will, but your will be done. Three times he will return to the disciples to find them sleeping. Jesus looked with dread, almost terror at the cross that was ahead of him. What is in the cup that he asked God to take from him? What is it that has Jesus trembling? Is it the physical suffering that comes from the crucifixion? If it was, you couldn't blame him.

Crucifixion was a horrific way for a state to execute criminals. Nazis crucified Jews at Dachau. The Khmer Rouge crucified their opponents in Cambodia. Today, in Sudan, crucifixion still occurs. We know that the Persians were crucifying people 500 years before the death of Christ, but it's the Romans who perfected it. They crucified slaves and foreigners, but never citizens. Death by crucifixion was slow and agonizing.

A person died of asphyxiation. It was done in public so that people could walk by and laugh and throw stones and mock. It would take days for someone to die. Crucifixion almost exclusively happened to men. Occasionally a woman would be crucified. In that case, she would be turned to face the cross because people could not stand to see a woman in that much agony.

But if Jesus begged his father to not go to the cross because he feared the physical suffering, we might have a problem. You see, throughout the centuries, people courageously have faced death. Plato tells of Socrates sitting in a prison cell, drinking some hemlock that his friends had brought him. According to Plato, Socrates takes the poisonous streak without trembling or changing color or expression. He raised it to his lips and cheerfully and quietly drained it.

When Socrates's friends burst into tears, he rebuked them for their absurd behavior and told them, quote, Keep quiet and be brave. Socrates died without fear or sorrow or protest. So was Socrates braver than Jesus? Then there have been the Christian martyrs. Remember that Jesus had told his followers in Matthew 5, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So did Jesus say one thing and do another? Was he one of those teachers who failed to put into practice what he preached? In the history of Christianity, there have been thousands and thousands of believers who have willingly given their lives. In the second century, there was a bishop named Ignatius, and he was being transported to Rome for his own execution. He sent a letter ahead of himself to the church in Rome, and he begged them not to seek his freedom and deprive him of the privilege of dying for Jesus. He wrote this in the letter.

Let fire in the cross, let companies of wild beasts, Let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil come upon me. Be it so, if only I may gain Christ Jesus. In 155 AD, Polycarp was 86 years old when he refused to save his own life by denying Jesus. As a result, he was burned at the stake. When they asked him if he had any final words right before they lit the fire, this 86-year-old man prayed loud enough that they could all hear it. O Father, I bless you that you have counted me worthy to receive my portion among the number of martyrs.

Of course, there are modern examples of people willingly and joyfully dying for Christ. So now we return to Jesus in the garden. He's lying face down, sweating drops of blood. He's repeatedly asked the father if there is any way to not drink the cup. Do you see the problem? Jesus taught that a person should rejoice in the face of persecution. The first disciples did just that, and many others throughout the centuries have joined them. Now here is Jesus in what appears to be a similar situation, and he's reacting completely

differently. Why? Well, because the cup that Jesus drank from wasn't the same cup given to the martyrs. When we think of the crucifixion, we think of physical pain, but it wasn't physical pain that was in the cup. The cup symbolized divine wrath. What overwhelms Jesus isn't physical suffering and death, but identifying with sinners and becoming an object of God's wrath.

It is one thing, fearful as it is, to answer for our own sins before a mighty and holy God. Who can imagine what it would be like to stand before God to answer for every sin and evil in the world? Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath against sinners. God said his love on saving sinners, but that could only be done if Jesus bore our sins if he bore our wrath and judgment, the wrath and judgment that we deserved. In the garden, Jesus was submitting his will to the Father and facing that he was going to bear the sin of the world. That's why he prayed three times, if possible, take this cup from me. If there had been another

way, the Father would have provided it. But every time Jesus prayed that, his request was met with silence. The answer was no. No, the cup wouldn't be taken away. no there was no other way to save sinners so jesus responds not my will but thy will be done in humble obedience he submitted to his father's will jesus is resolute he's going to go to the cross he will suffer and die for sinners the spiritual danger of the hour is not limited to jesus there's also danger for his disciples jesus had taken peter james and john with him all three have boasted about their courage and determination they should be exactly the companions Jesus needs in this crisis that lays before him. Jesus had told Peter James and John to pray so that they would not fall into temptation. Three times when Jesus returns, he finds them sleeping.

So Jesus is engaged in this great spiritual battle and his three trusted disciples can't even stay awake. You can't help but see in this story a picture that too many of us can easily identify with. A great spiritual battle for our soul is being waged and we are asleep. or we're too distracted or too busy with the superficialities of life. Like the disciples, we don't seem to be aware of what's happening. We don't seem to be aware of what's at stake.

When Jesus says to watch and pray, for the spirit is willing, but the body is weak, he is teaching us something about ourselves. He's teaching us that trusting and obeying God are not the default responses of disciples. Instead, their ongoing struggles, struggles against temptation and weakness. In the face of temptation, we also must watch and pray. Hey, thanks for listening. If you want to go deeper, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talk newsletter. You'll get a short email once a week.

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