In this lesson, students learn God's will is for our good.
Devotion
Devotion
Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
If that prayer sounds familiar, it should. I imagine most of you have rattled through those words of the Lord's Prayer many thousands of times. I wonder how often we've sincerely meant what we've said, though. I wonder how often we say to God on Sunday, "Thy will be done," and then, on Monday, go right on making sure that my will is what gets done in my life! How often do we have the faith to sincerely place our whole life and future in the hands of our Heavenly Father? But that's exactly what Jesus did in His fervent prayer that night.
A cup had been filled for Jesus. It was the cup of punishment for every sin that you or I or anyone else ever committed. In only a few hours, Jesus would have to drink it. So our Savior prayed three times to His Father. Each time, He asked that, if possible, He might be spared the suffering that was coming. But each time He qualified the desperate request by saying, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Finally, our Savior's prayer was answered. He had put His life in the hands of His Father, and His Father's will was made clear. God's will was that Jesus should die in our place, so that we might live. As the chief priest Caiaphas unwittingly put it, “It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people” (John 18:14). Jesus had the answer to His prayer. He emerged from the Garden, gathered His disciples, and calmly went to meet His end. In His love for us, and in obedience to His Father's will, He was determined to drain the bitter cup of suffering to its very last drop. That obedience, that determination, that love—those are qualities of our Savior that you and I will be praising for endless ages in eternity!
When You woke that Thursday morning,
Savior, teacher, faithful friend,
Thoughts of self and safety scorning,
Knowing how the day would end;
Lamb of God, foretold for ages,
Now at last the hour had come
When but One could pay sin’s wages;
You assumed their dreadful sum.
The lesson
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane. He told his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and distressed. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to the point of death. Stay here, and keep watch with me.”
39 He went a little farther, fell on his face, and prayed. He said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “So, were you not able to stay awake with me for one hour? 41 Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to pass from me[f] unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 43 Again he returned and found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time. He said the same words as before. 45 Then he returned to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise. Let us go. Look, my betrayer is near.”
[f]Matthew 26:42 Some witnesses to the text omit from me.
θέλημα=will; wishes, desires