Agonizing in Gethsemane
TRANSLATION
(39) As usual, Jesus went out to the mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. (40) When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation.” (41) And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and went down on his knees and prayed, (42) “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.” (43) An angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. (44) And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (45) When he rose from praying, he came to the disciples and found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. (46) He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not fall into temptation.”
OBSERVATIONS
One repeated phrase stands out in these verses, “pray that you may not fall into temptation” (vss. 40 & 46). Other repetitions include five occurrences of “pray/praying” (vss. 40, 41, 44, 45, & 46), “disciples” (vss. 39 & 45), and “sleeping” (also in vss. 45 & 46). Two descriptions were unique to Luke’s account. First, an angel from heaven appeared to Jesus in order to strengthen him (vs. 43). Then we are told that Jesus’ sweat was like “drops of blood falling to the ground.” This vividly described the anguish he experienced in anticipating his suffering and death (vs. 44).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus asked his disciples to pray with him. (39 & 40)
II. Jesus agonized in prayer while his disciples slept. (41-46)
IDEA STATEMENT
Prayer is where we learn to embrace the Father’s will for our lives.
APPLICATION
Luke’s portrayal of Jesus’ wrestling with the Father’s will as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane remains a powerful testimony to his full humanity and helps us understand how agonizing it had to have been for him, the God/man, to serve as our sin-bearer. He conditioned his request to the Father to “remove this cup from me” by the phrase, “if you are willing.” The Father’s refusal to grant the Son’s prayer must have been one of the most wrenching things for the Trinity, bound together eternally by infinite love, to experience. Yet, for the sake of his love for sinful human beings, including each of us, the Son accepted his destiny with the response, “Not my will, but yours, be done” (vs. 42).
James Montgomery, a Moravian minister, penned the following words in 1825.
Go to dark Gethsemane, you, who feel the tempter’s power.
Your Redeemer’s conflict see. Watch with him one bitter hour.
Turn not from his grief away. Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
While the disciples were sleeping, Jesus was wrestling with what he would have to face and then came to the place where he fully embraced what the Father had purposed for him to accomplish. The more we grow in our relationship with God in Christ, the more we need to adopt this same attitude in our praying. In the process of learning to release what we want and accepting God’s will for us no matter what that might entail, we learn to do whatever maximizes his glory. This will always, in the long run, turn out to be what is best for us.