The Prayers of Our Savior

Maundy Thursday is my favorite night of the year. It is the evening before “Good Friday”, the day we remember the death of our Savior, Jesus. Most celebrations of Maundy Thursday focus on the teachings and prayers that surround the Last Supper. This is appropriate because these things hold much to wonder over and reflect upon. But it’s what happens after they leave the dinner table that impacts my heart most, that causes this night to take up residence in a tender place in my heart.

The Gospels tell us that after dinner Jesus took his disciples to the Mount of Olives, to a garden called Gethsemane. It was late and everyone laid down to rest. But there was no rest for Jesus that night. He found a quiet place, away from his friends, and then did something extraordinary. He sunk down to his knees, fell on his face and began to fervently pray. Jewish men usually prayed to God standing up, faces lifted to heaven. But here, in the darkness of the garden, the Creator of all fell to the ground. The One who once formed Adam out of this dust and breathed life into his form, put his face in the dirt. He took a position of desperation and began to pray.

Most religious art seems to portray Jesus as rising above the pain with a serene look on his face as he approached death. But the Gospels tell us the true story. That night Jesus said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” (Mark 14:34) Luke tells us that he was in such agony, that sweat poured off of him. (Luke 22:44) When I was touring the great cathedrals of Rome, I saw a sculpture of Jesus on the cross, hammered out of copper. His head hung in such a way that you were face to face with the artist’s depiction of Jesus—a face contorted in agony. That artist captured a glimpse of what we are seeing here. That night Jesus cried out, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.”

Jesus was in turmoil as he faced the horror of what he was about to endure. The anticipation of the physical pain would be enough to send any other man running out that garden, far away from Jerusalem, but it was the spiritual and emotional agony that send this strong man to his knees. Jesus had never before been separated from his Heavenly Father. He had never known a moment, for all of eternity, that his heart was not inseparably intwined with his Abba. As he faced this rejection, he recoiled to the deepest part of himself. But (praise God) his prayer didn’t end there. His closing words saved us all, "Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus stood up and faced his betrayer and the army that accompanied him.

When the army showed up to arrest him, we see a resolute Jesus walking out of that garden. What happened in between this prayer of agony and the resolve of the Son? Hebrews 12:2 gives us a clue. The author calls us to [look to] “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Jesus looked at the shame and agony of the cross and grieved it. But he didn’t stop there. He took that grief and placed it next to the joy that was set before him, the prize he would win because of the cross. That joy motivated him to get off of his knees and set his face towards the hill on which he would die. What was this joy? What did Jesus gain by going to the cross? He gained you.

Like a woman in labor, Jesus fixed his eyes on the prize at the end, and he endured. With every crack of the whip, Jesus focused on your face. With every staggering step, he set his heart on you and put one foot in front of the other. When he fell under the weight of his cross, he stood up, because he needed to save you. When the final, most devastating blow came, when he experienced hell on the cross, he screamed in agony. But he didn’t leave. He stayed. For you, child of God, were the joy set before him.

The only disciple who made it to the foot of the cross, who saw with his eyes what Jesus endured, later wrote these words: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1) How much does the Father love you? Enough to give you his most precious gift: his Son. How much does Jesus love you? Enough to prize you enough to endure the cross. How much does the Spirit of God love you? So much that he will never leave your side. See what kind of love we’ve been given?

Did you know that Jesus still prays for you? (Heb. 7:25) What does he pray for? At the very least, he is praying the same things he prayed on that Thursday evening nearly 2,000 years ago. He is praying that you would know him. He is praying that God’s children would be unified as one family. He prays that we would be filled with his joy. He prays for protection from evil and that we would be sanctified in his truth. He prays that we would know how much the Father loves us. He loves us even when we are sifted, when we fail, when we betray him. This strong man prays that our faith may not fail. To me, this is the most tender prayer of all. This is why Maundy Thursday is my favorite night of the year. That night Jesus faced a cross, and in the garden he did not fail me. That same Jesus prays that my weak and fickle faith will not fail in the end, not because of my strength, but because of his.

Because he prays for us, we can stand resolutely by his side and endure whatever comes. He becomes the joy set before us, the one we set our faces towards, the one we labor for, live for, die for. This praying Savior is the greatest treasure of all.