WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.380 I just want to spend 15-20 minutes with you delving into this short paragraph of Matthew's account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. 00:00:12.380 --> 00:00:21.820 If you're unfamiliar with the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they're actually quite unusual as writers. 00:00:22.840 --> 00:00:32.960 Because they write, don't they, about the person of the Lord Jesus, but they write something that is unlike every other biography that's ever been written. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:45.120 And you might expect, might you, a mention of the death of the person that is being written about in a biography, maybe on the last page or something like that. 00:00:45.620 --> 00:00:58.679 But all four New Testament Gospel writers differ in that they spend almost one third of their content, one third of their words, on the last few days of Jesus' life. 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:03.119 On his passion, on his suffering. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.519 And what I want to do in this short time is to ask why. 00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:09.120 Why is that? 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:15.960 Why the skewing in the Gospels towards the painful end? 00:01:17.180 --> 00:01:24.120 Why are Christians so obsessed with Jesus' painful suffering? 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:30.500 There are endless paintings of the passion of Jesus Christ, aren't there? 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:33.960 Carabaggio and Rembrandt and Raphael. 00:01:34.780 --> 00:01:38.439 Church icons and stained glass windows. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.080 You can look at them all, couldn't you? 00:01:40.080 --> 00:01:44.080 You could listen to a piece of music, Sebastian Bach. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:47.820 To try and work out the answer to that question. 00:01:47.819 --> 00:01:57.780 But actually the best place to go to, to find out what happened at the end of Jesus' life, is to look at and ask Jesus himself. 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:07.119 And Matthew invites us into this garden, where Jesus prays to God his Father. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:17.319 And in this prayer we learn from Jesus himself, what his suffering and what his death is all about. 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:21.439 So let me show you three observations here. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.659 First of all we see here that Jesus Christ suffers pain like us. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:33.020 He suffers pain like us, like you and me. 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:39.140 If you look down at where the number 37 is there, verse 37. 00:02:40.060 --> 00:02:45.900 Matthew tells us that Jesus began to be sorrowful and troubled. 00:02:47.700 --> 00:02:57.840 We see leading up to Easter, straight away, that the God of the Bible knows about pain and suffering. 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:00.640 It's quite surprising, isn't it? 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:07.079 The God of the Bible is maybe not the God that we expect him or imagine him to be. 00:03:08.099 --> 00:03:15.479 The famous atheist Richard Dawkins said that God is arguably the most unpleasant character in all literature. 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:25.479 Jealous, petty, unjust, unforgiving, control freak, vindictive, and malevolent bully, he calls him. 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:29.539 But we'd want to say to Richard Dawkins, wouldn't we? 00:03:29.739 --> 00:03:36.639 Would you say that to the God who is on his hands and on his knees in this garden? 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:38.659 Could you say that? 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:46.699 An Old Testament speaker in the Bible, Isaiah, has a very different description of Jesus. 00:03:46.699 --> 00:03:56.199 Jesus Christ knows the whole spectrum of human pain. 00:03:57.159 --> 00:04:02.239 Betrayal and temptation, torture, humiliation, and death. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:11.040 We had a lady coming to these lunchtime talks a while ago and she had to move and do another job somewhere else. 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:17.840 And she really struggled with the whole issue of pain and suffering in her life and in the world. 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:20.000 It's a really difficult subject. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:26.120 We're told in the Bible that even though we don't understand why or how, 00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:34.439 God, whilst still being good and powerful, is in charge of all suffering and all pain in the world. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:41.399 And if we can't see a good reason for suffering, it doesn't mean that in God's wisdom that there isn't one. 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:45.939 But this lady, she wasn't convinced by that. 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:53.920 But she was convinced when she realised the truth that Jesus Christ reveals to us here. 00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:59.259 That God is not just sovereign over all of our pain, 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:05.459 but God is subject to our pain in Jesus Christ. 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:12.659 That he becomes vulnerable to the whole spectrum of human suffering. 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:17.460 He was sorrowful and troubled, Matthew tells us. 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:24.800 And that lady was all she needed to trust in Jesus with her suffering. 00:05:25.940 --> 00:05:28.100 She could no longer say to God, 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:31.160 You don't understand what I'm going through. 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:35.020 You don't know the suffering that I'm enduring. 00:05:35.019 --> 00:05:41.180 As we see God here in this garden, in Gethsemane, 00:05:41.659 --> 00:05:45.500 we realise that we just can't say that to God. 00:05:45.599 --> 00:05:46.859 We can't say that to Jesus. 00:05:48.159 --> 00:05:52.959 The lead up to the first Easter tells us Jesus suffers pain like us. 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:54.979 He suffers pain like us. 00:05:55.939 --> 00:06:00.319 Secondly though, Jesus Christ suffers pain unlike us. 00:06:01.019 --> 00:06:03.519 He suffers pain unlike us. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:07.399 Notice the words that we read earlier. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:12.659 Jesus began to be sorrowful and troubled. 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:19.500 What's implied there in the whole story of Matthew's Gospel 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:25.680 is that this is the beginning of a suffering for Jesus Christ 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:29.519 unlike anything he has experienced before. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:36.379 We know that Jesus has felt immense pain all throughout the Gospels. 00:06:37.379 --> 00:06:39.680 Jesus Christ has suffered like us. 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:41.379 He's been hungry. 00:06:42.339 --> 00:06:43.099 He's been homeless. 00:06:43.339 --> 00:06:44.159 He's been rejected. 00:06:45.019 --> 00:06:46.139 Jesus wept. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:50.439 He's felt pain like any of us have felt. 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:57.439 But starting now is a suffering much more distressing. 00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:03.300 Something extraordinarily painful is happening to Jesus now. 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:06.220 He says in verse 38, 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:11.920 My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:14.680 Now we kind of say that, don't we? 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:17.259 We say, oh, this day has just about killed me. 00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:20.680 Or, these problems are just about finishing me off. 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:23.580 But he's not using that for rhetorical effect here. 00:07:23.579 --> 00:07:28.539 The stress that Jesus feels overwhelms him. 00:07:29.039 --> 00:07:32.859 And it's so heavy it is enough to kill him. 00:07:34.060 --> 00:07:40.299 And for the first time ever, Jesus Christ prays to God his Father, verse 39, 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:45.279 If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:52.599 For the first time ever, Father, can I avoid this pain? 00:07:53.619 --> 00:07:55.679 He's never prayed that before. 00:07:57.339 --> 00:08:02.259 The question is, why does the man of sorrows pray that now? 00:08:03.859 --> 00:08:07.179 Jesus has got an extremely high pain threshold. 00:08:08.539 --> 00:08:11.319 He'd been aware of his own death. 00:08:11.379 --> 00:08:12.219 He'd predicted it. 00:08:12.220 --> 00:08:15.420 He'd gone towards his death voluntarily. 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:18.620 He hasn't flinched in the face of death. 00:08:19.340 --> 00:08:20.260 And of torture. 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:22.120 And of false accusations. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.000 He's told his disciples all of this is going to happen. 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:27.460 So why does he flinch now? 00:08:29.400 --> 00:08:34.460 Lots of people have died horrific deaths in calm, heroic ways, haven't they? 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:37.340 It's amazing how people can do that. 00:08:37.340 --> 00:08:42.200 How they can go to their deaths knowing they're going to die with great calm. 00:08:42.220 --> 00:08:50.460 Philosopher Plato tells the story of Socrates who was sentenced to death by drinking poison from a cup. 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:57.639 And rather than running and fighting and arguing, he sipped it calmly to teach his accusers a lesson. 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:06.000 In the 16th century, bishops Latimer and Ridley were burnt at the stake under the rule of Bloody Mary. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:10.960 And as the flames rose around them, Latimer turned to Ridley and said, 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:13.919 Be of good comfort, Master Ridley. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:18.379 Lots of people have died in horrific ways, haven't they? 00:09:18.479 --> 00:09:20.299 In heroic ways. 00:09:20.939 --> 00:09:29.159 Even Jesus' own followers have managed to die without the ordeal and the suffering that Jesus seems to anticipate here. 00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:34.059 So why does Jesus, the man of sorrows, do that here now? 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:40.600 The physical, emotional, mental suffering was similar to all those other people. 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:45.039 But we learn, don't we, that that is where the similarity ends. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:49.539 Listen again to the words of Jesus himself. 00:09:49.539 --> 00:09:55.259 Let this cup pass from me, he says. 00:09:57.139 --> 00:10:03.899 Now Matthew's readers would have been far more familiar with the Old Testament, as you or I are. 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:10.059 And that word cup would have sent alarm bells ringing in their minds. 00:10:10.059 --> 00:10:19.239 The cup in the Bible is a euphemism for God's holy, just anger against evil. 00:10:20.619 --> 00:10:25.399 It symbolises God's wrath against human rebellion away from him. 00:10:26.439 --> 00:10:36.239 And God promises that one day there will be a great judgement over all evil, past and present and future, all wrongdoing. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:39.659 And it will be done by serving this cup. 00:10:40.059 --> 00:10:41.059 Of his wrath. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:48.439 If you look at the death of Jesus in artwork, and even in that film by Mel Gibson, 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:54.579 The Passion of the Christ, we can see the gore and the torture, even the emotional pain. 00:10:54.659 --> 00:10:57.219 You can portray that on the silver screen. 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:03.319 And if that was the most important thing, you'd expect Matthew to give us all the gory details, wouldn't you? 00:11:04.219 --> 00:11:07.039 We'd hear as the nails are hammered in. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:11.399 We'd hear about the feeling of the whip shredding his back. 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:17.199 But remarkably, Matthew just gives us one sentence about the crucifixion itself. 00:11:17.340 --> 00:11:18.720 It comes in chapter 27. 00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:20.079 He says, 00:11:20.340 --> 00:11:23.720 After they crucified him, they divided up his garments. 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:25.059 That's it. 00:11:25.059 --> 00:11:34.879 It's as if Matthew wants to pull us away from the suffering that Jesus has that is like ours, 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:39.819 And highlight a pain that is absolutely unlike ours. 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:46.060 He wants to focus our minds on this cup that Jesus drinks. 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:54.100 Because what overwhelms Jesus in the garden is the thought that judgment day is coming. 00:11:54.100 --> 00:12:02.720 And that he is about to face the crushing anger of a holy God judging human evil. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:07.480 So whilst Jesus can say to us, 00:12:08.300 --> 00:12:10.480 I know what it's like to suffer. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:12.519 I feel your pain. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:15.659 I know what it's like to suffer as you do. 00:12:16.540 --> 00:12:19.960 We can never ever say the same back to him. 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:23.680 Jesus didn't just die. 00:12:24.820 --> 00:12:27.240 He drank this cup. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.639 He faces the damnation of God. 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:34.280 So his suffering is like ours. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:39.500 But in a way that we can't even begin to grasp this afternoon. 00:12:39.700 --> 00:12:42.680 It was absolutely unlike ours. 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:45.800 He faces the anger of God. 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:56.000 He that the one man willingly receives the retributive justice due to many men and women. 00:12:57.819 --> 00:13:00.559 Jesus Christ suffers pain unlike us. 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:05.959 Thirdly, Jesus Christ suffers pain that cures. 00:13:06.659 --> 00:13:08.219 He suffers pain that cures. 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:13.740 As we are in this garden, seeing Jesus here. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:20.700 I want to say that this garden is not like Kew Gardens or Sion Park Gardens. 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:24.840 You can't be a tourist in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:13:26.060 --> 00:13:30.519 You can't be here today and then just leave it and walk away. 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:39.179 You can't simply pass through here, watch what happens and then go about your big business and not be affected by it. 00:13:40.379 --> 00:13:46.340 Because the Garden of Gethsemane forces us to face a profound pain, doesn't it? 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:49.939 Three times Jesus prays, 00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:54.779 Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. 00:13:54.779 --> 00:14:03.299 And the silence of God the Father's response is as much a message to us as it is to Jesus in this moment. 00:14:04.379 --> 00:14:13.079 It tells us that even for God, whom the Bible tells us anything is possible and nothing is impossible, 00:14:14.199 --> 00:14:19.959 even in God's infinite wisdom, this one thing is not possible. 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:31.759 It is not possible for God to forgive you and me and at the same time rescue his Son from this pain. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:38.980 The prayer reflects the appropriate displeasure of Jesus towards God's wrath, doesn't it? 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:40.840 He recoils from that. 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:46.320 But it's clear that he is set on this course of action as well. 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:47.720 Three times he prays, 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:50.360 Not my will, but yours be done, Father. 00:14:51.340 --> 00:14:55.040 Jesus isn't being forced or coerced into doing this. 00:14:55.940 --> 00:14:59.759 He knows himself that this is the only way. 00:15:00.920 --> 00:15:09.620 This is the only way that a just God can forgive unjust, selfish, proud people like you and me. 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:14.440 This is the only way our pain can be healed. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.080 I don't know if you saw it in the news earlier this year, 00:15:19.139 --> 00:15:22.560 there was an RAF flyby over the skies of Sheffield, 00:15:23.560 --> 00:15:27.440 which commemorated the moment when 75 years ago, 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:34.360 a US bomber was returning to England after being seriously damaged in battle. 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:38.180 But as the plane approached to land, 00:15:38.180 --> 00:15:44.180 the pilot realised he was losing control of the aircraft 00:15:44.180 --> 00:15:46.340 and he just wasn't going to make the runway. 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:53.080 And the only chance of survival for him and his crew was to land in a nearby park. 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:57.300 In that park stood an eight-year-old boy 00:15:57.300 --> 00:16:01.280 who witnessed the plane crash and explode 00:16:01.280 --> 00:16:07.139 as in the end the pilot opted to avoid him and his friends playing. 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:10.520 And they died as a result. 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:14.540 And that little boy joined the crowds this year to watch the flyby. 00:16:14.539 --> 00:16:17.519 He was visibly moved. 00:16:18.699 --> 00:16:24.279 Because it was evidently, 75 years ago, the only way. 00:16:25.599 --> 00:16:30.240 Their pain was the only way of preventing his. 00:16:31.839 --> 00:16:35.500 It is a poor illustration, isn't it, of what we're seeing here. 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:43.100 But Jesus' mission is to rescue his people from the pain he is about to endure. 00:16:44.659 --> 00:16:51.059 And your suffering now and in eternity can only end through his suffering. 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:57.779 This city of London that cries out in all kinds of pain 00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:01.539 and this world and your broken humanity 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:08.799 and the pain of hell will only be stopped in his pain. 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:15.359 You know, being a Christian doesn't mean spending one day a year 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:19.720 thinking about this on Maundy Thursday, although it's good that we do. 00:17:20.619 --> 00:17:23.659 We don't take a trip to this garden just once a year. 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:30.539 But actually we live in the light of this garden all the year, every day. 00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:36.779 And unashamedly with the Gospel writers we are obsessed actually 00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:39.879 with the end of Jesus' life. 00:17:40.879 --> 00:17:43.700 Because it marks the beginning of ours. 00:17:44.740 --> 00:17:48.920 Because he has endured the pain of God's wrath 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:54.720 so that we can know the healing of God's love and his welcome forever. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:59.079 Jesus Christ who suffers like us. 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:01.700 He says to you, I know how you feel. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:06.240 He is a sympathetic friend and a compassionate God 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.120 to those who come to him. 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:12.680 But he suffers pain unlike us. 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:18.400 For there is no other way for you and I to be healed. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:22.280 So will you worship him? 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:28.680 Will you acknowledge, as you see the Gospel writers explain 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:31.340 and as you see from Jesus' own lips, 00:18:31.420 --> 00:18:36.400 that there is something absolutely unique in Jesus' suffering here. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:39.460 As you see the man of sorrows. 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:44.840 Can I encourage you this week to stay with me in this garden 00:18:44.840 --> 00:18:45.860 for a little bit longer. 00:18:46.700 --> 00:18:49.840 Maybe go back and read the Gospel accounts. 00:18:51.060 --> 00:18:52.320 Think on these things. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.660 We worship a suffering servant, Jesus Christ, 00:18:57.740 --> 00:19:01.360 who died and who was buried and who rose again. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:03.919 And none of this means anything without the resurrection. 00:19:05.159 --> 00:19:07.819 And so next week we're going to think about that a little bit more. 00:19:07.979 --> 00:19:11.019 But do chat with us at the end if this is new to you. 00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:15.019 For now let me invite you to join with me in prayer. 00:19:15.259 --> 00:19:15.779 Let's pray.