Gethsemane — Not My Will But Thine
The night before the Cross, in a garden, Jesus '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' (Matthew 26:39). He prayed this three times. Luke adds that his sweat was like drops of blood (Luke 22:44). The disciples slept. Hebrews reaches back to this moment: 'During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission' (Hebrews 5:7). The cries were heard — and he still went to the cross. This is not passive resignation. It is the hardest prayer in the Gospel, the prayer that costs everything to pray. 'Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered' (Hebrews 5:8). The consent in the garden is not cowardice. It is the highest act of trust in the whole story.