Luke 22

Scripture

Luke 22:42

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

 

Observation

After celebrating the Passover with His disciples Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives to pray. Here He will be betrayed by Judas, yet He willingly and humbly prepares Himself for His capture and death. Not only does He do these things, He also verbalizes His surrender to God.

 

Understanding

“Dead End”

I always thought it was really interesting that Jesus prayed this prayer. He knew what HIs sole purpose was, yet He was also (wait for it) human. It is so easy to forget that Jesus was just like us, in that He experienced every range of emotion and He still asked His Heavenly Father for favors He knew the answer to. Jesus literally asks God “to take this cup” from Him. Meaning, He didn’t want to have to experience the weight of the world crashing in on Him. He didn’t want to beat, mocked, crucified, and killed. Crazy right?! The Savior of the world did not want to suffer. And if it were up to any of us, I think we would leave the prayer right there. But Jesus seals His fate by adding, “YET not my will, but yours be done.”

I’ll keep my question to you simple today: What is holding you back from surrendering? I recently read something that I think perfectly sums this beautiful yet difficult act called surrender:

“At the end of the street I saw a street sign. It said simply “Dead End.” There was heartache, heartache so great it cannot be put into words. If you think it’s easy to go to the cross, it’s simply because you’ve never been there.”

Jesus proves that the journey to the cross is full of turmoil. The same applies to us. We think surrender simply implies dumping our problems and insecurities at the feet of the cross and moving on, but it isn’t. The journey to the cross means that we have to accept the fact we are not enough. Then we have to the even more difficult act of bearing our cross, and bearing it daily! It means I choose to die to myself everyday because of the second half of Jesus’ prayer “YET not my will, but yours be done.” What “Dead End” Street have you ventured down too many times because you’re afraid to bring it to the cross?

 

Life Application

I am not implying that God does not redeem your sacrifice and surrender by neglecting your problems and insecurities either. I’m saying that surrender is not easy, especially when we hold the problem or insecurity close to our chest. If we call ourselves followers of Christ, it means that we long to see the Father’s will accomplished NO MATTER THE COST. I know I always come back to this, but you are not alone in your venture to the foot of the cross either. Just because the journey is difficult means you have to go alone. Jesus went alone, so that we could go together, He paved the way for us. It’s time to turn our “Dead Ends” into surrenders and victories.

-Allison Khan

PS I would care to venture to say, that stress and fear about the coronavirus is a “Dead End” street. I think it’s about time to bear this cross too…