THY WILL BE DONE

PROCLAMATION

“And He came out, and went … to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him.  And when He was at the place, He said unto them, ‘Pray that ye enter not into temptation.’  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.’ ” Luke 22:39-42 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words are from the gospel, the good news regarding Jesus, The Christ, which were spoken by Christ according to Luke, the physician.  Each day, while He was in Jerusalem, Jesus would teach in the temple, and each evening He would go out to the Mount of Olives and spend the night. (Luke 21:37)  Early every morning a crowd came to hear Him. (Luke 21:38)  The chief priests and the scribes sought to  kill Him but they were fearful of the crowd.  Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the chief priests and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus and they agreed to give him money. (Luke 22:1-6)  When the Festival of Unleavened Bread came, which is called the Passover, Jesus sent Peter and John to go and make preparations for them to eat the Passover. (Luke 22:7-13)  After the Passover meal, Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives.  This is where Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father and said, “… Not My will, but Thine, be done.” (Luke 22:14-42)  When He had finished praying and was speaking to His disciples, a large crowd approached them.  Judas Iscariot led the crowd which included with the chief priests, the officers of the temple, and a number of Roman soldiers.  Judas identified Jesus with a kiss and they arrested Him. (Luke 22:47-53)

 

APPLICATION

All too often when we pray, our prayers are very selfish.  We are only concerned about our own wants, needs, wishes, and desires.  Here, Jesus, The Christ, expressed what He wanted for Himself, “… Remove this cup from Me …” but He made it clear that He wanted the will of God to be done.  The will of God was more important to Him than His own wants.  We need to acknowledge that all of our wants and plans are subject to God’s will.  Christ taught us, in the model prayer, to say “… Thy will be done …” (Matthew 6:10)  Our prayers are not to be just a selfish request list, we are also to pray for one another. (James 5:16)  Remember, The Lord God did not restore unto Job what he had lost until after he had prayed for his friends. (Job 42:10)  Additionally, we may occasionally ask for something which is inappropriate, and the best way for us to clean that up is to say, “However, not my will, but Your will be done.”