基督留下那三个门徒，再住前走，来到园中的暗处，然后祂开始祷告：「父，亲爱的父啊，还有其他途径吗？不，我知道没有，但我多么想有啊！」祂不是因为内心软弱，也不是害怕肉体死亡，或是感到屈辱和羞耻而这样祷告；却是因为祂想到，当父神将世人的罪归到祂身上的时候，父神便要转离祂，祂与父神之间那种恒久不渝的相交便要中断。

祂还说了甚么呢？祂说：「然而，不要照我的意思，只要照你的意思。」我们的救主甘心舍己在客西马尼园重新被神悦纳，并在各各他山上彻底成就。我们必须时刻紧记，基督是甘心乐意地为我们舍己。请再读约翰福音十八章11节难以置信的话。当时彼得想与捉拿基督的兵丁搏斗，基督却说：「我父所给我的那杯，我岂可不喝呢？」在那些兵丁后面，在所有这些事情背后，祂看见父神的手在掌管。这是基督最伟大的言论之一。

诗篇一一八篇27节提到要用绳索把祭牲拴在坛角，但基督却不需绳索，甚至不需铁钉把祂固定在十架。正如一首歌所唱：「是爱，不是钉，把祂悬在十架。」

路加告诉我们，祂祷告的时候，有一位天使来加添祂的力量（二十二43）。谁差派的天使呢？当然是父神。祂明白儿子正在经历的痛苦，因着爱，祂对一位天使说：「去加添我儿子的力量，祂现在需要你。」对我们也一样。这其中最好的一个提醒就是我们常常重复的一句话：「父神知道！」当我们有需要的时候，要留心察看前来帮助我们的天使（可能就是弟兄姊妹）。

不久，犹大带着兵丁来捉拿耶稣。当耶稣被带到祭司那里，并最终被带到彼拉多面前受审的时候，众门徒都四散逃跑。基督怎能承受这一切呢？全因祂知道一切都在神的掌管之下，并且一切都是出于神对我们的大爱。神啊，为你一直以来为我们所做的一切，和正在为我们所做的，我们要衷心感谢你。

Day 18

OUR SAVIOUR’S SURRENDER

Matthew 26:36-46

36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”

37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

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.”

40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?

41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

Message

Christ left the three disciples and went on a little farther into the dark of the Garden. Then He began to pray, “Father, dear Father, is there some other way? No, I know there isn’t, but how I wish there was.” He was not praying in weakness, nor in fear of physical death. It was not the humiliation or shame. It was the thought that when His Father laid on Him the sin of us all, the Father would have to turn away from Him. The fellowship which they had known for eternity would be broken.

What else did He say? “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Our Saviour’s sacrifice was accepted afresh in Gethsemane, then realised at Calvary. Let us always remember it was a willing sacrifice. Read His incredible words in John 18:11 when Peter wanted to fight the arresting soldiers, “Shall I not drink the cup my Father has given me?’ Behind the soldiers, behind it all, He saw the Father’s hand. Those are some of Christ’s greatest words.

In Psalm 118:27 it speaks of binding the sacrifice to the horns of the altar. But Christ needed no ropes, not even nails, to hold Him onto the cross. As the song says, “It was His love and not the nails that held Him there.”

Luke tells us (22:43) that as He prayed an angel came and strengthened Him. Who sent that angel? The Father did. He knew the agony His Son was going through. In love, He said to one of the angels, “Go and strengthen my Son. He needs you just now.” It is the same for us. One of the finest reminders of this is in the little phrase we often repeat, “Father knows.” We need to watch for the angels (maybe human angels) coming to help us in our hour of need.

Then came the soldiers led by Judas to arrest Him. The disciples fled as Jesus was lead away to be trialed by the priests and finally by Pilate. How was Christ able to go through all this? He could because He knew He was in the sovereign will of God and because He had great love for us. How can we ever thank Him for all that He did, and is doing for us even now?