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3 Ways Gethsemane (and Maundy Thursday) Gives Hope

Blake Glosson
trees in a forest in autumn

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Hey, friend!

Happy Holy Week and Maundy Thursday.

Maundy is derived from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “mandate” or “command”—a reference to Jesus’ command to his disciples at the Last Supper on Thursday night:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

Perhaps no moment outside the cross itself shows Christ’s love for his people more powerfully than his suffering and submission in the Garden of Gethsemane later that night (see Matt. 26:36–46). I had the privilege of preaching on this passage this past weekend—watch or listen HERE.

Here are three takeaways I found encouraging:

1. Because Jesus faced “no” in the Garden, we can have hope when it feels like God is saying “no.”

The night before his crucifixion, Jesus faced the most excruciating “no” a human has ever faced. While anticipating the horror of physical torture and spiritual atonement, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39).

In full submission to the Father, Jesus expressed his natural human revulsion to profound suffering. Three times, Jesus asked God to let the cup pass from him. Three times, God, in a sense, said no.

Amazingly, God’s no—and Jesus’ submission to God’s will—led to the greatest joy mankind will ever know. Because Jesus drank the cup and died on the cross, he is exalted to the highest place, and all who repent of their sins and turn to him will live in the eternal bliss of his presence (Phil. 2:5–11; Ps. 16:11).

Friend, when it seems like God is saying “no” in your life, consider: If God turned the greatest “no” in human history into eternal joy, why wouldn’t you believe that he can and will do the same with your “no”?

For more on finding hope amid unanswered prayers, see my article for TGC.

2. Jesus knows you at your worst, and he still loves you.

One of the most (oddly) encouraging parts of Matthew’s account of Holy Week is his emphasis on the disciples’ continual failures.

In the disciples’ very worst moments, even as they were failing him, Jesus loved them and endured suffering and death for them—a vivid picture of Jesus’ love for all his people.

Dear believer, consider this: If Jesus knows the very worst about you—the worst you’ve ever done and the worst you’ll ever do—and yet he still loves you, what could possibly separate you from his love now? (cf. Rom. 5:6–11; Rom. 8:31–39)

I love J.I. Packer’s observation:

There is tremendous relief in knowing God’s love for me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me… and quench his determination to bless me.

If you’re united to Christ through repentance and faith, you can rest knowing God’s forgiveness and love for you isn’t a result of his ignorance of your sin. He knows it all. He paid it all. And he will love you to the end (John 13:1).

3. Jesus would do anything for you.

Many commentators have noted that the “cup” that Jesus drank for his people was even worse than the physical torment of the cross. Mixed in that cup was all of his people’s evil and sin, all the pain and suffering caused by that evil and sin, and all of God’s righteous wrath against that evil and sin. 

We could describe the contents of that cup in one word: Hell.

Jesus, himself a Love greater than our world has ever known, plunged into death and hell for us. And the depth of Jesus’ agony in the Garden reflects the depth of his love for his people. As Philip Ryken put it,

The wonder of the love of Christ for His people is not that He faced death without fear, but that for [our] sake He faced it, terrified. Terrified by what He knew and terrified by what He did not know, He took damnation for us—[and he took it] lovingly.

Reflecting on the Gethsemane narrative, we can and should ask: If Jesus faced death and hell for us, what wouldn’t he do for us?

What more could Jesus have done to prove his love? As the Apostle John writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16).

Prize Jesus, as Jesus prizes you

As you reflect on Christ’s sacrifice this Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Silent Saturday, may you rest and rejoice in your Savior, who gave up everything for you, for the joy set before him (Heb. 12:2). 

J.D. Greear beautifully reminds us:

What did Jesus see that he was going to obtain that made the cross “worth it”?

What did Jesus not have on that side of the cross that he would have on this side?

There’s only one thing: you.

There was no other way to save us, and so he did it gladly!

As we reflect on Christ’s love this Holy Week, may we respond with gratitude, repentance, obedience, and worship.

I am grateful for you!

~Blake

Watch or listen to the full Gethsemane sermon here.

Read “Silent Saturday: The Day Darkness Rejoiced As Though Heaven Had Lost” here.

April 2 is Autism Awareness Day. Read “Special Needs and the Goodness of Dependence” by Kassie McDowell here.

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Blake Glosson (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is a pastor at Chapelstreet Church in Geneva, Illinois. He has been published and/or republished or referred by:

Previously, Blake served as the director of young adults at New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles, Illinois.

Read “Silent Saturday: The Day Darkness Rejoiced As Though Heaven Had Lost” here.

Read “Why Does God Say No to Good Things?” here.

Read “4 Ways to Combat Fear of Man” here.

Watch or listen to more of Blake’s recent sermons here.

April 2 is Autism Awareness Day. Read “Special Needs and the Goodness of Dependence” by Kassie McDowell here.

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