(6 p m ‘Thursday’ to 6 p m Friday)
LESSON 6: Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane
April 15, 2010
Reading for today:
Matthew 26:30; 36-46
Mark 14:26; 32-42
Luke 22:39-46
John 18:1
This is the order of events that I have sorted out in reading the above:
They went out to the Mt of Olives, across the Kidron Valley
Matthew 26:30
Mark 14:26
Luke 22:39-46
John 18:1
Went to Gethsemane
Matthew 26:36-46
Mark 14:32-42
Luke 22:40-46
Jesus wakens them from sleep and tells them his betrayer is coming
Matthew 26:46
Mark 14:42
Luke 22:46
I didn’t have time to write yesterday, but the weight of what Jesus was soon to endure – and was enduring emotionally even before it all began – walked with me all day long. I tried my best to exude my ‘bubbly Mary Poppins’ side of ‘practically perfect in every way’ but my heart was heavy. This morning I recognized the layers of why – and part of it is directly attributable to this journey.
When we left Jesus and his disciples in Lesson 5, they had just sung their final song, and headed out into the night. We pick up the story there – with them heading across the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives….
I was reminded this morning that when John the Baptist identified Jesus to the masses, he said, “Look, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus is being propelled into that finality as they leave the upper room and their Passover meal – the last food Jesus ate on this earth before his death….aptly named in art The Last Supper….
Jesus took all eleven of his remaining disciples with him – but left eight of them – all but Peter, James and John – in one spot, telling them, “Sit here while I pray.” I don’t think it has ever occurred to me before to wonder how it might have felt to be one of the disciples outside the inner circle. I have to believe that because we aren’t told of their having conflict with that reality, that they must have had the kind of temperaments that celebrate others’ gifts and talents, rather than be jealous or feel left out. The only one of the twelve who had issues of some sort that we are aware of was Judas Iscariot. And right now – he is fulfilling his role as betrayer….
Jesus took his ‘inner circle’ of closest disciples with him a little further, left the three of them together, telling them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.” He went on 'about a stones’ throw further' and knelt to pray. What he prayed was for God to take the cup from him if there was any other way. “Nevertheless,” he ended, “Not what I will, but what you will.”
He was in deep agony. He needed the support of his friends. He had told them he was overwhelmed – and needed their prayerful support – and what were they doing? Sleeping.
He came back to the sleepy threesome, but directed his attention to Peter. “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Then he went back to his place of prayer, and prayed again to his Father, “If there is any other way, Father, please take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours….”
Returning to Peter, James and John, he found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. He didn’t even wake them – He just went back to pray a third time – alone.
Luke tells us that an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him, and that being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground.
This time when he returns to them he awakens them and cajoles them again for sleeping and resting – and tells them the hour has come – “Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer.”
In addition to sharing the journey Jesus walked as closely as I am capable of, there are compelling lessons to learn inherent in this portion of the story. First and foremost, if we are to avoid failing and succumbing to temptation, we also must be faithful in prayer – with everything we do immersed in prayer. Jesus fought his most formidable personal spiritual battle during that hour or two in the garden – beginning just before midnight, and ending in the wee hours of the morning. His forty days in the desert following his baptism by John the Baptist had prepared him for ministry, and this final time alone with God prepared him for what he had come to earth to accomplish. “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
This portion of the story also affirms how intensely we need friends. Even Jesus didn’t want to ‘go it alone.’ Thank God He brings others into our lives to share portions of our journeys – and even when we feel alone in this world, HE is there. He promised ‘never to leave us or forsake us.’ He meant it. We need others to come alongside. We need to be the ones who come alongside. That’s why He instructs us to ‘bear one another’s burdens – and so fulfill the law of Christ.' His law is love, and love sacrifices….
As for the disciples that night – Peter, James and John, his trusted inner circle – only hindsight would bring all that happened that night into perspective. They were tired. It was the time of night to be sleeping. They had had an incredibly busy day. Especially Peter and John. They had prepared the entire Passover Meal. Then during dinner, they drank more than their usual amount of wine for dinner, as prescribed in the custom of the celebration. Wine relaxes and makes one sleepy. Jesus acknowledges that when he says, ‘The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ They didn’t understand what was about to go down…but they certainly heard Jesus’ words when he told them he was overwhelmed with sorrow – a sorrow so deep that it was ‘to the point of death.’ Yet, they couldn’t stay awake. Their spirit was willing, but their flesh was weak.
The third huge thing for me is Jesus’ obvious loving forgiveness. He has warned Peter in advance of Peter’s soon-to-come failure. He invited Peter, especially, to pray to be protected from temptation – but he knew what would happen….and he already had forgiveness in place….for even when he told him he would deny him three times before dawn – he said, “When you come back, strengthen your brothers.”
I’ve experienced that loving forgiveness.
Knowing Jesus wept alone that night pierces my soul. I do not have the capacity to experience the fullness of what He did for me by taking that cup of sorrow and shame. He didn’t want to – but there was no other way.
No other way! That’s a message I want to convey clearly. There are people in my life whom I love dearly who do not embrace that reality. The politically correct lie of Satan that pervades modern-day Christianity says that "we wouldn’t want to limit God – that we believe salvation is in Christ alone, but if God chooses to save through another way – who are we to say He can’t? After all, He is God."
The grief that Jesus’ bore in the Garden of Gethsemane informs me that God limited God. It is not the only proof that God limited God. But it is clearly conveys that Truth. If there had been any other way, God – who can do all things – would have taken the cup from Jesus. He didn’t. He couldn’t. He did it for us. The only way.
Just one. One way to God…. The drops of blood that He sweat in those earliest moments of the morning after midnight were the beginning of a cleansing stream…. His blood shed for the remission of original sin – and all of humanities’ sins.
Sharing for today:
Yesterday my 3-year-old granddaughter proclaimed to her mother, “There is only one way to heaven…GOD!” Out of the mouths of babes….
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