The King's Preparation for the Cross, Part 2 (Matthew 26:30–56)

Young pastors are often advised, “preach to suffering people and you’ll never lack an audience.” Why? Because everyoneis well-acquainted with the subject. We all suffer, facing times of uncertainty and vulnerability, pain and inconvenience, fear and heartbreak, mistreatment and loneliness. Indeed, each of us have endured, are enduring, and will endure hardship. But how can we endure well? That’s the question Matthew 26:30–56 is going to help us answer. As Matthew provides readers with a front-row seat to the agony of Jesus and his anticipation of the cross, we can find guidance toward faithful endurance. If we want to be a people that bear the inevitable and inescapable hardships and uncertainties of life in a Christ-honouring way we must be a people that, recognizing our frailty and fallenness, actively draw near God’s power and promises.