From Matthew 26:47-56

What stands out to me about these verses is when Jesus tells His disciple “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled?” At no point did God have to redeem us.  At no point did Jesus have to die for our sins.  At any given time, He could’ve said “that’s it, I’m done” and angels would’ve descended on the Romans and the chief priests and the elders, putting an end to this arrest in the garden.  Jesus didn’t do that though, He allowed Himself to be taken so that the prophecies of the Old Testament, the promises of the Old Testament, would be fulfilled.

God doesn’t need us.  He doesn’t rely on our faith or on our affection. He did what He did to redeem us out of nothing but love.  That can be the most incredible part of our faith when we live in a world that always looks for the selfish motive, and the most incredible witness we can share with the hurting people around us.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God loves us unconditionally

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to share that unconditional love with others

Topics to Pray About:                                                              

• Thank Jesus for saving us out of love
• Confess to God times where you don’t reflect that love in your life
• Ask God to give you peace in your relationship with Him

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Matthew 26:36-46

Here in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see a glimpse into Jesus’ humanity.  He prays that this experience in front of Him, the suffering and loneliness and death, would be taken away.  In His humanity, He doesn’t want to have to do this.  In His divinity, He does it anyway.  He prays “not as I will, but as you will.”  We know the rest of the story, God’s will is to save fallen humanity through Jesus sacrificial suffering and death.  We know that the Father’s will was for the Son to die.

In this prayer, Jesus sets a great example for us.  First by how He prays and second by how He responds to the path God has laid out in front of Him.  When Jesus prays, His prayer is cached in these words “not as I will, but as you will.” Whenever you and I pray, we should have the same attitude.  We can go to God and ask Him for whatever we want, but it should always be with the attitude “not my will God, but yours.” We trust God enough to leave our future in His hands – even if that means it doesn’t go exactly how we might want it to.  What’s more, Jesus follows through on this prayer by stepping up to the cross.  When God’s will for our lives is put in front of us, it might terrify us, it might look unpleasant and uncomfortable, it might include suffering, it might be painful.  Sometimes God calls us into difficult places, into lonely places, into hurtful places – but we step boldly forward into each situation with the attitude “not my will God, but yours.”

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously sent Jesus to die for us.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to pray and act with the Father’s will in mind.

Topics to Pray About:                                                              

• Thank Jesus for the sacrifice He made, despite the pain it caused Him.
• Confess to God times where you don’t seek the plans He has for you, pursuing your own plans instead.
• Ask God to guide you to lead the life He has called you to lead.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Matthew 26:30-35

Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for what is going to happen in the near future, when He is arrested, convicted, and executed.  He points backward to a prophecy in Zechariah 13:7. This prophecy says that when Jesus is taken, the people who followed Him are going to scatter.  Peter, who is always ready to speak what’s on his mind, speaks up and says that he would never abandon Jesus.  He says that even if everyone else falls away, he won’t.  Jesus responds by telling him that not only will he scatter, but he will actively deny Jesus three times before the next morning.

Spoiler alert, Peter does indeed deny Jesus three times before the rooster crows in Matthew 26:69-75.  But later, we read in John 21:15-19, Jesus has a moment with Peter where He asks three times “do you love me?” Each time Peter responds, “you know that I love you.” In that moment, Jesus redeems Peter from those denials and then lifts him up to a new mission of making disciples and leading the church.

Jesus uses men and women who fail, who are broken, who are sinful.  He forgives them and overcomes their shortcomings, challenging them to do better and using them for His plan.  We know that pastors, worship leaders, elders, and other people in the church are going to fall short, they’re going to make mistakes and commit sins.  But we also know that God forgives them too, lifts them up, and still uses them for His plans.  That’s true for all Christians.  Each and every one of us will fall short, make mistakes, and commit sins.  But we know that God forgives each and every one of us, lifts us up, and uses us for His plan.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously forgives us and makes a place for us in His plan.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to look on the people around us with grace.

Topics to Pray About:                                                              

• Thank God for the gift of forgiveness
• Confess to God times where you don’t seek the plans He has for you
• Ask God to guide you to lead the life He has called you to lead.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Matthew 26:26-29

If you attend worship in a Lutheran context, these words are probably familiar to you.  They are spoken before the celebration of communion. We call them the Words of Institution traditionally.  It is in these words the Christ institutes the sacrament (a gift commanded by God with a physical component and associated with a promise of grace).

There are a couple of things in these sentences that are worth some special attention.  First, Jesus says “this is my body” and “this is my blood of the covenant.” As far as we know, Jesus is speaking in a straightforward way here.  We believe that when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper today, Jesus’ body and blood is really present in the bread and wine.  It’s not a symbol.  It’s not a metaphor.  It’s not just about remembering.  We don’t know how it works, but we believe that He is really there.  That means we need to approach the meal with respect, because we are approaching Jesus.  He also uses the word covenant.  This is a powerful word that refers to this new relationship we have with God because of Jesus’ sacrifice.  Each time we go to the Lord’s Supper, we are celebrating and taking part in this agreement where all of our sins, shortcomings, mistakes, and imperfections are put on Him and we put on His righteousness.  These words institute a incredible gift that has been handed down through generations of Christians, generations all bound by the love and forgiveness found in Jesus.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously enters into this new covenant with us.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to take the Lord’s Supper seriously.

Topics to Pray About:                                                              

• Thank God for the gift of His sacrament.
• Confess to God times where you don’t seek Communion as faithfully as you should.
• Ask God to lead you to receive His gifts again and again.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Matthew 26:14-25

I am genuinely curious as to what the disciples were thinking at this meal.  In Matthew 26:20-23, Jesus pretty explicitly tells the disciples that someone at the table would betray Him and it seems that the finger points to Judas. It seems out of character for the disciples to not react strongly.  Peter doesn’t pull out a sword, the Sons of Thunder don’t start rebuking Judas, the meal seems to continue pretty much uninterrupted.  Did the disciples think Jesus meant some non-threatening form of betrayal?  Did they think He was making a really un-funny joke?  Were they totally oblivious to everything that was going on at the table?  And while I’m sharing my curiosity, what did Jesus intend to accomplish with this conversation?  Was He issuing a dire warning to Judas to try and change the course of his actions?  Or was He trying to make a point?

Two lessons come to mind when I see Jesus at the table with the disciples.  First is that when Jesus references “he who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me,” it could be in reference to all the disciples. The Lutheran Study Bible notes that “banqueters often dipped their bread into a common dish of sauce.” It seems to me that at this point in the meal, all of the disciples might have dipped their hands in the dish with Jesus.  That would point to all of them as betrayers.  While none of them betrayed Him as seriously as Judas will, each of the disciples abandon Jesus at some point in His journey to the cross, each of the disciples will betray Jesus to some extent.  Second is that Jesus does not end the meal; in fact, He goes on to institute the Lord’s Supper!  Jesus in His earthly ministry has shown His willingness to dine with sinners and broken people.  Here, He shows His willingness to dine with betrayer(s).

We sometimes betray our faith, betray our Lord with our thoughts, our words, and our actions.  But Jesus still promises to meet us at the table for the Lord’s Supper, He still promises to come to us with forgiveness, mercy, and grace.  Here in Matthew, we see Jesus character in a way that reassures us that He will always be there with love and forgiveness – no matter how broken or sinful we are.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously dines even with those who would betray Him.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to look on the people around us with an eye of grace.

Topics to Pray About:                                                              

• Thank God for the grace and mercy He has for us
• Confess to God times where you look down on others whose brokenness is more visible than yours
• Ask God to lead you to rest in the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection

In His Service,

J. LeBorious