Seeds for 02/06/2024 - Matthew 26:39
Scripture: Going a little farther, 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.”
Observation: One step further into this magnificent episode in the life of Jesus. The scene is at once a window into the life of God and a model for human prayer.
Jesus “fell with His face to the ground and prayed.” Prostrating oneself before God is placing the body in a position of full surrender and deference. Before Jesus expresses full surrender of His will with His words, He expresses it with His body. This is significant. We often signal our emotional openness or closed-ness to others and even to ourselves with the posture of our body. We are hesitant for whatever reason, so we stiffen and our arms fold across our chest without a moment’s reflection. We have indicated reservations to our interlocutor and primed ourselves for a negative response once all parties have had their say. The posture of the body precedes the posture of the heart, and Jesus’ body language was already indicating the true loyalty of His heart toward God the Father.
Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus asked someone what they wanted Him to do for them. This is vital in prayer—we are invited to discern clearly and state plainly what we would like Jesus to do for us or for someone for whom we are praying. Here, Jesus practices what He preaches as He prays to the Father: “if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” It is a striking petition.
More striking still is what Jesus says next, contrasting His will and the will of the Father in that moment: “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” In stating it this way, we see what total surrender is through Jesus. Surrender is desiring God’s will for His mission more than our will for that moment. We will watch Jesus pray three times in this manner, and afterward He will have taken the Father’s will as His own. He and the Father are in perfect sync, showing us a distinct danger and privilege in this kind of encounter—that the humble prayer of surrender joins us to the awesome purposes of God.
Application:
When have you noticed someone’s body language signaling their response? When have you noticed this in yourself?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, parade my hesitations before me and let me still pray, “yet not as I will, but as you will.” Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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