So Jesus, facing imminent death, went off by himself in his distress and prayed, begging God to come up with a different plan, one that didn’t call for the ultimate sacrifice. After a while, though – evidently about an hour – Jesus felt the need to be with his friends and went back to where he had asked them to wait. They were asleep. So Jesus returned to pray some more. A second time, he went back to his disciples; again they were asleep. So he went a third time, to pray some more, still asking for a change in God’s will. Finally, Jesus said, “Not my will, but yours be done.” Now this is a familiar story, but perhaps its very familiarity is a problem; maybe we know it so well that we no longer ask questions about it. We should.
Sermon Notes