Passion Gospel: Thy Will Be Done (Luke 22:39-23:56)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

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This is the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

Jesus came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

And when he came to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation.

And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him.

And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow.

And he said to them, Why are you sleeping?

Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd.

And the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them.

He drew near to Jesus to kiss him.

But Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?

And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with a sword?

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

But Jesus said, No more of this.

And he touched his ear and healed him.

Then Jesus said to the high priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs?

When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me.

But this is your hour and the power of darkness.

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance.

And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.

Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, This man also is with him.

But he denied it, saying, Woman, I do not know him.

And a little later someone else saw him and said, You also are one of them.

But Peter said, Man, I am not.

And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.

But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about.

And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.

And he went out and wept bitterly.

Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him.

They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, Prophesy, who is it that struck you?

And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.

When day came, the assembly of the elders and the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council, and they said, If you are the Christ, tell us.

But he said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer.

But from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.

So they all said, Are you the Son of God then?

And he said to them, You say that I am.

And then they said, What further testimony do we need?

We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.

Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king.

And Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews?

And he answered him, You have said so.

Then Pilate said to the chief priests in the crowds, I find no guilt in this man.

But they were urgent, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee, even this place.

When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at the time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and was hoping to see some sign done by him.

So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer.

The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.

And Herod mocked with Herod with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, and mocked him.

Then arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been in enmity with each other.

Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers of the people, and said to them, You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people.

And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

Neither did Aaron, for he said, in fact to us.

And their voices prevailed.

So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.

He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus.

And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who are mourning and lamenting for him.

But turning to them, Jesus said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

For behold, the days are coming when they will say, Blessed are the barren and the wounds that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.

Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us and to the hills, cover us.

For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.

And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

And they cast lots to divide his garments.

And the people stood by watching.

But the rulers scoffed at him, saying, He saved others.

Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

There is also an inscription over him.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us.

But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deed, but this man hath done nothing wrong.

And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, when the sun's light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

And Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

And having said this, he breathed his last.

And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea.

He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action, and he was looking for the kingdom of God.

This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in the tomb cut in stone where no one had yet ever been laid.

It was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.

The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how the body was laid.

Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.

On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

Let's rewind the story a little bit and meet Jesus in the garden.

He's in agony and anguish.

He is sweating, drops of blood.

It's the night of his betrayal and his arrest.

Jesus knows he is going to be delivered into the hands of his executioners so that God's promise of salvation given to us in the scriptures may be fulfilled.

How do we understand what's going on in this moment?

I think we find the gospel in this petition of Jesus.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

Father.

Jesus addresses his prayer to his heavenly Father.

He teaches his disciples to do the same.

Through the Gospels, it's Jesus' relationship with the Father that is essential to who he is and what it is that he's doing.

He alone is the begotten Son who truly knows and reveals the Father in such a way that we can be made adopted children.

It's this relationship, this relationship between Father and Son, the loving union of Father and Son, that is being since eternity past.

In John 17, Jesus prays, Father, you loved me from before the foundation of the world.

I love that prayer.

I love that prayer because if you've ever wondered, like me, what God was up to before He created the universe, it speaks exactly to it.

God wasn't bored twiddling his thumbs from eternity past, looking for something to get up to, so he's going to try this creation thing.

Jesus tells us that for eternity past, the beginningless before, the Father was pouring out his limitless love for his only begotten Son, who eagerly reciprocated his boundless love for the Father in the eternal and personal union of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

Amen.

See there's not a speck of humiliation, condemnation, or forsakenness in this perfect relationship.

Only infinite intimacy and warmth and delight of God's own triune love.

So it's in the midst of his distress that our incarnate Lord Jesus addresses his Father.

Father, if you are willing, he makes a petition, one that's conditional upon the Father's purpose.

Even in his greatest anguish, Jesus remains the perfect, obedient Son, who said, I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me.

Father, Jesus prays, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

In this moment, Jesus knows that his heavenly Father, who has joyfully willed to pour out his love for the Son since eternity past, is now purposed to pour out for him a bitter cup.

This image takes us right back to the Old Testament.

A cup is a metaphor principally for the wrath of God, poured out like a sour wine.

In Jeremiah chapter 25, the prophet records God's word to his wayward world.

Jeremiah 25 · chapter mention

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, take from my hand this cup of wine, the cup of the wine of wrath, and make all nations to whom I send you to drink it.

This cup that Jesus is going to drink is the cup of God's wrath.

Now we'd be wrong to conclude that God is cruel for pouring out his wrath.

Cruelty is a callous indifference or a delight in bringing harm to another, and this isn't the Father's heart for sinners and sufferers.

The Father wills restoration and renewal.

Wrath, we know, is not something that's essential to God's character, but rather it's provoked by the destructiveness of sin and wrongdoing.

Wrath is God's holiness confronting evil, God's purity opposing corruption, and God's goodness condemning sin for what it is.

Jesus is going to drink this cup of God's wrath.

Why?

It's not because of Jesus' own disobedience, as though he deserves this cup.

In Jesus alone, God's word tells us there is no sin.

Jesus is the only one in whom no evil, no corruption, and no sin could be found.

He is the only one exempt from this cup.

Jesus doesn't drink God's wrath because of his sin, he drinks it because of ours.

On him, our reading in Isaiah says, on him was laid the iniquity of us all.

And the apostle Paul writes that he became sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become his righteousness.

So here we are in the garden.

And what is it that God wills?

In the moonlit agony of Gethsemane, a cosmic substitution has begun.

Jesus, the eternal Son of the Father, has come to the garden to step into our place, the place of sinners, to drink whole the cup of God's wrath that rightly belongs to us, so that we, repentant and forgiven sinners, may drink the cup of righteousness that rightly belongs to Jesus.

We'd be wrong to think that the Father forces his will on Jesus, who would rather have a past, thank you very much, but reluctantly follows through.

The Father wills sinners to be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.

And he is willing to suffer the loss of his only begotten Son, whom he has loved from eternity past, to bring about salvation.

So too does Jesus will sinners to be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.

He wills that for you and for me.

And he's willing to suffer as our substitute and to drink this bitter cup on our behalf.

See, the Holy Triune God is wholeheartedly purposed to save sinners by doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to endure the wrath of God against sin.

Jesus knows the way before him is not like the triumphal exaltation of Palm Sunday.

The way of the cross is the way of humiliation, condemnation, and forsakenness.

And no son who has known the limitlessness.

Of a Father's love, let alone an eternal love, desires to be forsaken by him.

Upon the cross, the Father's face will no longer shine upon the Son, it will turn away from the one who has become sin by stepping into the place of sinners.

And there is no greater horror than God forsakenness.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So Jesus prays for any possible way for this cup of wrath to be removed, even with his face set upon the cross.

Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

Jesus alone can pray these words as the sinless one, as the wholly obedient Son.

He's not making an ultimatum, not trying to twist the Father's arm, not being obstinate or self-willed.

Boy, those sound like my prayers.

He doesn't desire God forsakenness and condemnation, yet his will is ever to do the will of his Father.

Whether that's the triumph of a Palm Sunday entry or the humiliation of the cross, so we ought to recognize the gospel in these words.

Not my will, but yours be done.

God wills sinners be rescued, that things on earth be as they are in heaven, and that reconciliation and renewal take place in Christ.

See, our only hope is not in our obedience, our ability to perform good works that we think is going to earn it before God.

Even at the best of times, we remain self-willed sinners.

Our only hope, it's clear in this moment in the garden, is the perfect obedience and willing submission of our sinless substitute, Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross despite its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father.

And we rest secure in Christ's act of substitution.

He drank the cup of God's wrath on our behalf, so that we can come to his table to drink the cup of forgiveness and renewal.

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Period.

Now on this side of the cross, we still pray, Thy will be done.

I wonder if that's the most important prayer we could pray as Christians, especially in times of anguish.

Because we are so often inclined, like the disciples themselves, hanging out with Jesus in the garden, to enter into temptation, to follow our own way.

We, like sheep, have gone astray.

When we pray thy will be done, we entrust our whole selves to the one who has given his whole self for us upon the cross.

From triumphal entry to his cross and passion, Holy Week tells us that Jesus denied himself to take up his cross for our sake.

And as his disciples, we endeavor to walk in the same way, to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and follow him into Easter hope.

This holy week, let's make thy will be done be our prayer.

Father, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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