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Love
Teaching Text: Matthew 26: 36-46
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Palm Sunday
kingdom presence practice
Watch or listen to the sermon. Then take a moment of silence and think about these questions:
Prayers in Gethsemane and on the cross - surrender “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not my will, but Yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. (Luke 22-42-43)
Ask: Where do I need my heart or desires to be more aligned with the Father’s?
Listen: For the truth of God’s deep love for you
Give: Extend love by being present with a friend who is suffering or in need of hope
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
What would it be like to wait for your certain death?…
"How strange that criminals seldom swoon at such a moment! On the contrary, the brain is especially active, and works incessantly-- probably hard, hard, hard--like an engine at full pressure. I imagine that various thoughts must beat loud and fast through his head--all unfinished ones, and strange, funny thoughts, very likely!--like this, for instance: 'That man is looking at me, and he has a wart on his forehead! and the executioner has burst one of his buttons, and the lowest one is all rusty!' And meanwhile he notices and remembers everything....
There is one point that cannot be forgotten, round which everything else dances and turns about; and because of this point he cannot faint, and this lasts until the very final quarter of a second, when the wretched neck is on the block and the victim listens and waits and knows-- that's the point, he knows that he is just now about to die, and listens for the rasp of the iron over his head.”
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
We know we live in a world of life and death
But for the most part, we have to try and ignore death
Can you describe a moment when the reality of death crashed into your life and impacted your understanding of what is real and imminent?
How did you feel? How did it change you?
When death shows up close to us it begins to take up all the space.
We cannot forget what we have been so adept at forgetting any longer.
The Gospel accounts slow down at the death of Jesus. Each of the 4 accounts of Christ’s life zooms in on that final week.
Pontius Pilate was parading into the city because it was Passover week. He normally stayed at his oceanside residence in Ceserea, but during the week when Isreal commemorated being liberated from a powerful empire of the past, he had to ride into the town to remind them not to get any ideas.
Jesus knew what this moment was. He wept over the city as He approached.
But in the middle of the weeping, He kept going. He went on with the Passover he had come to keep.
And He made a new Passover. He made a new escape.
God is the source of life. We know it physically, then when we become aware we can also know it spiritually.
Sin is to go against God. It is to separate from God’s ways and words and character. God says this, or is this, or does this, and you are something or do something else. You go about trying to meet the needs of your life without God. By nature and by actions and choice you are disconnected from God.
We experience the results in that we are spiritually dead and then we become physically dead.
And right away God knew what it would cost.
Death cloaked itself in deception and crept into the story through sin.
But death has been addressed.
For this, Jesus stands up to drink the full cup of death and wrath. The fury of sin and separation is before Jesus and He stands to receive them out of love.
This is how much you are loved.
But also this is how much you and I need redemption.
Perhaps a closer examination of Jesus’ death can bring these realities closer to your consciousness this holy week.
Perhaps the idea of Jesus’ love has become a detached idea rather than an experienced reality.
Prayer: “Jesus help me see your love through your death anew”
We are made for loving God - fully alive - with all parts of our being - holistic - with heart, soul, mind, and strength
And we are made for loving each other - to treat our neighbor like ourselves. To care for each other that way.
But we don’t love like this. Death is in the way. If I can say something so old fashion. Sin is in the way.
Will we surrender to this love?
Will we receive this invitation to life?
He drinks death and offers you life.
Some of us need to receive this life for the first time. You’ve heard many times but never surrendered in your heart.
Some of us need to surrender again for the millionth time to this love because the Holy Spirit is singing it again in your heart
Prayer:
Jesus, make clear to me this life through the understanding of your death. Please help me surrender to the gifts you are desiring to give of life and liberation from sin which leads to death.
