Gethsemane         

John 13:1-20; Luke 22:14-23; Mark 14:32-42

Today, the Thursday of Holy Week we recognize a series of events take place with our Lord Jesus. Jesus is celebrating Passover with his disciples. Jesus washes his disciple’s feet. Jesus gives us the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is betrayed, and he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. A lot happens in just one night.

Passover; Jesus is celebrating the event that finally freed Israel from Pharaoh, the night those that believed in the promises of God spread sacrificial blood on the doorpost so the angel of death would pass them by.

This is important because what is about to happen is with Jesus is the second Passover. Those who believe God’s promise and trust in him, those that accept in themselves Christ’s blood sacrifice on the cross, will be passed over; that is, we who believe will not die, we will live forever in heaven.  2 Corinthians 4:13-14, “…we also believe…he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus.”

The first Passover was done with the blood of imperfect animals, so it only covered a specific moment in time. The new Passover sheds God’s holy and perfect blood. It is a sacrifice once for all the sins of all mankind who believe.           

We see in scripture tonight that before Jesus and the twelve shares a meal, Jesus washes their feet. And not to be too graphic but that is not the nicest thing to have to do. Remember that these people wore sandals and the streets were dirty, full of dust. And the animals that walked down them left their droppings and urine. And not just the animals, people dumped pots of their own excrement in the streets too. It was not pretty and anyone in authority would never wash all this off of someone else’s feet.

But here is Jesus; God in the flesh, washing his disciple’s feet. Jesus knows he is about to fulfill his mission, and that he will be leaving. He knows the twelve still don’t understand everything. By washing his disciple’s feet he is demonstrating in a tactile way his love. By washing his disciple’s feet, by doing the most repulsive of jobs, he is showing the depth of his service; and the depth of what their service should be. By washing his disciple’s feet, Jesus shows us there is no task that is beneath us, there is no task we as his followers should not do in the service of our fellow man, no task we should not be willing to take on in the service of God the Father. John 13:14-15, “Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

Next we know the meal they are sharing is the Passover meal, and we said the blood at the cross is the second Passover. This concept is very important.

In Genesis God made promises to Abraham, Genesis 15:6, “And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and he (God) counted it to him as righteousness.” When we believe in Jesus, God sees us as righteous.

By revolving these events of the cross around Passover Jesus is showing us that there is only one God; that the God of ancient Israel is the same God we worship. God’s telling us that the promises he made to the Father’s of Israel; Moses, Abraham, Jacob, David, are the same promises he makes to us. He is telling us that by our faith we are connected in a direct lineage to God through ancient Israel, and that we are family with all believers who will come after us. Past, present and future all intersect at the cross.

We know Jesus is betrayed by Judas. Probably we’ve all been what we would call “betrayed”, someone broke a confidence or went behind our back. But that’s not the betrayal Jesus endures, Jesus betrayal has death as its consequence.

It’s hard for us to understand this kind of betrayal. But as we move through tonight and Good Friday I want us to think about and pray for those who do live with this type of betrayal. In many countries it is actually illegal to be Christian. People who convert to Christianity can be betrayed by a co-worker, a friend and even family. They will be arrested and put to death.

We are blessed by God to be living in the United States, and we may never be able to understand what people risk and give up in order to follow Christ. Luke 9:23, “…if anyone would come after me, let them deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” There are people in the world who live this out in a way we may never be able to fathom.

Last we have Jesus at Gethsemane. Jesus takes with him three disciples, and we’ve seen these three before; Peter, James and John. Peter meaning “rock”, James meaning “changer” and John meaning Yahweh is gracious. Peter, James and John to show the world that the events about to transpire will take the law written on stone; the Ten Commandments, as the way to salvation and roll them aside making salvation dependent on the grace of God through faith.

I want you to notice that when Jesus prays in Gethsemane there are no witnesses, the disciples fell asleep. Why did the Holy Spirit put this event in the mind of the Gospel writer?

Jesus is man and God, he needs to be. Man so he can take our sins on his flesh; God so his sacrifice will be perfect for all time. This episode in Gethsemane demonstrates this perfectly.

Scripture says Jesus is distressed and troubled. Verse 36, “Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” Here is Jesus the man; knowing what is coming and asking God to change it.

After he is done praying Jesus comes back to find the disciples sleeping. This happens three times. Three representing the trinity, representing Jesus as God. Jesus the man asking God to change his future changes to Jesus as God ready to save mankind. Verse 41,”…the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

Through this event Jesus shows us he understands us as humans. He understands our resistance to follow the harder things that God asks of us. Through this event Jesus shows us the extent that we should be willing to go to for God. Through this event Jesus shows us the depth of servitude to each other we should have.

The night of his betrayal Jesus gave us the Lord’s Supper as a way to remember his sacrifice. Through this supper Jesus connects all believers; past, present and future to the promises given to Abraham. Jesus takes generations past,  generations present and generations yet to come and brings them all together as one family saved by grace through faith. Jesus brings all believers together at the foot of the cross.

Through the events of this night Jesus shows us the depth of what we are supposed to be willing to do for each other and for God.

Through the events of this evening Jesus shows us he understands everything about us as human beings, and that God is in control and it’s his will be done.

Amen.