Practical Proverbial, from Matthew, 15 September 2025. Today's topic: Like Grass
His Word, Our Journey
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39 (NIV).
I’m not Jesus; neither are you. He is the giver of life, the creator of all that is seen and even unseen, and the savior of all. He is the living water that gives life to everything that lives in the universe. Jesus is God and man all at once in a mystery we don’t have the brain-space enough to comprehend. It’s simply a fact. All time and space and matter and science and life is centered on this fact. Jesus can and will do things we ordinary humans can’t (and won’t).
But it’s important to remember here something the prophet Isaiah said: “all men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them.” That means all creation, especially that which is alive, is under God, created by Him for His glory. Even the simple, beautiful flowers wither and die because God allows it, even causes it by His setting the earthly seasons in motion. Indeed, Jesus said that, unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it won’t become a new plant. But when it does, that new plant can (and usually does) produce many more seeds to become new plants themselves. As you know, that’s an allegory for faith in Jesus.
It's about faith in the same Jesus who was in His last day on Earth. In Gethsemane, in agony because He understood what was afoot, Jesus was fully man submitting to the will of His holy Father in heaven. There in that garden, Jesus was a man, a human being suffering in anguish. He was a flower withering in the field, and the Father allowed it. Indeed, the Father WANTED it because it was through this that God would redeem mankind forever.
It's critical to understand that Jesus understood His Father’s will and submitted to it. He, the Son, willingly went to His horrific death knowing it was how the Father was bringing His salvation to mankind. Jesus understood the agony and humiliation and unbearable pain that was ahead of Him on that Good Friday, so He spoke as a man, asking that, if it was possible, could the Father please do this some other way. Yet in the same breath, He also willingly submitted His own request to the Father’s will.
I’m not Jesus; neither are you, and I’m thankful for the moments in His life when He displayed His humanity because it helps us identify with Him and better submit our will, and our lives, to His better purpose.
For more, read Psalm 40:6-8, Isaiah 50:5, John 4:14, John 5:30, John 6:38, John 12:24, Matthew 26:40
Lord, I’m not You. Thank You for that.