Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 372
360
IMMERSE
•
MESSIAH
26:31-50
On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the
Scriptures say,
‘God will strike the Shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee
and meet you there.”
Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert
you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the
rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
“No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny
you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.
Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he
said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s
two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He
told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here
and keep watch with me.”
He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away
from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to
Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray,
so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the
body is weak!”
Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup
cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their
eyes open.
So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. Then he
came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But
look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of
sinners. Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”
And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived
with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by
the leading priests and elders of the people. The traitor, Judas, had given
them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I
greet him with a kiss.” So Judas came straight to Jesus. “Greetings, Rabbi!”
he exclaimed and gave him the kiss.
Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.”