Title: Agony in Gethsemane

Scripture reading: Mark 14:32-42

“Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.” 35 He went a little farther, 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 for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” 37 Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. 40 And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. 41 Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

Main idea: Believers can be sustained through the “Gethsemanes” of life by prayer.

His Trust in God (Mark 14:32-34).
Gethsemane (Hebrew for “oil press”) was a garden (John 18:1) on the Mount of Olives, the same setting where Jesus had given his end times discourse (Mark 13:3-37).

As Jesus faced the cross, He took Peter, James, and John, the same men who had accompanied Him to the home of Jairus (Mark 5:37) and to the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:2). Being human himself, he stood in need not only of food, drink, clothing, shelter, and sleep, but also of human fellowship (Heb. 4:15). He needed these men. Psalm 42:7 says, All the waves and the billows of distress came pouring over his soul.

These three experiences echo Philippians 3:10: “That I may know him [Mount of Transfiguration], and the power of his resurrection [home of Jairus], and the fellowship of his sufferings [the garden of Gethsemane].”

The Humanity of Jesus (Mark 14:35-36).
“He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.”
Our Lord Jesus prostrates on the ground, praying to God. Was He praying to be excused from going to the cross? Not at all; this was the very purpose of His coming into the world. He prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. Fully human, Jesus knows the inner struggle of the will. He refuses to abandon the will of God. Could the Almighty Father find any other righteous basis upon which He could save ungodly sinners? The silence of heaven indicated that there was no other way. The Holy Son of God must die that sinners might be freed from sin! The example of this prayer express Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will. This attitude is reflected in the prayer Jesus gave to the disciples, “Your will be done on earth as it is  in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Tim Keller says, In the garden of Gethsemane, he turns to the Father and all he can see before him is wrath the nothingness of the cup. . . Jesus began to experience the spiritual, cosmic, infinite disintegration that would happen when he became separated from his Father on the cross. Jesus began to experience merely a foretaste of that, and he staggered. (Keller, King’s Cross, 176)

Jesus called “Abba, Father.”  Only Mark records Jesus using the Aramaic word Abba, the word used to address one’s father (“Dad”). Abba appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in Rom 8:15 and Gal 4:6, where Paul declares that through the Spirit Jesus has now brought us into his own parental relationship with the Father.

Jesus’ agony shows what redemption costs God. His steadfastness reflects a God who holds to his saving purpose despite all that humankind does to the contrary. Although we, through sin, do all we can to flee the divine grace, in Jesus, God moves with determination toward our salvation. At Gethsemane, as on the cross, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). The agony in Gethsemane is the faithfulness of God.

The three chosen disciples Peter, James, and John, were allowed to be witnesses of this awful anguish. They had been fortified to endure the sight by the glories of the transfiguration. It would have been too much for the faith of the rest. But these three witnessed it, that they might learn themselves, and be able to teach others, that the way to glory is by suffering.

Could you not watch one hour? (Mark 14:37-42).
If a man cannot pray it is unlikely that he will be able to resist temptation in the moment of extreme pressure. Three times the Lord Jesus returned to find the disciples asleep. Three times he had commanded them to watch (Mark 14:34, 37, 38); their threefold failure, like Peter’s threefold denial (Mark 14:66-72), will humble them and convince them of their need to rely on God through prayer. It is a crucial part of their formation as future leaders of the Church.

“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
Watch and pray, lest you enter not into temptation. The great temptation of the disciples at that moment was to deny Christ under the influence of fear. And so our Lord gives here the true remedy against temptation of every kind; namely, watchfulness and prayer—watchfulness, against the deception of the devil or man; and prayer, for the Divine help to overcome.

This was the same Peter who had made boasts such as these:
“Even though all may fall away, yet will not I” (Mark 14:29).
“Even if I have to die with you, I will certainly not deny you” (14:31).
“Lord, with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33).
“Lord, I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37).

Jesus had slept through their crisis during the storm at sea, which was no real crisis (Mark 4:37-41); they sleep through his crisis, which is a real crisis. Their drowsiness at this crucial moment is due to their failure to realize how crucial this moment is. Peter is not strong enough to watch even one hour. But those who are strong have no need of a physician (Mark 2:17).

“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
In the New Testament the flesh often signifies the weakness of human nature, which easily inclines toward sin; the spirit is our aspiration toward God and capacity to relate to him. As Paul said, we are caught in perpetual conflict between the two (Rom 8:12-14; Gal 5:19-24). The disciples had a desire to be faithful to Jesus (Mark 14:31), but their flesh is liable to fall into temptation. Jesus’ word of warning is also a word of encouragement, implying that his victory is the prototype for all Christians in their struggle against the flesh. “Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested” (Heb 2:18).

“Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough!” Upon returning the third time, Jesus declares, “It is enough.” The Greek term (apechei) could also be translated, “It is settled,” meaning, the decision has been made. The rest of the passion narrative will be an unfolding of the implications of Jesus’ resolve. He knew that he was giving his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45; Matt. 20:28); that he, the sinless One, was “being made sin,” that is, the substitute bearer of God’s wrath (2 Cor. 5:21). On a human level, Jesus is handed over by Judas. But in God’s plan, God has handed over his only Son to sinners out of love for them (Rom 8:32), and Jesus has freely handed himself over with the same love (Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2).

Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
The word rise indicates the disciples were still asleep on the ground. Jesus told them to get on their feet. Going where? Fleeing? No, going forward to meet those who have come to arrest Jesus; yes, to meet them, including Judas! How Jesus met the enemy? by submitting to the Father. James said in James 4:7, … submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. The disciples failed to listen to Jesus, so they failed to submit to God, so they fled from the enemy.

Application
Nothing in all the Bible compares to Jesus’ agony and anguish in Gethsemane—neither the broken heart of Abraham as he prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:5), nor David’s grief at the death of his son Absalom (2 Sam 18:33). We will never know the depths of agony and pain our Savior endured that night alone for love of sinners like us.

Jesus’ experiences in Gethsemane is not merely the dread of suffering but the full weight of human sin and its consequence of alienation from God: the “cup” of wrath (Isa 51:17). Gethsemane was “hell” for Jesus, if there is no Gethsemane, there is no Calvary. It there is no Calvary, there can be no empty tomb. And if there is no empty tomb, there is only hell for us.

In Gethsemane we see that, God willed the entire passion process so as to bring about the most perfect act of love conceivable from a human heart. What redeems humanity is the divine love kindled in the human heart of Jesus, the love that bound him to the cross and he died in our place (John 14:31; Eph 5:2). I am so thankful He went through it.

In the garden of Eden, Adam said to the Father, “Not Your will but mine be done,” and all of creation was plunged into sin. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus, the second Adam, says, “Not My will but Yours be done,” and the redemption and salvation of all creation begins! Eden brought death. Gethsemane begins new life.

Let’s pray together
Heavenly Father, I thank You Lord, You went through the agony for us. Your love toward us bound you to the cross and You died in our place. Thank You Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen