32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.
40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Introduction
I once had dinner with Dr. Forest Feezor, a 91-year-old retired Baptist preacher who at one time was the executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. I asked him what he would do if he had his life and ministry to live over again. He said, “Really, not very much. I’ve always sought to live by the will of God, and when you have done that, there is not much you would change.”
The will of God, finding it and doing it, is the central issue of the Christian life. It was so for Jesus and it is so for us. My text indicates this. It is the account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is among the most moving scenes in all of the Bible. It follows the inauguration of the Lord’s Supper. After they had broken bread and drunk from the cup, they sang a hymn and went out into the night. On their way to the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus told his disciples, “They shall smite the shepherd and the sheep shall scatter.”
Then Peter and the other apostles protested, saying that they would be loyal to Jesus unto death. Then the scriptures say they came to Gethsemane. The word Gethsemane literally means “oil press.” It describes a small private garden on the Mount of Olives. In Jerusalem itself, there were no gardens. But some well-to-do people possessed private gardens on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. This is where they went to relax from the hustle and the bustle of the city. Jesus must have had a wealthy friend who gave him the privilege of using his garden. We know from scripture that Jesus was accustomed to going here. The fact that the Jews knew where to look for him in the garden shows that he was in the habit of going there.
Why did Jesus go to the garden? It was because of his need for human fellowship and divine fellowship. In times of trouble we want someone with us. We only want them there. They do not necessarily need to say anything. Jesus was just like that. So when they arrived at the garden, he left eight of his disciples at the entrance saying, “Sit ye here, while I shall pray.” Then he took Peter, James, and John inside the garden.
Mark tells us that then “he began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy.” And he said to them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch” (vs.33-34).
Attempts to translate the feelings of Jesus into our language are difficult. Nowhere else is Jesus said to have undergone such emotional stress as here. Shock, anguish, and deep sorrow are felt everywhere. When alone with only the three closest disciples, he gave way to the pent-up stress and emotions within him. He said, “My soul is sorrowful unto death.” The word soul means “my very self, my whole being.” These are strong words that express deep emotions. They speak of the utmost degree of abounding sorrow and suffering.
Jesus then tells his disciples, “Tarry ye here and watch.” Obviously they did not comprehend his feelings of distress and so he would have to go through it alone. These words suggest the loneliness of a man who must face decisions by himself. No one else can help him make those decisions. It is that way with all of us.
He goes into the garden about a stone’s throw from the disciples and “fell on the ground, and prayed.” He is prostrate on the ground before God. This is the ultimate physical gesture before God. His prostration marked the intensity of this hour in a physical way.
Why is Jesus in such agony? It is certainly due to more than the physical suffering he is about to experience or many a martyr has since shown greater courage than he. We may say it was the agony of his sinless soul being made sin for us and exposed to divine judgment on sin. When he died he tasted the bitterness of death that is the wages of sin that those of us who trust him never taste. This is something beyond the range of human experience altogether since he alone was sinless. The fact of bodily affliction has little to do with it. It was an inward grief, a struggle of the spirit. It is the horribleness of sin and the impending rejection of God that creates such agony in him.
Jesus lived in perfect, unbroken fellowship with God. On the cross he knew that God would momentarily turn his back upon him for he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The horror of such an experience weighed heavy upon him. The agony to which Christ sank was the agony of a soul that results from bearing the sins of the lost world. The suffering was not just physical but spiritual separation from God.
He prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. Clearly Jesus did not want to die. If there was some other way to accomplish his mission, he wanted it to be done instead. He was a young healthy person who lived life to the hilt. No such person would want to die. Nor did he understand completely why he had to die. He thought there might be some other way.
We must understand the cross was not easy for Jesus. If it were easy, it would have no real value for you and for me. He addresses God as “Father.” Even in the midst of his personal torture he referred to God as Father.
In the TV miniseries Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story, a story is recounted about Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish foreign minister who worked to help save Jews from Nazi terrorism in Hungary during the days of World War II. In the movie a young Jewish man who had never been a very good Jew and a Jewish rabbi were talking about German atrocities against the Jews. The young man said to the rabbi, “You saw how the Germans drown our people in the Danube and shot our Jewish children in the back. How can you still believe in God?” The rabbi replied, “How can you still believe in man?” Even in the darkest hours of night, God’s people can still call God “Father."
Then Jesus continues praying, “All things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me; nevertheless, not what I will but what thou wilt.” If it were possible, he wanted God to accomplish his spiritual purpose some other way. Nevertheless, he makes a perfect submission to the Father desiring his will alone. The words “Yet not my will ... thine be done” are the crucial point in Gethsemane. Doctrinally, they illustrate that there was in Jesus a real human will, distinct from but always in submission to God’s will. Experientially they marked a point of his triumph, so that the victory of the cross was in fact won in prayer in the garden before he went to the cross.
Satan brought sin and death by asserting his will against God. Jesus brought salvation by surrendering his will to God. Acceptance of the will of God is always the way of victory, whereas self-will inevitably leads to defeat. If Jesus was strong and serene during his trial and his crucifixion, it is because he settled the issue there in the Garden of Gethsemane.
After a period of prayer he returned to his disciples and found them asleep. He reprimanded the crowd and the overconfident Peter because he could not watch for an hour. Then he said, “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.”
The picture of the sleeping disciples is in sharp contrast to the praying of Christ. Peter had boasted that he would die for the Lord. Now he has not the strength to watch for an hour. There was clearly an element of conflict with Satan in the garden. The earlier temptations of our Lord’s ministry were here renewed in a last titanic assault, the intensity of which he now felt. Knowing full well that the victory in temptation was won only at the price of vigilance and prayer, he warned the sleeping disciples of their own need.
He goes back to pray the same prayer again and returns the second time to find his disciples asleep. Then he returns a third time to prayer, and a third time he returns to find them asleep. This time he said, “Sleep on now.” These are words of sorrowful irony. He wearily gave up all expectations of companionship from them. Then he calmly said, “Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.” The man who lay prone in anguish beneath the old olive tree comes forth in serene tranquility and gives himself up to death for us and for all. He emerges from the dark hour strengthened and ready. He no longer needs the assurance that they were in some sense facing the trial with him. He recognizes the hour for action has come; now is the time to rise up and be going.
His example teaches us not only the great price that our Savior paid for our sins, but what we are to do with our own sorrows. They teach us that we should take ourselves to prayer when our spirit is desolate. Our sorrows help us understand the relationship between prayer and the will of God. What Jesus did in the garden we need to do also. This is a summons that we should take ourselves to prayer when our spirit is desolate. This teaches us three things about God’s will and prayer:
Through prayer we find the wisdom to know the will of God.
Through prayer we find grace to accept the will of God.
Through prayer we find strength to do the will of God.
1. Through prayer we find the wisdom to know the will of God.
The most important thing in the whole world is to know the will of God. It gives life meaning and purpose, which is necessary for a rich and full life. Animals can exist, but we must have purpose. How can we find it? E. Stanley Jones’ testimony helps me:
“When I was deciding the quest for my life’s work, I received a letter from a college president saying, ‘It is the will of the faculty, the will of the student body, the will of the townspeople, and, we believe, the will of God that you should teach in this college.’ At the same time I received a letter from a trusted friend saying, ‘I believe it is the will of God that you should go into evangelistic work in America.” Then a letter came from the Board of Missions saying, “It is our will to send you to India.’
“Here was a perfect traffic jam of wills! They were all second-hand, and I felt that I had a right to first-hand knowledge in such a crisis. Not that I should despise the opinions of friends in spiritual guidance, for God often guides through them, but obviously here they could not be depended on. So I took the letter from the board, went to my room, spread it out, and said, ‘Now Father, my life is not my own and I must answer this. Lead me and I’ll follow.’
“Very clearly the inner voice said, ‘It is India.’
“‘All right,’ I replied, ‘That settles it. It is India.’
“I arose to my knees and wrote at once, saying that I was ready. The inner voice did not fail me then. It has never failed me since.
“In many a crisis too intimate to spread on the pages of a book, I have looked to him to give me a clear lead. He has never failed to give me that lead sooner or later, and when he has given it, it has always turned out to be right. He has never let me down. I have let him down time and time again, but I find him utterly dependable. I am sure that outside of that will I cannot succeed; inside that will I cannot fail.”
You have a right to first-hand information also. You can find it on your knees before God. Anyone with a willingness to do the will of God and an earnestness to pray as Jesus did can find wisdom to know the will of God.
2. Through prayer we find grace to accept the will of God.
Jesus expressed his own will but then surrendered to the will of God. He said, “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” Satan always attacks us at the point of God’s will. What we need is not just wisdom to know, but grace to accept the will of God. Henry Blackaby said, “There are two things a military man must know—how to march and shoot.” A friend replied, “There are three; you must know how to obey.” Once we know the will of God we must have the grace to accept it.
3. Through prayer we find strength to do the will of God.
Jesus told Peter, “Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.” In the garden he was in a struggle with Satan, but he found the strength to overcome him through prayer. We will find the same thing.
In all of the proceedings that were to follow—the arrest, trial, sentencing, and crucifixion of Jesus—Jesus was the coolest, calmest, most serene person around. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, Peter frantically drew a sword and cut off one of the soldier’s ears. Why did he cut off his ear? It was because he missed his aim. He was aiming for his head. Peter was a poor swordsman. He was like the cross-eyed disc thrower—he didn’t set many records but he sure kept the crowd awake. When Peter drew his sword, everybody ducked.
Then all the disciples fled into the night. Mark gives us an interesting insight into this in verses 50-52. Who was this young man? We believe it was Mark himself. There is a possibility that the Lord’s Supper was observed in his home. Perhaps later that night after he was asleep, Judas and the soldiers came there to arrest Jesus. When Mark was awakened by all of the activity, he wrapped a loincloth around himself and followed the mob out to the Garden of Gethsemane. When the other disciples fled in fright, he joined them and someone reached out to grab him and wound up with only a handful of loincloth. He fled through the night and naked at that.
When the high priest questioned Jesus, he tore his garments in frustration and anger. Pilate first wrung his hands and then washed his hands of Jesus. The calmest, most serene person around that day was Jesus himself. Where did he find such calmness and serenity in the face of life’s storms? He found it on his knees in the Garden of Gethsemane. Where will we find strength for the sorrows of life, the injustices of life, and the mysteries of life? We will find strength on our knees as Jesus did. The victory Jesus won on the cross was actually won on his knees in the garden long before then.
All of this teaches us something of the agony of our Savior in purchasing our redemption, and at the same time, it teaches us how we may find the will of God. Be sure of this—it is first the will of God that everyone be saved. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the repentance.
Alan Redpath said that the will of God is universal about character and conduct. It is individual about ministry and service. People are always coming to me seeking God’s will, and their problem is that they have not settled the problem of their character or conduct first. That’s the place to begin. Be what God wants you to be, and then you will know what God wants you do. Your responsibility is to seek God; his responsibility is to show you his will. Do your part and God will do his.