Matthew 26:40
On the night Jesus entered the garden of Gethsemane he fell to the ground and prayed to God to be free of the terrible events that were about to take place. His fear was great, and the burden immense. Yet in the same breath he also said “Thy will be done.” His was not a passive acceptance of fate. He did not want to die. His own agony was overwhelming. Yet in the same breath he accepted what was to come if it was God’s will, saying “if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.”
Three times Jesus went further into the darkness of Gethsemane alone to pray, asking three of his disciples to wait and pray for him, too. Each time he returned, he found them all asleep. And he said to Peter,
What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
He knew he would be betrayed, not only by Judas Iscariot, but by Peter and the others. They would deny knowing him, afraid of the consequences. Yet he showed them no bitterness, and no judgment.
I wonder what I would have done—stayed awake for that hour, or slept? Would I have denied knowing Jesus if asked, to save myself, denied his vision of love and peace as one I shared? The question is not only whether I would have had enough courage to speak the truth. More, the question is whether I would have had enough love in my heart to know it was the only way.
