Cliff Loesch March 16, 2008-Palm Sunday Matthew 26:36-46 Ups and Downs      I have a confession to make.  When I go to symphony concerts, I almost always fall asleep.  It's not out of boredom whatsoever.  I love the symphony.  My theory as to why this happens is that most of the time I try to keep busy doing something-often multi-tasking.  And then when I am finally still, in a comfortable seat, listening to beautiful music, I just get very relaxed-then fall asleep.  I probably don't get quite enough sleep at night, either, and that's surely part of it, too.  I think it's safe to say that LaVonna finds this tendency of mine to be a little annoying.  And she has taken different approaches with it.  Sometimes she regularly wakes me up.  But at other times she has decided to just try to ignore me and not worry about it and let me sleep.  LaVonna asks the question, "Why pay money to come here and sleep?  You can sleep at home."  And that's a valid point, of course.  But I do not doze through the whole concert.  I'm awake for most of it (at least I think for most of it).  My typical pattern is to be awake and engaged for the first piece of music.  Then I often doze a little during the second.  But then I'm usually wide awake for the rest of the concert.  And in my mind, I derive a lot of benefit and enjoyment from a symphony concert even if I get a little drowsy during part of it.  I'd rather be wide awake for the whole concert, but it really doesn't bother me if I happen to fall asleep for a little while.  Even asleep, you're still engulfed in that beautiful music.  And if the studies we hear about are true, when I walk out of the concert hall I'm probably even smarter than I was when I walked in.      All of this is to say that I have sympathy for those guys that fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane.  You will recall from the passage that Diana read a moment ago that Jesus was deeply anguished and distressed.  He took three of his closest friends with him to the Garden of Gethsemane to spend some time in prayer.  He needed time in prayer-time to work through his deep distress in the presence of God.  And Jesus truly needed his friends there with him.  There was nothing they could really do for him except to be there to support him.  And all he asked of them was to simply "remain here, and stay awake with me."  But it seems clear that they were exhausted-both physically and emotionally.  Just as Jesus felt deeply anguished, even to death, it's likely that the disciples in their own way also felt deep emotional and mental distress.  And they were likely physically tired.  The text tells us that Jesus went a little farther and fell on his face to pray to God-and I might add that a few translations of the Bible say that Jesus went a little farther and threw himself on the ground-which gives you an even stronger picture of the depth of Jesus' anguish.  But right after Jesus began his tumultuous prayer to God, his three close friends promptly drifted off to sleep.  And I can understand.  If you're exhausted, you're exhausted.  If you can't stay awake-in some situations you just cannot force yourself to keep your eyes open.  There were several other factors that were conducive for sleep, too: it was evening-after the Last Supper-and they were praying.  Shall I ask for a show of hands to see how many of you have fallen asleep while praying?  Or shall I ask how many at some point in time have dozed off just a little during open worship?  Probably all of us.       But even if the slumber of the disciples is understandable, that doesn't mean that it is entirely excusable in this case.  Jesus desperately needed the support of his friends at this point.  He was more than aware that there was a plot against him and he also knew that one of his very own disciples would betray him.  Jesus needed friends more than ever at this moment-just to be there with him, just to support him, just to stay awake with him.  And Jesus obviously felt let down by their inability to simply stay awake and to pray.  Two different times he found them sleeping and both times he expressed his disappointment.      I think this passage shows the human side of Jesus.  So often, I think Christians tend to focus on the divinity of Jesus and don't really know what to do with the human part.  Sometimes people seem to be uncomfortable letting him be fully human.  But his full humanity, I believe, was showing in this time in the Garden of Gethsemane.  For one thing, simply to be as distressed and anguished as he was-what does that mean?  If you are 100% certain about your mission in life and if you are in control of all the events around you and you can say that yes, indeed, everything is going exactly according to the plan-then, I ask, what would you have to be distressed or anguished about?  I think that Jesus was experiencing what we all experience from time to time: uncertainty, and possibly even fear.  He was not 100% certain that everything was going the way it was supposed to.  I think he might have had the feeling that maybe things were out of control.  Were things really going according to plan?  Would his life-or would his death-really make a difference?       You and I also know the distress and anguish that we bring on ourselves.  The unfortunate choices we've made or our lack of ability or lack of self control-sometimes these things can hit us pretty hard and we can find ourselves struggling internally-full of grief and anguish, possibly even remorse and shame.  Most people would argue that Jesus never knew the shame of personal failure.  Yet at the same time, we believe that Christ experienced what life is really like for all of us-and how can he know us completely if he cannot relate to feelings of remorse or shame?  And that's where the cross comes in-and also this experience in Gethsemane.  Regardless of your guilt or innocence, getting hung on a cross was humiliating.  Just think if someone publicly accused you of some disgusting crime.  It would be humiliating-and it might even feel more humiliating if you are totally innocent.  Even if you prove your innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt it would be difficult to completely repair your reputation.  There would always be those who heard the accusation but not the proof of your innocence.  And there would always be those who chose to believe the worst in spite of the proof of your innocence.  So there is a degree of humiliation whether you are guilty or whether you are innocent.  And I think we fail to grasp the humiliation and shame of being hung on a cross.  We have made the cross into a beautiful symbol of hope and redemption.  But at the time of Jesus' death it was nothing but a cruel form of execution reserved for the lowest of the low.  It was humiliating to be hung on a cross.       Because of the cross, Jesus was fully acquainted with shame and humiliation-even more so than any of us.  But coming back to the Garden of Gethsemane, I think Jesus was experiencing real, human doubts and fears.  And I believe he may have even been worried about failure.  Was everything going completely wrong?  There were lots of discouraging signs: three of his closest friends kept falling asleep and were apparently clueless to the depth of his distress, and Jesus knew that at least one of these men would deny him just to save his own skin, and that the others would go into hiding when the going got rough, and Jesus also knew that one of his other disciples was out there someplace plotting a betrayal.  Was all this chaos really going to lead to something redemptive for the whole of humanity?  Or was Jesus going to die a humiliating death for nothing and then be forgotten?       Jesus faced some very deep fears in the garden.  And after struggling through this time Jesus emerged from prayer with strength and with a sense of peace.  As we know, he came to the place where he could say to God, "Not what I want but what you want."      I want to make a couple of quick observations that I think will be helpful to us as we go through the ups and downs of life.  First of all, notice the importance that Jesus places on friendship.  Even though, in this instance, his friends were not too helpful, it is clear that Jesus feels their presence and their support is vital.  He was depending on them.  Likewise, for us, cultivating friendships is vital for our own well being-and I cannot overstate the value of learning to be a friend to others.      The other thing I want to note about this passage in Matthew is the importance that Jesus gives to prayer.  Prayer was very helpful to Jesus during his time of anguish.  And prayer helped prepare him for the trials he was about to face.  Likewise for us-we should never underestimate the importance of prayer.      With prayer and friendship, may we be there for others in their times of need.