Gethsemane
Text: Mark 14:32-42
Core Idea: Jesus Christ stayed on the path to the cross knowing that the weight of God’s wrath would ultimately crush Him. But He submitted Himself to the will of God by willingly and joyfully drinking the cup because of His love for us. May we experience this love and be transformed by it today.
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. It is good to see you. And thank you, Hellen, for sharing your story with us – and reminding us that suffering in our lives can refine us rather than destroy us because God Himself walks with us. Now, I wonder if some of you are going through this furnace of pain that Hellen was talking about – being overwhelmed by anxiety, fear, and doubt. If this is you, let her story help you see that God is for you and with you in your darkest hour – in fact, He loved you so much that He sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to be thrown into the ultimate furnace for you. He understands your pain. Then I invite you to turn to Him today for you’ll find peace, strength, and hope that the world cannot give.
Well, we are going through the Gospel of Mark – exploring the life of Jesus. Last week, we learned that Jesus Christ is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29) – and that He is inviting us to the Lord’s Supper as it reminds us of His love and commitment for us. Today, Mark will invite us to eavesdrop on Jesus’ prayer which will give us a glimpse of what may have been going on in Jesus’ heart as He prepared for His death. I know we spend a lot of time thinking about what the cross means for us but, in this text, we’ll see what the cross meant for Him. Then with that in mind, please turn your Bibles to Mark 14:32-42. Let me read this for us.
32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” He said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” 35 Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. 36 “Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” 37 Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” He said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Once more He went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When He came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to Him. 41 Returning the third time, He said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes My betrayer!”
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me share three things from this passage:
· THE HUMANITY OF JESUS
· THE HUMANITY OF THE DISCIPLES
· THE OBEDIENCE OF JESUS
1) THE HUMANITY OF JESUS
Verse 32. Jesus and His disciples went to a place called Gethsemane – and He took Peter, James, and John (the three closest companions) with Him to spend some time in prayer. Now, what’s shocking is how emotionally fragile and disturbed Jesus was. Up until this point, nothing seemed to surprise Jesus – He was always in control. He taught with authority, ministered with power, confronted the religious leaders with boldness and wisdom – nothing seemed to move Him off the course. And suddenly, He started to fall apart. Verse 33, “He began to be deeply distressed and troubled.” This is confusing because we would expect Jesus to go to His death with bravery and defiance – that’s how many of the Christian martyrs died. They willingly, peacefully, and joyfully gave up their lives for their conviction – absolutely unshakable in their faith even in light of their coming death. For example, Polycarp, a disciple of John, was burned at stake and pierced with a spear for refusing to burn incense to the Roman emperor. When he was asked if he had any last words, he said, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you want.” But that’s not how Jesus went to His death. He was trembling – and the thing is that the physical torture hasn’t even started. But here He was – shaken to the core just by the anticipation of the suffering that was about to come. He seemed to be in great anguish – gripped by terror. Again, He appeared fine up until this point – then why was this happening now? What was going on here? Many commentaries note that it was at Gethsemane that Jesus began to truly taste the horror of the cross – not just the physical torment but what it ultimately represented. This was something that no other Christian martyrs had to face. And the weightiness of this reality began to crush His soul that He said in verse 34, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He felt like dying. In fact, so great was this distress that He couldn’t even stay upright – verse 35 tells us that going a little farther, His knees buckled, and He fell to the ground. Then we can’t help but ask, “Why? What was causing Jesus, who spoke the world into existence, calmed the fiercest storms, cast out demons, healed diseases, and brought life back to the dead, to be so horrified that He was about to pass out?”
In overhearing Jesus’ prayer, we discover the reason. Verse 36, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from Me.” What is this cup? In the OT, the cup was always a metaphor for the wrath of God on human evil – an image of divine justice poured out against injustice. For example, God said in Jeremiah 25:15-16, “Take from My hand this cup filled with the wine of My wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” The cup wasn’t just physical pain and suffering – it was the righteous judgment against God’s enemies. But here, God was holding out that cup for Jesus to drink – what was meant for His enemies was given to His Son. All His life, whenever Jesus turned to the Father, the Spirit flooded Him with love. The fellowship they enjoyed strengthened and renewed Jesus to be faithful to His ministry. But for the first time in His life on earth, Jesus turned to the Father and all He saw before Him was the wrath of God. William Lane writes, “Jesus came to be with the Father for an interlude before His betrayal but found hell rather than heaven opened before Him, and He staggered.” Then we begin to see why Jesus was so distressed in His soul. What troubled Him wasn’t the immediate prospect of His death but the foretaste of God’s wrath that would be laid on Him as the bearer of our sin. It was the prospect of being pierced for our transgressions and being crushed for our iniquities. It was the prospect of Him who knew no sin being made sin for us. And this coming darkness was so terrifying, so troubling that in the weakness of His humanity, Jesus prayed, “Father, remove this cup from Me.”
Think about what Jesus was saying here. He was praying for an alternative to the cross. Just a few verses up in verse 27, Jesus informed His disciples of Zechariah’s prophecy that said, “[God] will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” And now at this moment, Jesus was asking the Father not to strike Him – “Father, I know You can do all things. Then please, don’t let this happen to Me. Take this cup from Me. Don’t strike Me.” As I reflected on this, I was taken aback by His prayer because this was the kind of prayer that I prayed when life was too hard – “God, I can’t take this anymore. Do something about it. I’m going to die if this continues.” Have you ever prayed something like that before? But that’s exactly how Jesus was praying here. Isn’t that surprising? Jesus prayed the prayer that I would pray in my weakness. That was mind-blowing for me. But something else that also surprised me was the fact that after each prayer, what Jesus received was silence. We’re talking about the Son of God who was familiar with the voice of His Father. But here, the Father remained silent. Brothers and sisters, we can be absolutely certain that if there was an alternative, if there was a way to avoid this impending horror, God the Father would’ve intervened and provided the alternative. If there was any other way to save us from our sins, the Father would’ve answered Jesus’ prayer – but this was the only way. And since God so loved the world, He remained silent even when His Son was desperately, ever so urgently pleading for an alternative to the cross. We often think about the cross from our perspective – what it means for us. But have you ever thought about what the cross meant for Jesus? This was what it meant for Him – this unimaginable distress of the soul knowing that He would have to drink the cup of God’s wrath. And Jesus staggered.
Now, why is this important for us to know? Because when we think about Jesus, it’s so easy to forget that Jesus was not only fully God but also fully human. And this could be more detrimental than we think because it can lead us to believe that Jesus really doesn’t understand our struggles – “Sure, He may feel sorry for us, but He really can’t connect with us in our pain because He’s God. Anything is possible for Him. He doesn’t know what it feels like to be helpless.” But this text shows us that He does. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet He did not sin.” Brothers and sisters, if you’re struggling in life, if you’re doubting God’s love for you, if you’re pleading with God, “Father, take this pain away from me,” if you’re crying out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me,” let this truth remind you that Jesus understands. He struggled just like us. He doubted just like us. He felt helpless just like us. He wanted to run away just like us. But He didn’t give up which is unlike us – showing us that He not only understands us, but He’s also able to encourage us and empower us. He lived the life that we could not live on our behalf so that His righteousness may become ours. And as Someone who remained faithful to us, He wants to grieve with us, cry with us, pray with us, but most importantly, just be there for us. Do you feel discouraged, abandoned, depressed, and alone today? Come to Gethsemane and preach the gospel to yourself. Let Him comfort you with compassion for He understands and let Him strengthen you in your weakness.
2) THE HUMANITY OF THE DISCIPLES
Verse 37. Imagine this moment. Jesus was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death – so much so that He asked His closest companions, Peter, James, and John to pray with Him. And what do we find them doing when Jesus returns from His time of prayer? They were sleeping. Just a few verses before, all of them had pledged their lives to Jesus – Verse 31 says, “Peter insisted emphatically, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You.’ And all the others said the same.” But it seems like fatigue was all it took for them to let Jesus down. Then I could only imagine how hurt and discouraged Jesus must have been – He turned to them in His greatest moment of need, and they all failed Him miserably. Just imagine the tone of Jesus’ voice when He said, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?” Was He frustrated? Angry? But what He said next shows us that His tone was actually that of compassion and concern. Verse 38, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” There was no sharp rebuke. There was no harsh word of condemnation. The nuance of His words wasn’t judgmental or cynical as if He was saying, “You say you’re willing to die for Me, but you can’t even stay awake to pray for Me?” No, He responded with loving and pleading words of warning for their own good – “Brothers, are you still sleeping? Don’t you know that the hour of temptation is upon us? Watch with Me in prayer. Be prepared because it’s about to get dark.” Even when He was deeply distressed and troubled, He didn’t use it as an excuse to let out His anger at them – no, He chose to be gracious knowing that He was fighting the same struggle against the flesh just a few moments ago. He was empathizing with them in their weakness – reminding them to fight the good fight.
Unfortunately, the story of the disciples rings true for all of us as well. Just like the disciples, when we should be watching and praying, our flesh really wants to sleep. But when we should be sleeping, our flesh finds social media browsing fascinating. When we should be meditating on Scripture, our flesh nudges us to do anything but open up the Bible. When we should be praying, our flesh is distracted by our physical needs like hunger, exhaustion, or pain. When we should be serving, our flesh leads us to choose convenience and comfort over sacrifice. Then is there anything we can do to oppose our flesh? Or should we just give in and say, “To err is human”? Of course not. We should do what Jesus said – we must watch and pray so that we won’t fall into temptation.
Then how should we pray? Do we simply ask God to keep our eyes open so that we won’t fall or ask Him to keep us strong so that we can resist when we are tempted? Yes – but we should also ask for something better. Galatians 5:16-18 says, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” If we want to overcome temptations that distract us, if we want to put our flesh to death, we should pray for the Holy Spirit – for His presence to saturate us and for His power to fill us. We should do this because the changes in life won’t come unless the Holy Spirit gets inside us. It’s the Spirit who will push our fleshly desires out of us and replace them with this longing and hunger for the Lord. The Spirit will make the Word come alive in us so that we may obey with joy and urgency. The Spirit will strengthen our faith so that we won’t waver when we encounter the storms of life. The Spirit will open our eyes to see who we really are so that we remain dependent on Him. The Spirit will convict our hearts so that we will quickly and humbly repent of our sins. The Spirit will transform our attitude, appetite, and ambition by growing our love for the Lord. The Spirit will consume our hearts with the gospel truths and help us experience its power in our lives. And I could go on and on with these examples, but the point is this: true transformation cannot take place apart from the Spirit – we cannot put our flesh to death on our own. Then we should seriously ask ourselves, “Why aren’t we praying for more of His power and presence in our lives?” Brothers and sisters, I challenge you to do that this week. Dedicate some time of your prayer to ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit because He will help you remain faithful despite the frailty of our humanity.
3) THE OBEDIENCE OF JESUS
What’s sobering about this passage is that we’re able to clearly see the difference between what Jesus did and what the disciples did. Jesus fell to the ground and prayed while the disciples fell to the ground and slept. Jesus labored and fought to pray all night while the disciples failed to keep watch even for an hour. Jesus didn’t give in while the disciples gave in to the temptation of the flesh. In fact, this is incredible knowing that Jesus still had a way out. The betrayer had not yet come. No soldiers were there yet. His disciples have fallen asleep. It was dark and no one was there to keep an eye on Him. He could’ve just walked away, and no one would’ve known. He could’ve preserved His life – but He didn’t. He stayed even though He knew exactly what this would mean for Him. Verse 36, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” This is incredible knowing how difficult this is. Just look at our lives. When the circumstances of life are giving us the desires of our hearts (when we get into the school of our choice, when we finally get the promotion that we’ve been waiting for, when we get recognized for our work, when we have enough to afford the car that we’ve been eyeing on or the neighborhood that we’ve been wanting to move into, when we marry the person of our dreams, when our children do well in life, or when a provision comes in our needs) we joyfully obey God – we’re constantly thankful for all that He is doing in our lives and we’re content. But when there is a gap between the desires of our hearts and the circumstances of life (when we get rejected by the school of our choice, when the promotion that we deserve goes to someone else, when our performance goes unnoticed, when we can’t even afford to buy groceries or pay rent, when we’re disappointed in our spouse or our children, or when we feel like we’re always being chased by our needs) we’re quick to pray, “God, why is this happening to me” or “Why isn’t this happening to me? Do something about my circumstances. Give me this or take this away from me.” Isn’t that interesting? We don’t reflect on the validity of our desires, but we just want God to protect our desires at all costs – and if He doesn’t, we assume that He doesn’t love us. I think we ultimately pray this way because our circumstances are negotiable while our desires are not. But look at Jesus. Yes, He didn’t suppress His desires – He poured His heart out to God. “God, I don’t want this!” But in the end, He submitted Himself to the will of God. Why? What motivated Him to remain faithful? Why didn’t He just give up?
Pastor Robert Murray M’Cheyne wrote, “He was without any comforts of God – no feeling that God loved Him – no feeling that God pitied Him – no feeling that God supported Him. God was His sun before – now that sun became all darkness. He was without God – He was as if He had no God. All that God had been to Him before was taken from Him now. He was Godless – deprived of His God. This is the hell which Christ suffered. The ocean of Christ’s sufferings is unfathomable. He was forsaken in the [place] of sinners. ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ [The answer?] For me – for me.” Jesus stayed for you and me – because He loves us, because He would rather lose Himself than lose us. Fully knowing what it was going to cost Him, He loved us to the end. Even though we were the ones deserving of the cup of God’s wrath, Jesus Christ took that cup out of our hands to drink it on our behalf. On the cross, Jesus was cursed for us so that we may receive blessings through Him. Donald Macleod wrote, “The wonder of the love of Christ for His people is not that for their sake He faced death without fear, but that for their sake He faced it, terrified. Terrified by what He knew, and terrified by what He did not know, but ultimately, He took damnation with love.” Brothers and sisters, are you doubting His love for you today? Look what happened at Gethsemane – He did this for you. Jesus is shouting at us, “I love you this much.” Think of it this way. If Jesus endured hell and the wrath of God to get us, what could possibly separate us from His love for us? Nothing. John Owen said, “In light of the cross, the greatest unkindness you could do to God is to doubt His love for you.” Then let’s not do that to our Lord – let’s not dishonor Him by questioning His love for us. Instead, when we are shaken in our darkest hour, let’s look to Gethsemane and remind ourselves of His unwavering love for us. Because of what Jesus experienced in Gethsemane, you and I don’t ever have to go through our own Gethsemane. We will never be alone. We never have to taste the bitterness of the cup, but He will give us living water so that we will never thirst again.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Jesus Christ stayed on the path to the cross knowing that the weight of God’s wrath would ultimately crush Him. But He submitted Himself to the will of God by willingly and joyfully drinking the cup because of His love for us.Then I pray that we would be freshly overwhelmed by His love today – and that this love will transform us so that just as Jesus gave up Himself to gain us, we would gladly lose ourselves in order to gain Christ.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) What did the cross mean for Jesus? Why was He so distressed and troubled in His soul? How does the humanity of Jesus comfort us in our weakness?
2) Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mk. 14:38). In what ways is this true in your life? How can we put our flesh to death so that we can live by the desires of the Spirit?
3) How do Jesus’ commitment and obedience to the will of God transform us in our lives? (Be specific.) How does this guard our hearts against doubting His love for us?
4) Spend some time praying for each other – especially for more of the Spirit’s power and presence in your lives.