LANGUAGE:
Lessons From Gethsemane
(Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46; Matthew 26:36-46)
I invite you to open your Bibles to Mark 14, as we pick up our study in verses 32-42. These verses give us insight into Jesus’ agony as He faced the reality of the cross.[i] As we dig into the closing chapters of Mark, it would be good for us to remember Isaiah 53 that Jesus would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and chastised for our peace with God. And because of His sufferings, Romans 5:1-2, we have obtained our introduction by faith into God’s grace in which we stand.
In this passage Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples. In a couple of hours Judas and his thugs would come for Jesus.
The stress on Jesus is huge. He knows He is going to die shortly, He knows He will be under divine judgement for the sins of humanity, and that for a time literally separated from God His Father. v33, He tells Peter, James, and John straight up My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.[ii]
.Let’s pause for a moment in prayer: Heavenly Father, don’t let us gloss over this moment. In these verses You show us our Savior, as He struggles with the impact of the cross on Him personally. Make this moment come alive to each of us. Amen.
We must remember that the intensity of Christ’s suffering on the cross proves the severity and extent of what’s wrong in the world and in people. We tend to think only of the excruciating pain of crucifixion, but the greatest agony for Jesus was not physical. It was His alienation from God and taking the brunt of God wrath because of our sins. The sin placed on Christ was so great that the Father turned away from Him—for the first time and only time, God the Father and God the Son were separated (Matthew 27:46).[iii]
And so when we come to Gethsemane we are beginning get a small insight as to the horror of death. It’s not the graveyard, as awful as that is; it is being separated from God. May the Spirit of God help us get a glimmer of the real terror of death.
As we come to v32, Jesus is at a place known as Gethsemane. Gethsemane was a garden outside of Jerusalem where local olive growers came to crush their olives for the oil. [iv] Don’t miss the symbolism. As the olives were crushed so the Son of God would be crushed.
According to John 18:2 Jesus came here often with His disciples. But this was more than just a gathering place.
The point for us is, Gethsemane is really sacred and holy ground. Daniel Akin is "spot on" when he says “We will never know the depths of agony and pain our Savior endured that night alone for love of sinners like us." And that thought makes grace even that much more amazing![v]
Jesus has been celebrating Passover for some 33 years. But this Passover was totally different, because He becomes the Passover Lamb. As much stress Jesus was under for the last 3 ½ years, there was no stress on His life like what He experienced at Gethsemane. By examining how Jesus handled suffering, we’ll gain a greater understanding of the way we should handle our trials.
Mark tells us in v33, He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. In fact, He tells Peter, James, and John v34, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. What Jesus was saying was, He is totally overwhelmed by what was about to happen. We see this in His prayer to His Father, v36, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”
One commentator writes: Jesus was in the grip of a shuddering horror as he faced the dreadful prospect before him.[vi] We’re told that He pleaded with His Father three times, but each time He closed with the words, Not as I will, but as You will (Matthew 26:39).[vii] By the third time, He knew that this was the only way. That’s when the struggle ended, and His resolve to carry out the Father’s will was front center fitting Isaiah50:7, “For the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed”
Listen carefully: Gethsemane was the place where Jesus wrestled with the reality of death in real time. His words “Abba Father . . . remove this cup from me” goes far deeper than physical death, For Jesus real time death was knowing that He was going to be separated from His Father for a time. Alistair Begg points out that "What we have here is the sinless about to bear the wrath of God in Himself for sin".[viii] 2 Corinthians 5:21 (GW) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” So the love of the Father compelled Him.
We see this illustrated in Matthew 27:34. Hanging on the cross, in excruciating pain, a soldier offered him an anesthetic drink to deaden the pain. He refused to drink it. Why? So that He might experience suffering in all of its complete dimensions. So that no one could ever say, “Oh, but someone has suffered worse than this because He had painkilling before that happened.” Know He took it all being of sound of mind without a sedative help. [ix]
Listen carefully: He suffered at a level that no one has ever suffered. Enduring it all for the sake of those who would come to Him in faith So Paul would later testify in Philippians 3:10 (NASB95) I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
When they arrived at Gethsemane Jesus tells the disciples to take a seat while He went further to pray alone. V35 (GW)Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. He returns to where He had left them, and found them sleeping. V37/38 And so He says to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake for one hour? 38Keep watch, and pray that you won’t be tempted. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Notice Jesus’ directive to Peter—keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation. This was not just a rebuke. That’s what Jesus was actually doing—praying that He may not come into temptation.
V41, Mark tells us that Jesus interrupts His prayer time three times to find His support team sleeping on the job. Mark this down: Their drowsiness at this crucial moment was due to their failure to realize how crucial this moment was to their own impending failing.[x] If they had been praying, I wonder, Would they have run as we will see next time?
Vs 41-42(GW) Jesus becomes totally exasperated with His disciples. 41He came back a third time and said to them, “You might as well sleep now. It’s all over. The time has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to sinners. 42Get up! Let’s go! The one who is betraying me is near.”
Well, let’s pause in our study and step back for a moment. There are two truths that beg our attention.
Keeping your finger in Mark, turn over to Luke 22:43-44. Here Luke gives us a little insight as to the intensity of Jesus’ emotion as He faces the cross. 43Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. 44And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
The cross weighed heavy on Jesus. Impending death was real. He prays more fervently to the point that He is actually sweating, sweat drops are liken to blood. Notice the text describes Jesus as being in great anguish (agonia) as He lays the prospect of rejection and death before God. This passage reveals something about Jesus’ character and His reliance on God in the midst of the fear of death and the harshness of life. In the midst of tremendous trial, He turns to God. This was no flippant prayer moment. There’s intense emotion as He wrestles with what is about to happen.
Letting our emotions filter into our prayers tends to be an embarrassment to us western Followers of Jesus.
But in life there are really “dark” times that we cannot escape. Gethsemane was one of those times for Jesus, and notice that in the midst of the dark time, His prayer did not resolve His weight of despair. And that’s where faith comes in.
Faith means staying the course even when answers don’t come. We need to remember the events in Gethsemane, because life is like that. We all spend time in darkness.[xi] But like Jesus, we must keep going.
Notice v43, heaven responds, not by granting Jesus’ request for another way out, but by giving Him the strength to face what God has called Him to do. An angel from heaven appeared to Him, to support Him in the cause of redemption. This merger of submission to God’s call on our lives, and His supplied strength is at the heart of this passage.[xii] By faith Jesus stayed the course in the darkest moment of His life, and God gave Him the strength to walk through it. Remembering Gethsemane helps us to stay the course. Hebrews 12:2 (NASB95) fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
There are times that prayer does not resolve our struggles, but faith helps us stay on course even when answers are not apparent.
Luke 22:44 (NASB95) And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
I believe what we here is a graphic picture of the emotions of the God-Man at the very gates of death. It wasn’t the graveyard that weighed heavy on Him. Jesus knew death in the truest sense. It is in that light that Martin Luther wrote in his commentary, “No man ever feared death like this man”.[xiii] Why? Because He knew He would be separated, alienated from God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB95) because of our sin God made Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. And so we are told in Romans 6:23 (NASB95) the wages of sin is death.
In the Bible sin involves a raw confrontation between obedience and rebellion. Bottom line, sin is the refusal to follow God's way. It finds expression in such behavior as stealing, cursing, and lying simply because that seems more attractive or reasonable.[xv] It was started by Adam/Eve disobeying God’s directive to not eat of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 2:17. God told them that in the day that you eat from it you will surely die. They eat, and death became a reality. Sin became a wild force from within, dominating, twisting, devouring, consuming. It is rooted in all of our hearts, and capsulated by pride. [xvi] The Bible tells us that sin is a violation of the law of the God, which results in suffering, death, and divine judgment.
Romans 6:23 (NASB95) the wages of sin is death.
The Bible tells us that death is like a two prong fork. One prong is the graveyard. When we pass by a funeral home and a graveyard, they are there because of sin. If there was no sin, there would be no need for funeral homes or graveyards.
The second prong of death is alienation from God, from others, from oneself, and from creation. While physical death takes time, alienation from God is immediate at birth. And that’s what we have in Genesis 3:8. When Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord, they “hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God.” Because the fellowship with God had been broken. They were now spiritually dead. Romans 5:12 (NASB95) Therefore, just as through one-man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Because God made Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf . . . and the wages of sin is death . . . meaning alienation from God.
This is why Jesus struggled, and that’s why He broke out in a sweat, and that’s why He prayed fervently. The temptation was huge. alienation from God was frightening. To be alienated from God meant that He was a stranger to God because of our sin.[xvii] That had never ever happened. Because of our sin we are alienated from God, regardless of how good we try to be because His standard is perfection, and we fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23) Jesus, who did not fall short, was alienated for our sakes.
The Bible tells us that the fear of dying hangs heavy over our psychic. Research tells us that the fear of death appears to be at the core of several mental health disorders. We’re too scared to talk about death. In a 2014 survey in England it was found that eight in ten people were uncomfortable talking about death.[xviii] It carries with it health anxiety, panic disorder and depressive disorders. But we don’t need to fear death. Hebrews 2:14–15 (The Message) tells us that because we are made of flesh and blood, 14Jesus took on flesh and blood in order to rescue us by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death 15and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.
We must point out that Hebrews does not say we have been delivered from death itself, but from slavery to the fear of death—a fear that encompass both the process of dying and the state of being dead.[xix] In John 11:25–26 (NASB95) 25Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”[xx]
Why? Because I, Jesus, have overcome death. Romans 6:23 (NASB95) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Fellowship restored, alienation destroyed.
I close with this:
Our confidence over death is found in Christ Jesus. The Bible tells us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we will be saved from the fear of death by confessing with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9)[xxii] If you have never done so, I encourage you to do so today.
Let’s close in prayer.
Heavenly Father, I ask that You write your Word in our hearts. All that is helpful and true, may it be stored up for the evil days that are growing in intensity. That which is unhelpful or untrue—distinctly possible form our lips—may it be banished from our thoughts. Grant that none of us may walk away from this place without gripping what it means to be “in Christ.” And may none of us evade the challenge nor miss the immense privilege of becoming increasingly Christ-like in His humility, in His compassion, in His zeal for the souls of others, and yes, even in His experience of suffering. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and remain with all who believe, now and until Jesus comes or calls us to Himself forevermore. Amen.
[i] You might want to make a note that if I say something that seemingly doesn’t fit the immediate passage, you’ll want to take a peek at Matthew 26:36-46 and Luke 22:39-46 where you’ll find additional insights.
[ii] Cf., Psalm 42:5–6 (NASB95) 5Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. 6O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
[iii] Charles Stanley, Lessons From Gethsemane, https://www.intouch.org/read/articles/lessons-from-gethsemane
[iv] https://bibleask.org/what-is-the-significance-of-the-mount-of-olives/. It is higher than Jerusalem around 300 ft. (1 m.) and higher than the Temple plateau. The hill, also named Mount Olivet, due to fact that it was once covered with olive trees. In the Old Testament it is Mt Moriah where Abraham built an altar and offered Isaac. Later King David bought it to build the temple. On the Mount, King Solomon built the First Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 586 BCE. The returning exiles from Babylon set the foundations of the Second Temple in the same place in 536 BCE. After about 500 years, Herod extended the Temple Mount and rebuilt the Temple on it.
[v] Daniel Akin, https://www.preceptaustin.org/mark-14-commentary#14:32
[vi] David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 539.
[vii] Charles Stanley, Lessons From Gethsemane, https://www.intouch.org/read/articles/lessons-from-gethsemane. When the dread of what awaited Him fell on Jesus that night, He immediately turned to His Father. His agony was not caused by an unwillingness to carry out God’s purpose—dying on the cross was the reason He’d come to earth. What Jesus dreaded was separation from His Father. That’s why He prayed, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39). The Lord wants us to trust Him in the midst of our anguish. When we yield to His will, knowing that He is using it to achieve something great in our lives, He will give us the grace to endure and grow in Christlikeness.
[viii] Alistair Begg, Suffering Servant (Mark 14:32), https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/suffering-servant/
[ix] Ibid.
[x] David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 541.
[xi] Gerry Adams, Praying Our Emotions, https://www.reformedworship.org/article/june-2010/praying-our-emotions
[xii] David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 568
[xiii] Alistair Begg, Suffering Servant (Mark 14:32), https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/suffering-servant/
[xiv] https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sin/. Risking oversimplification, among the most common Hebrew terms, hattat [a'f'j] means a missing of a standard, mark, or goal; pesa [q;f'P] means the breach of a relationship or rebellion; awon [!A'[] means perverseness; segagah [hgg.v] signifies error or mistake; resa [hgg.v] means godlessness, injustice, and wickedness; and amal [l'm' [], when it refers to sin, means mischief or oppression. The most common Greek term is hamartia [aJmartiva], a word often personified in the New Testament, and signifying offenses against laws, people, or God. Paraptoma [paravptwma] is another general term for offenses or lapses. Adikia [ajdikiva] is a more narrow and legal word, describing unrighteousness and unjust deeds. Parabasis [paravbasi"] signifies trespass or transgression of law; asebeia [ajsevbeia] means godlessness or impiety; and anomia [ajnomiva] means lawlessness. The Bible typically describes sin negatively. It is lawlessness, disobedience, impiety, unbelief, distrust, darkness as opposed to light, a falling away as opposed to standing firm, weakness not strength. It is unrighteousness, faithlessness. Three factors compound the tragedy of sin. First, it pervades the whole person; no sphere escapes, for the very heart of the sinner is corrupt ( Psalm 51:5 ; Jer 17:9 ; Rom 8:7 ). Second, evil resides in the heart of the crown of God's creation, the bearer of God's image, the one appointed to rule the world for God. The remarkable capacities of humans to think, plan, persuade, and train others enables wickedness to become clever and strong. Third, sin is proud; hence it resists God and his salvation and offers a counterfeit salvation instead ( 2 Thess 2:2-4 ).
[xv] https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sin/
[xvi] Ibid., Genesis and Romans teach that Adam and Eve did not sin for themselves alone, but, from their privileged position as the first, originally sinless couple, act as representatives for the human race. Since then sin, sinfulness, and the consequences of sin have marred all. Every child of Adam enters a race marked by sin, condemnation, and death ( Rom 5:12-21 ). These traits become theirs both by heritage and, as they grow into accountability, by personal choice, as Cain's slaughter of Abel quickly shows.
[xvii] https://www.gotquestions.org/alienated-from-God.html
[xviii] Jessica Brown, We Fear Death, But What If Dying Isn’t As Bad As We Think? https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2017/jul/25/we-fear-death-but-what-if-dying-isnt-as-bad-as-we-think
[xix] George Guthrie, Hebrews, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 120.
[xx] 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 (NASB95) 13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
[xxi] George Guthrie, Hebrews, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 121.
[xxii] Romans 10:10–11 (NASB95) 10for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”