Mon Oct 5

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the words pray and cup.

Reading

Luke 22:39-46—Take This Cup Away from Me, If You Are Willing

Optional Reading

Matt 26:36-46

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Jesus prays before He goes to the cross.
He tells His disciples to pray, too (they fell asleep).
He was willing to do His Father’s will.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

What does Jesus pray?
How does Luke note the difficulty Jesus faced?
Why was the Father not willing to take the cup away?

Catechism

WSC 84

What doth every sin deserve?

Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.

(Galatians 3:10; Matthew 25:41; Ezra 9:6–7; Psalms 11:6; Revelation 21:8)

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

Having instructed His disciples to pray, Jesus Himself prays. Hendriksen notes that Luke alone mentions the angel who came to strengthen Jesus. It is [Luke] alone who refers to the sweat that became like thick drops of blood falling down upon the ground. It is Luke who, even more emphatically than Matthew and Mark, rivets our attention on the appalling horror to which the Savior was exposed, the frightful, soul-piercing anguish he experienced.

As Jesus experiences this “soul-piercing” anguish, He pleads with the Father to remove this cup. Hughes comments that Jesus’ words “if you are willing” addressed the disposition of his loving Father. Jesus was not praying to an impotent Father but the omnipotent Father, for whom all things are possible…God can do anything! Jesus’ Gethsemane prayer testifies to the authenticity of the Incarnation, that he was a real man (as well as truly God). Jesus was genuinely saying that if there was any other way, he wanted the Father to use it. He was not seeking to disobey the will of God, but in his manhood he desired to not suffer the shame of the cross and all it entailed.

Yet we know there was no other way, and Jesus willingly took the cup of God’s just wrath so we might be saved!

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 119v, 104a

Prayer

Pray that you will willingly submit to God’s will.
Pray for a specific application from yesterday’s sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.