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Lenten Midweek 4 – March 13^th, 2024 Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Paola, Kansas Rev. Joshua Woelmer Text: Luke 22:39–46 “If You Will (Why?)” Theme: God’s will is good, and He listens to our prayers, even if he declines to do what we ask. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Sometimes I wonder how people would answer the question “What is the hardest text in the Bible?” For some, it might be God commanding the Old Testament people to kill the Canaanites as they enter the Promised Land. For others, it could be Sodom and Gomorrah or the Flood or any other time that God punishes people. For me, those are hard, but they are at least understandable. The Fall into Sin is a bit hard for me because I want to reach out through the years of history and shout at Adam and Eve: “DON’T EAT THE FRUIT!” But the hardest passages of Scripture for me happen after Jesus and his disciples leave the upper room. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is a heart-breaking text. To me, it’s probably the second-hardest text, second only to the crucifixion of Jesus. Why is the Garden of Gethsemane hard? It is the start of Jesus’s suffering. It is where the action of Jesus’s Passion really starts. Jesus knows what is happening in the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday. He dismisses Judas who has already betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. But, it’s also a time of teaching and prayer and eating. The Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus knows that this is it. This is the last chance for things to turn around. If he doesn’t leave now, the soldiers are going to come, and he will be bound with ropes from here to the cross. If you knew the police were coming to get you, there comes a point at which it’s too late to run. Before that point, it’s plausible you could escape for a time. Jesus has a human nature. That human nature seeks self-preservation. We believe that Jesus had two wills: his divine will and his human will. We also believe that his divine will strengthened and governed his human will. But here in the Garden of Gethsemane, this is the point when you can almost see this bond shaking. If you were an angel observing this scene, you might think: Is he going to go through with it? Jesus shows great honesty and openness with his Father by praying: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (42a). We can understand why he would not want to go through Good Friday. It’s hard to hear it. It’s hard to watch a depiction of it like in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ.” He knew it was coming. He predicted it three times to his disciples during his ministry. Jesus can know what is coming but still pray that His Father would remove this cup. What Jesus adds though is important: “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (42b). What Jesus is saying is that he knows that he has been sent to earth for this purpose: to die for the sins of the world. He knows it is God’s will. He knows he can go before God asking for the cup of suffering to be taken from him, while at the same time fully willing to drink that cup. The greatest suffering of all is God’s silence. God does not answer Jesus’s prayer, at least not with words that we know of. But he does send “an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (43). Finally, Luke includes this detail: “being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (44). Any of us can understand what it might be like to sweat this way after a hard day’s work. This sweat is the sweat of a man who knows what is coming, and that it is hard, but he trusts in his Father’s will nonetheless—and he makes the Father’s will his own will. This is what informs our own prayers as well. First, we should be able to pray to God for anything. Jesus prayed that the cup of suffering would pass from him. We can pray in a time of suffering that God would take it all away. We can pray for miracles, for deliverance from anything that afflicts us. We can pray for faith when the world and our mind seems darkest to us. We should also pray “Thy will be done.” This hands over to God our problems and our requests. It may not be God’s will to deliver us in the way that we imagine. It may be God’s will to teach us to grieve the loss of a loved one. It may be God’s will to teach us patience in the midst of suffering. We may not know God’s will for everything that happens in our life. We know that God’s will for us is nonetheless good. If he allows us a few more years of life on this earth, it is good. If he takes us home to be with him in heaven, that too is good. We get an example of this playing out with St. Paul. God had sent him a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7) to keep him from being too conceited. We don’t know what that thorn in the flesh is. He says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor 12:8–9). The reason Paul can say this is because he has aligned his will to God’s will. If God wants me to have this thorn, then that is good. I will preach Christ nonetheless. We as Christians have this further promise from God: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). It may be hard at times to see that good, but we know that we have a good Heavenly Father. Finally, it was indeed God’s will that Jesus would drink the cup of his wrath. Jesus knew this and followed through with the divine plan. Gethsemane, by the way, means “olive press.” It is where the olives from the Mount of Olives would be gathered and pressed so olive oil would come forth. Jesus was pressed there in Gethsemane, spiritually. What came forth from him was purer than olive oil. It was the dedication to the will of his Father, and also a love and mercy for you. For there in Gethsemane, he did love you, so much so that he despised the scorn and pain that would come, and embraced what would come. It’s a hard reading to hear, but also a good one. Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen. Return to Top \| Return to Sermons \| Home \| Email Church Office

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Lenten Midweek 4 – March 13^th, 2024

Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Paola, Kansas

Rev. Joshua Woelmer

Text: Luke 22:39–46

“If You Will (Why?)”

Theme: God’s will is good, and He listens to our prayers, even if he declines to do what we ask.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sometimes I wonder how people would answer the question “What is the hardest text in the Bible?” For some, it might be God commanding the Old Testament people to kill the Canaanites as they enter the Promised Land. For others, it could be Sodom and Gomorrah or the Flood or any other time that God punishes people. For me, those are hard, but they are at least understandable. The Fall into Sin is a bit hard for me because I want to reach out through the years of history and shout at Adam and Eve: “DON’T EAT THE FRUIT!” But the hardest passages of Scripture for me happen after Jesus and his disciples leave the upper room. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is a heart-breaking text. To me, it’s probably the second-hardest text, second only to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Why is the Garden of Gethsemane hard? It is the start of Jesus’s suffering. It is where the action of Jesus’s Passion really starts. Jesus knows what is happening in the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday. He dismisses Judas who has already betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. But, it’s also a time of teaching and prayer and eating. The Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus knows that this is it. This is the last chance for things to turn around. If he doesn’t leave now, the soldiers are going to come, and he will be bound with ropes from here to the cross. If you knew the police were coming to get you, there comes a point at which it’s too late to run. Before that point, it’s plausible you could escape for a time.

Jesus has a human nature. That human nature seeks self-preservation. We believe that Jesus had two wills: his divine will and his human will. We also believe that his divine will strengthened and governed his human will. But here in the Garden of Gethsemane, this is the point when you can almost see this bond shaking. If you were an angel observing this scene, you might think: Is he going to go through with it? Jesus shows great honesty and openness with his Father by praying: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (42a).

We can understand why he would not want to go through Good Friday. It’s hard to hear it. It’s hard to watch a depiction of it like in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ.” He knew it was coming. He predicted it three times to his disciples during his ministry. Jesus can know what is coming but still pray that His Father would remove this cup. What Jesus adds though is important: “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (42b). What Jesus is saying is that he knows that he has been sent to earth for this purpose: to die for the sins of the world. He knows it is God’s will. He knows he can go before God asking for the cup of suffering to be taken from him, while at the same time fully willing to drink that cup.

The greatest suffering of all is God’s silence. God does not answer Jesus’s prayer, at least not with words that we know of. But he does send “an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (43). Finally, Luke includes this detail: “being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (44). Any of us can understand what it might be like to sweat this way after a hard day’s work. This sweat is the sweat of a man who knows what is coming, and that it is hard, but he trusts in his Father’s will nonetheless—and he makes the Father’s will his own will.

This is what informs our own prayers as well. First, we should be able to pray to God for anything. Jesus prayed that the cup of suffering would pass from him. We can pray in a time of suffering that God would take it all away. We can pray for miracles, for deliverance from anything that afflicts us. We can pray for faith when the world and our mind seems darkest to us.

We should also pray “Thy will be done.” This hands over to God our problems and our requests. It may not be God’s will to deliver us in the way that we imagine. It may be God’s will to teach us to grieve the loss of a loved one. It may be God’s will to teach us patience in the midst of suffering. We may not know God’s will for everything that happens in our life.

We know that God’s will for us is nonetheless good. If he allows us a few more years of life on this earth, it is good. If he takes us home to be with him in heaven, that too is good. We get an example of this playing out with St. Paul. God had sent him a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7) to keep him from being too conceited. We don’t know what that thorn in the flesh is. He says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor 12:8–9).

The reason Paul can say this is because he has aligned his will to God’s will. If God wants me to have this thorn, then that is good. I will preach Christ nonetheless. We as Christians have this further promise from God: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). It may be hard at times to see that good, but we know that we have a good Heavenly Father.

Finally, it was indeed God’s will that Jesus would drink the cup of his wrath. Jesus knew this and followed through with the divine plan. Gethsemane, by the way, means “olive press.” It is where the olives from the Mount of Olives would be gathered and pressed so olive oil would come forth. Jesus was pressed there in Gethsemane, spiritually. What came forth from him was purer than olive oil. It was the dedication to the will of his Father, and also a love and mercy for you. For there in Gethsemane, he did love you, so much so that he despised the scorn and pain that would come, and embraced what would come. It’s a hard reading to hear, but also a good one.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

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