Lesson 25: “Not My Will, But Thine, Be Done”

Matthew 26
Mark 14
Luke 22

Purpose: To strengthen class members’ testimonies that they can receive forgiveness, peace, and eternal life because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Lesson Development

1. The Savior takes upon himself our sins and infirmities.
2. We need the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Scripture Discussion and Application

We have focused in the past several weeks on the events of the Last Supper: Jesus’s anointing by the woman, with its suggestions of Jesus’s coming death, his crowning as king, and his eternal priesthood; the blessing and giving of the bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus’s giving his body and blood for us, which we commemorate with the sacrament; and some of Jesus’s teachings to his disciples about how they should love and watch over each other after he has gone away from them.

There is only one last event at that Last Passover before it comes to an end:

Matthew 26:30

30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.

Mark 26

26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

What hymns would have been familiar to the people who were gathered with the Savior that night?

Any idea which psalm they might have sung? Neither do I, except that I’m told that Psalms 113-118 were commonly sung at Passover. These are all hymns of praise – “Praise ye the Lord, Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord” – begins one of them (113). “I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications,” begins another (116).

Let’s turn to Psalm 117, one of the praise hymns and one of the shortest units of the Bible. Let’s read it aloud, together, as the disciples might have sung it at the closing of that Last Supper:

Psalm 117

1 O Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.

2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.

[Might want to do it a second time, after this warm-up. Encourage the class to feel as though they are singing a hymn when they recite these words.]

So Jesus and some of his disciples – we don’t know how many, or whether they were apostles only, or included other disciples – men and women – set off on foot to the Mount of Olives, a ridge just outside of the old city walls of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives is higher than the hill where the Temple stood. Despite how close to the crowded city it is, the Mount of Olives has never been built up, largely because it is composed of soft sedimentary rock, like chalk. Chalk doesn’t make a good foundation for buildings, but it is easily quarried, and tens of thousands of tombs have been cut into its sides.

The group with Jesus didn’t climb the hill that evening, though. They stopped at the Garden of Gethsemane – an olive grove with an oil press – at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It is unlikely that they were alone – as many of the Jews of the region who could possibly reach Jerusalem were in and around the city that night, celebrating the Passover.

Jesus spoke again to the people who walked with him.

Matthew 26:31-32

31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

There are two words I would like to point out in that passage: Jesus tells them “All ye shall be offended.” Not just “ye” or “you” as if he were speaking to a handful of his apostles, only Peter, James and John, but “all ye” – a larger group who have come with him from the upper room where they have celebrated the Passover.

And secondly, there’s that word “offended” again that we have run into before, and which means more than our modern usage of “irritated” or “annoyed.” If you didn’t have to use just one word – “offended” – how would you describe the emotional and social shock that the disciples must have felt when they learned of Jesus’s arrest?

Then Peter – our old friend, the impetuous Peter – responds:

Matthew 26: 33-35

33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.

34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Read that last line again, please. “Likewise also said all the disciples.” Have you noticed that before? It wasn’t only Peter who made that vow – it was all the disciples who were with Jesus that night.

And it wasn’t just those who were with him in the Garden! Every one of us in this room has pledged, many times, that we will not be offended by Jesus Christ, but will stand by him, always. When do we do that?

Moroni 4:3

3 … they … witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them.

So you and I are, in a very real if not a physical, way, standing with Christ and his other disciples at the foot of the Mount of Olives on one of the most significant nights in the history of this earth. It has been a full day in crowded Jerusalem, with the Passover meal and the teachings and the walk to the Mount, but Jesus’s work that evening is just beginning. He needs more peace and quiet for that work than he can find surrounded by people, so he leaves the larger group of disciples and walks on.

Matthew 26:36-38

36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

Then Jesus walked on alone, having left even his closest friends and supporters behind.

Matthew 26:39

39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Mark expresses that time in slightly different words:

Mark 14: 35-36

35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

Luke gives us even more detail:

Luke 22:41-44

41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Joseph Smith rendered that last phrase “… and he sweat as it were great drops of blood …” (JST Luke 22:44), and he also recorded a revelation in 1829, where the Lord spoke of his sufferings that night:

Doctrine and Covenants 19:15-19

15 Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.

16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.

Three times during that night of agony, the Savior returned to the place where he had left his disciples, to find them asleep. He roused them each time, telling them twice to “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” (Mark 14:38). The third time, he told them “Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come.” (Mark 14:41).

I admit that I don’t quite know what to make of that command or permission to “sleep on now,” because immediately, apparently, he woke all his people:

Mark 14:42

42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.

Judas Iscariot, who had already made his pact with the elders to deliver Jesus into their hands, had slipped away from the other disciples sometime during the evening, and had gone to the temple authorities – the priests and scribes and elders. By cooperating with their Roman conquerors, the temple authorities were permitted “to have a small military force, more than a police force but less than an army.” [Borg and Crossan, The Last Week, ___.]

The crowd of apostles and disciples and priests and scribes and elders was so large, so confused and noisy, that Judas needed to signal to armed men with him which of the men in this crowd was Jesus.

Matthew 26:47-50

47 And while ye yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people,

48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.

50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

Although the children of Israel in the Old World had generally misunderstood or forgotten the purpose of the coming of the Messiah, and did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God when he came among them, some of the people of God in the New World did, many years before his coming, understand what the Savior’s atonement would mean to the world.

Alma 7:11-12

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

What are some of the many ways we can benefit individually from the Atonement?

In honor of President Boyd K. Packer, I will close by sharing his testimony of the Atonement, given in 2012:

Throughout your life there may be times when you have gone places you never should have gone and done things you never should have done. If you will turn away from sin, you will be able one day to know the peace that comes from following the pathway of complete repentance.

No matter what our transgressions have been, no matter how much our actions may have hurt others, that guilt can all be wiped out. To me, perhaps the most beautiful phrase in all scripture is when the Lord said, “Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.”

That is the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Atonement: to take anyone who comes, anyone who will join, and put them through an experience so that at the end of their life, they can go through the veil having repented of their sins and having been washed clean through the blood of Christ. [Boyd K. Packer, “The Atonement,” October 2012]