The Journey of Surrender

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Matthew 26:42

Journeys are not always ones of physical will from start to finish; the journey's taking you there, whether you want or not you want to go there anymore. Like a train where you're not the engineer driving it, once you get on the ride it doesn't matter whether you change your mind along the way.

But you've still got to get on in the first place.  And that's completely your choice.  Your physical act of will.

Jesus had taken His disciples on a gut-wrenching journey of their souls.  They followed Him through conflict, demonic face-offs, mind-blowing miracles and teachings difficult to understand or even embrace.  In recent weeks, He had been warning them of His impending death and resurrection.  At first it was hard to comprehend but now they had come to believe it.  All they understood or saw was the death part.  Nevertheless they had come to know what was about to happen and it was very soon.  The one they had given their very hearts, minds and lives to follow was going to fate Himself into the hands of those who would kill Him.  This was more than they could bear, so they fell asleep in despair (Luke 22:45).

But Jesus' response to the challenges of the soul was to pray.  It had become His custom to get away and pray (Luke 5:16).  It was a reflexive response of His soul, like muscle memory.  He knew very dearly what He was about to go through, and didn't relish the thought - at all.  So He went to converse with His Father (pray).

The first time He went away, He appealed to the Lord - "if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me." (excerpted from Matthew 26:39)  He knew He was going to be beaten.  He knew He was going to have all manner of evil come against, even upon Him.  He didn't want to go through it, so He asked the Father if He could be saved from having to go through it all.

Either by silence or direct response, the response was a very flat "no".  Then He got up and went back to His disciples.  There, He saw them in their helpless state - bewildered to the point of slumber as to what was happening.  He knew they needed more than a Shepherd.  They needed a Savoir.  And it pushed the struggle over the edge.  He went back and said, "Since there's no other way than for Me to do it, then let's git 'er dun." (Matthew 26:42)

From that point on, He got on a proverbial train that took Him to that end.  Apart from Him taking back the right and power of His God-ness, He had given up control.  He had surrendered to the Father's agenda.

Indeed, by believing on Jesus (especially when baptized in Him) the follower has been crucified with Him.  But have you been to Gesthemane with Him?  Have you been on the journey of surrender with Him?  It's not a fair question though, in honesty.  Surrender is a daily intent of the will.

We just have to get on the train.