Mark 14:32-42 In the Garden

Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant United Reformed Church

From: The Holy Bible and J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”

House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text

Pray

Review

In Jerusalem, the night before the Lord’s trial and crucifixion

Preaching, teaching, performing miracles for three years

Now He is in Jerusalem, to finish His work on the Cross.

Christ has spent the past week in Jerusalem, where He and His teachings were challenged by the Jewish religious and political leaders

They had been seeking to kill Him for most of His ministry

Now, He prays, in preparation for His betrayal, trial and execution

Mark 14:32–42 NASB95

They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. And 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. “Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

Gethsemane

Introduction

The account of our Lord’s experience in the garden of Gethsemane is very deep and a difficult passage of scripture

The wisest theologians don’t even have all the answers

Having said that, it does contain some fairly plain truths for us, that are very important

Important insights into God’s plan of salvation for His people

Point 1. The Lord strongly felt the weight of the world’s sin

The first thing we should notice is how powerfully the Lord felt the weight of the world’s sin

Mark 14:33-34 “And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.””

Only one possible explanation for these statements - He was not so much afraid of the pain of death - but the enormous load of human guilt that He would take on when He went to the cross

He had an idea of the unbelievable weight of OUR sins which would be laid on Him and for which He would be crucified

He was being made ao “curse for us”. He was bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows (Is. 53) according to the agreement He had made with the Father, which He was born to fulfill

He was taking on the sin for us, when He Himself was sinless

This must have been horribly painful given His holy nature

This is why He had such extreme sorry

The lesson we need to see here in the Lord’s suffering, is the great “sinfulness of sin”

This is a topic that believing Christians should be more conscious of

We tend to be pretty careless about swearing, breaking the sabbath, and lying - and this shows our lack of morality

The memory of Gethsemane should have a sanctifying effect on us - whatever others do, we should never mock the sinfulness of sin. Our sin really pains the Saviour.

Point 2: The Lord gives us a fine example of how important prayer is when we are in trouble

In Jesus’ hour of great need, we see that He resorts immediately to prayer

Two times we see that when His soul was deeply grieved, “He prayed”

There is no better remedy than prayer for a patient who is in terribly sick, or one who is in deep trouble

When we are troubled, the first person we should turn to is God

The first complaint we make should be a prayer

His answer may not be immediate - the problem we are praying about may not be eliminated - but the act of pouring out our fears and needs to the Lord will help us.

James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.”

Point 3: The Lord gives us a striking example of what it means to submit to the will of God

Here we see the interaction between the divine and human natures of Jesus

As strongly as He felt the guilt of the world, He still says: Mark 14:36 ““Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.””

The Lord’s prayer and His attitude were perfect and sets for us a high standard

To patiently take whatever God sends

to like nothing but what God likes

to wish nothing but what God approves of

to prefer pain to the easy way, if that is God’s will

to accept gracefully under the will of God

this is the high mindset we should aim for - Jesus’ conduct at Gethsemane is the perfect example

We need to try to have the mind of Christ in these situations

We need to pray daily that the Holy Spirit will enable us to suppress our own wills - this is for our own good

Having our own way will eventually bring nothing but misery

This is real proof of the work of grace, the work of the Holy Spirit, in our lives

Knowledge, spiritual gifts, convictions, feelings, wishes and desires are unreliable evidence of the work of Christ in our lives - unsaved people often have these same things

A continuing and increasing desire to submit our own will to the will of God is a more convincing evidence - a sign we are growing in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Last point: we can find a lot of weakness even in the best Christians

Peter, James and John were the disciples closest to Jesus, and they give us a painful example

They slept when they should have been watching and praying

Though the Lord asked them to keep watch with Him, they slept

Though Jesus had warned them all of the approaching danger, that their faith would fail, they slept anyway

Though they had just come from the Lord’s table, with all the things the Lord shared with them, they slept

There is no better proof that the best of men and women are still only men and women - so long as saints are in body, they are weak

These things are written for our learning, we need to make sure we pay attention

We need to always be on guard against a lazy spirit in our faith - it comes naturally and is especially a problem in our own prayer life

When we feel that spirit of laziness creeping up on us, we need to remember Peter, James and John in the garden, and take care

We should remember Christ’s counsel: Mark 14:38 ““Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.””

This should be our motto, from the time we are saved until we die

Bringing it home

Are we true Christians and stay awake?

Then we cannot forget to “watch and pray”

We need to be on guard like soldiers - we are on enemy ground

We have to fight each day against sin and temptation - ours is a daily warfare

Our rest, our break, is coming, but in the meantime we must pray constantly, regularly, habitually, carefully and keep on schedule

We need to pray as well as watch, and watch as well as pray

To watch without praying is prideful - to pray without watching is fanatical (explain)

the one who knows his own weaknesses, and knowing them both watches and prays, is one who will be able to stand, and not allowed to fall.

The Gospel

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (NASB95)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Romans 10:9 NASB95

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

Let’s pray

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