Matthew 26:6-13
Jesus Desired

Tonight, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  We want to do that my
remembering Jesus.  In particular, let us remember what Jesus desired
His last night.

It is obvious that Jesus had desires.  He said as much.

Lu 22:15  And he said unto them, With desire I
have desired to eat this passover with you
before I suffer:

So what are the things that Jesus wanted as He gave His life for us?

I. Jesus wanted to be loved (to be appreciated).
    A. It seems a foreign thought that Jesus, God, would want to be
        loved.
        1. Yet, God has always wanted man to love Him.

De 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy might.

De 11:1  Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy
God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and
his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

De 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall
hearken diligently unto my commandments which I
command you this day, to love the LORD your God,
and to serve him with all your heart and with all
your soul,

        2. There are dozens of exhortations or commands to the love
            God in the Bible.
    B. Let us understand that God’s desire to be loved could never be
        a weakness.
        1. God does not NEED love.  (Some compromise right for love.)
        2. God cannot be BLINDED by love. (Some do not seek wrong.)
        3. God will not be controlled or manipulated for love.
        4. Yet God desires to be loved and He chooses to love us with a
            unfathomable love in order to be loved.

1Jo 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

    C. \\#Matt 26:6-13\\ In the general time period of the cross, one
        woman chose to love on Jesus.
        1. This woman was out of place.
            a. She should not have been in dining area with the men.
            b. She probably did not have an invitation to come to
                this home at all.
        2. This woman seemingly was out of control.
            a. That may be a bit extreme but she wept in an almost
                uncontrollable manner.
            b. If \\#Luke 7:36-39\\ is the same account (and I do not
                think it was) washing the Lord’s feet with the
                abundance of her tears and wiping them dry with her
                hair.
        3. \\#Matt 26:9\\ Some indicated that she was being foolish
            or unreasonable.
            a. She took the expensive ointment and poured it on the
                Lord.
            b. This first critical spirit (who was Judas)
                \\#John 12:4-5\\ must have spread to the other
                disciples for the \\#Matt 26:8\\ says that the
                "disciples," indicating more than one, "had
                indignation" over this waste!
            c. Strange how easy it is for the devil to spread his
                evil spirit and how difficult it is for the Holy
                Ghost to spread Christ’s good spirit!
    D. \\#Matt 26:10-13\\ But Jesus hushed them.
        1. Jesus rebuked them.
            a. \\#Matt 26:10\\ "Why trouble ye the woman?"
            b. But \\#John 12:7\\ records Jesus saying, "Let her
                alone!" which is to say, "Don’t bother her!"
            c. That is a rebuke.  Stop what you are doing.  It is
                wrong.
        2. Jesus explained her actions.

Matt 26:12  For in that she hath poured this
ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.

            a. This woman understood Jesus’ death and burial!
                (1) How?  We do not know?
                (2) It is interesting how often God chose to speak
                     through woman concerning Jesus’ death.
                     (a) Here, Mary understands Jesus’ death
                          \\#John 12:3\\.
                     (b) \\#Matt 27:19\\ Pilate’s wife attempts to
                          stop Pilate from crucifying Jesus.  (I bet
                          he wishes he had listened to her now!)
                     (c) \\#Luke 23:27\\ A great company followed
                          Jesus to the cross, many of whom were women
                          who were weeping for Jesus.  (Where were
                          the men?)
            b. Regardless of how, this woman did understand what was
                going to happen to Jesus and was anointing His body
                for the burial while Jesus could appreciate it!
            c. And He did appreciate it!
        3. Jesus praised her.

Matt 26:10 …for she hath wrought a good work
upon me.

            a. Jesus not only stopped the disciples from disparaging
                her, but His praise was telling them that this is
                what they should have been doing.
            b. That is what praise does.  It says this is correct. Do
                this!
        4. Jesus rewarded her.

Matt 26:13  …Wheresoever this gospel shall be
preached in the whole world, there shall also
this, that this woman hath done, be told for a
memorial of her.

            a. This woman and her act of love would be remembered
                forever.
            b. And tonight, as we preach the truth of Jesus’ death,
                we remember this woman and her act of love.
    E. Jesus’ behavior toward this woman’s actions indicates that He
        was pleased and approved of it.
        1. Jesus enjoyed being loved upon!
        2. And why should not the loving God of the universe want to
            be loved!
        3. As we remember our Lord and Savior, let us spend time in
            loving on Him.

II. \\#Matt 26:36-45\\ Jesus wanted the disciples to sit with Him.
    A. I am not certain how to accurately express this thought.
        1. Jesus wanted more than for the disciples to sit with Him.
        2. It almost seems that what He wanted was for them to help
            Him, but that might imply to some that Jesus needed help.
            a. Jesus did not need help.  That is obvious by the fact
                that He did not get any help from the disciples but
                still accomplished His mission.
            b. Yet, I think it is safe to say that Jesus wanted help.
                (1) Jesus wanted the disciples to sit and pray with
                     Him and for Him.
                (2) The prayers of the disciples would have no
                     bearing on what Jesus would or would not do, but
                     still He desired it.
    B. I won’t dwell long on this thought for I see it as I see the
        last.  God wanted someone who loved Him to be with Him in
        that most trying hour.
    C. It is interesting that in the entire Bible, this is the only
        time that God ever asked man for anything.
    D. Jesus gave us many commands to pray, to serve, to go; but
        this seems different.  This seems to be Jesus wanting these
        men to sit with Him, to pray with Him.
        1. \\#Matt 26:36\\ "Sit here and pray."
        2. \\#Matt 26:38\\ "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful"
        3. \\#Matt 26:40\\ "What, could ye not watch with me one
            hour?"
    E. Three times Jesus said something along those statements or
        some like them were spoken by Jesus.  What did He get?
        Everyone went to sleep.

III. \\#John 17:1\\ Jesus wanted to glorify the Father.

John 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up
his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may
glorify thee:

    A. This was a big theme in the prayer that Jesus prayed for He
        mentioned "glory" in one form or another 8 times in this
        prayer.
        1. Jesus did want the Father to glorify Him.
        2. But the reason was so that Jesus could glorify the Father
            all the more!
        3. Jesus only wanted the glory that He might give glory to
            the Father.
    B. \\#John 17:4\\ "I have finished the work which thou gavest me
        to do."
        1. Jesus work can be divided into two parts.
            a. His revealing ministry
            b. His redeeming ministry
        2. The revealing aspect of Jesus’ ministry was done.
            a. \\#John 17:6\\ "I have manifested thy name unto the
                men which thou gavest me…."
            b. \\#John 17:3\\ "…this is eternal life, that they
                might know thee…."
            c. \\#John 17:8\\ "…they have known surely…."
        3. Why does it say His work is finished when we know He must
            still die to redeem mankind?
            a. I’m not for certain.
            b. Perhaps it was because that dying was not as much His
                work as it was the Father’s and that of evil men.

Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;
he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

                (1) Jesus’ death was more about what would be done to
                     Jesus.
                (2) The details of Jesus’ death had already been
                     outlined in great particulars.  God the Father
                     would see to it that all were accomplished.
                (3) On Jesus part, the work was that He allow them to
                     kill Him.
    C. Yet, in His death, Jesus certainly wanted to glorify the
        Father.

IV. \\#John 17:11\\ Jesus wanted those who were His to be kept.

John 17:11  And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one,
as we are.

    A. Isn’t that interesting?  Jesus wanted His disciples to be
        kept! He is speaking of being kept for eternity.
    B. Then He prayed for a different kind of keeping.  That we
        would be kept from sin.

John 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil.

    C. One almost has to remind oneself that it is Jesus who about to
        be arrested, beaten, mocked, and crucified for He certainly
        was not focusing on it.
        1. He was thinking of how He wanted to glorify God while He
            died.
        2. He was thinking of how He wanted the disciples and us to
            be kept securely and purely not only while He was being
            killed but in the ages to come.

There are so many things that I cannot do.  But in this list of four,
I can help myself and others…
    1. To love Him.
    2. To sit with Him for awhile—not in the same sense that He
        wanted that night, but in a sense like we are attempting to
        set up tonight.
    3. To glorify Him.
    4. To stay pure.

<OutlineIndex>  <Close Window>