What is one of the main differences between all of us and Jesus of Nazareth? He sought to do the will of God the Father while we by nature want to do whatever we want, however we want, whenever we want. That includes not just the seven deadlies like greed, gluttony, sloth, etc., but the little choices we make every day that affect others. Not tipping the waitress who just brought us lunch. Going to the boss behind a coworker’s back, making an accusation against them to make us look better. A husband telling his wife how he wishes he had married his high-school girlfriend instead. A wife telling everyone what an idiot her husband is. A parent telling a child they will never amount to anything. Yammering at our friends for an hour about our day and never once asking them about theirs.
I’ve written before that there are only two wills in the universe, “my will be done,” or “thy will be done.” The first one is what every religion there has ever been — save one — boils down to. Your reward, whether you believe in Heaven/Jannah/Nirvana/reincarnation/becoming the god of your own planet/enlightenment/eat drink and be merry for tomorrow ye die, whatever it is, you gain it through your own efforts. Each belief system has its own rules, but it all boils down to yourself, your choices, and how well you play the game.
The other will is God himself. Christ Jesus,
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient to death–even death on a cross! – Philippians 2:6-8
This wasn’t a cakewalk for Jesus. It really hit home for me reading through Matthew chapter 26 again. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples, after the Last Supper, and shortly before he is betrayed. It says,
He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Then, going a little further, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” – Matthew 26:38-39
I’ve always thought that Jesus said this because he knew what was coming and dreaded it. The trial, the mocking and beating, the dreadful scourging, and then being strung up naked on the cross to die in agonizing pain, slowly drowning in his own bodily fluids. That in itself is more than enough reason to plead the cup be taken away. But, reading what came just before it, I think what was even harder for him than that was feeling the weight of the sin of everyone in the world, from Adam to the last baby ever conceived, being placed upon him.
I know what the weight of my own sin feels like. If not for the blood of Christ cleansing me it would be unbearable. I also know that the sins of others close to me weigh heavy on my heart as well. Just seeing broken marriages and families, addictions, etc., and the pain they inflict, is also a heavy weight to carry. They cause me great sorrow. Don’t the destructive choices made by the people YOU love also cause you intense pain? Multiply that by however many billions of people have ever existed, and that was the sorrow that Jesus was feeling that night, the unimaginable heavy weight he was carrying.
He didn’t have to do it. He could have walked away at any moment and left us to rot in hell. None of us can honestly say we don’t deserve it. He had the freedom to just walk out of that garden and disappear, but he didn’t. Just a few verses later, when the soldiers come to arrest him and Peter makes a feeble attempt to protect him, it says:
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” – Matthew 26:52-53
A Roman legion at that time was about 6,000 men, so 12 legions = 72,000 fighting men. Jesus is saying he has endless resources at his disposal. But we see in these verses that he doesn’t just walk away, or destroy the people who want to destroy him, although he could easily do both. What he does do, is ask God the Father if there is another way. He’s suffering and not enjoying it one bit. “My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” …Don’t ever say that God has no idea what you’ve endured in your life. He knows better than anybody. He’s felt it, he’s LIVED IT. Literally he’s felt both your sins and the sins of the people who have hurt you.
Jesus next prays the same thing again, but with a slightly different tone, this time resigning himself to his task:
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” – Matthew 26:42
We see in these passages a glimpse of the pain Jesus was feeling, the overwhelming sorrow, and his desire for it all to be taken away. And he could have walked away. But he did not hold his own wishes as being of upmost importance. He knew what God the Father wanted him to do, and he knew that we are all doomed to an eternity of bearing the punishment for our own sins unless He paid the price that none of us can pay. It was him or no one. Only a firstborn male lamb, perfect in all its ways, without spot or blemish, could be sacrificed to cover sin (Read Exodus Chapter 12). None of us are perfect, we are all stained with sin. Jesus alone was perfect in all his ways, without spot or blemish. He alone could pay what we never can.
And it was possible because Jesus did not live to please himself and exert his own will. He loves us with all his heart, he lived to submit his will to God, and by his obedience all the world can be saved. We are saved not by our own actions or will, but by His.
The best we can do in our lives is to accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, and let him be the Lord of our lives. That means beating our own will down with a stick, and saying to our Lord Jesus what he said to God the Father: “Not my will be done, Lord, but yours.”
That is the difference between Christianity and every other religious or philosophical system that has ever been or ever will be. It wasn’t easy for Jesus, and it isn’t easy for us. But it is so worth it. Our will always leads to misery and destruction. His will leads to eternal life, freedom, and joy.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved…for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:9-13
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