"Watch & Pray"Untitled Sermon (3)
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Mark 14:32-42
Introduction:
- Gathering around the Lord’s Table and remembering our Lord’s broken body and shed blood, gently nudges us to be more reflective and prayerful. And so, it should.
- As we pause to think and pray, most of us would confess that slowing down, watching and praying isn’t as much a part of OUR daily walk with our Lord as it should be.
With the prayer that watching and praying might be more our reset as our default position, we will prayer-fully work our way through Mark’s account of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. (Jn 18:1-2; Matt 26:36)
Central to our portion was Jesus command to the disciples to “Watch and Pray” That command is a relevant today as it was then.
Jesus explained:
1. They came there to pray.
There - Gethsemane (olive press)- a section, perhaps walled - garden that entered - Jn 18:1 - , on the Mount of Olives.
Familiar place, know to Jesus and the disciples, including Judas - Jn 18:1 - Jesus often met there with His disciples - Jn 18:2 -
Beyond Brook Kidron - perhaps seasonal
Then:
After:
Institution of Lord’s Table
Jesus foretold that Peter and all of the disciples will betray Him. Prophecy quoted.
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
Peter’s repeated denial:
Even though they all fall away, I will not.
After Jesus’ specific affirmed statements- “TRULY, I tell you, not just the prophet Zechariah, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.
If I must die, I will not deny you. And they all said the same thing.
Although Peter’s affirmed declaration of loyalty was commendable, his unwillingness to listen to Jesus’s admonition and warning was some suggest and indication of pride and overconfidence.
Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Having been saved by grace, there is the danger that some of us might think of ourselves more highly than we aught to think. That sometimes with seeing ourselves and authorities and disparaging what others say.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
When we see Jesus’ brokenness and heaviness of heart when they entered Gethsemane , it is all too clear that they were not of the same mind as Christ Jesus.
IF EVER 11 PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MOTIVATED TO PRAY AND TO PRAY FERVENTLY, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THESE DISCIPLES. BUT THEY WERE NOT. ARE WE IN A PLACE TO POINT FINGERS AT THEM?
Jesus - Sit here while I pray – Mk 14:32
12 – Although Jesus was going to take 3 – Peter, James and John with Him further into the garden while He prayed, the 9 were to also pray – Lk 22:40
8 left to sit at the entrance to Gethsemane
Pray that you enter not into temptation. Unknown to the 11, Judas had already agreed to betray Jesus.
And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Praying does not guarantee that we are not tempted by Satan or tested by God, but having prayed, we do not face that in our own strength.
Watch - more than see what there is to see. Stay awake, be alert.
Jesus used the same word with regard to watching for His return.
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Jesus explained reasons to pray:
His soul was sorrowful
Before we we review the reasons that Jesus explained to pray, the more that we read, the more that understand that Jesus’ prayer was not about His Father.
Jesus began to be very distressed and troubled.
Distressed - Greek word conveys a sense of alarm and amazement, suggesting that the weight of what was about to experience was still alarming and amazing. Sometimes we wrongly assume that being able to see into the hearts and thoughts of those around Him, prevented Him from being amazed at the gravity of our sin when what was about to happened became clearer.
Troubled - severe distress and anguish - emotional soul pain - the deepst sorrow that Jesus had ever experienced. The pain was so great that He was astonished by it.
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
Why was Jesus distressed and troubled?
NOT - Judas coming betrayal or that the disciples would deny Him. Not the injustice of the religious leaders or the cruelty of the Roman soldiers. Not His coming painful death on the cross. They would have been horrifying. But they would have been secondary to impending sense of what it would to be the sin bearer and object of divine wrath.
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Lord’s Transcendent Affliction (14:32–34)
The agony and astonishment that overcame Jesus in the garden went infinitely beyond any of those things. His grief was fueled, first and foremost, by the horrifying recognition that He would soon become the bearer of sin and the object of divine wrath (2 Cor. 5:21). For the first time in all of eternity, He would experience alienation from His Father (Mark 15:34; cf. Hab. 1:13), being crushed by Him as a guilt offering for sinners (Isa. 53:10). The reality of it was nearly too much for even Jesus to survive.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.
Deeply grieved - surrounded by sorrow and overwhelmed by sadness.
Seems that nearly killed Him
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Lord’s Transcendent Affliction (14:32–34)
The wave of anguish that flooded Jesus’ mind was so intense it nearly killed Him, causing His subcutaneous capillaries to dilate and burst so that His sweat was like drops of blood (Luke 22:44
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
That they enter not into temptation
Close parallel to Lord’s prayer.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
God does not lead into temptation. Even as we pray, Father do not lead me into temptation, we also need to pray, Lord help me to flee temptation rather than entering in.
Peter, James and John were also to pray, watch and pray – Mk 14:34, 37-38, 41
2. Jesus came to pray and prayed – Mk 14:34-36 -
Jesus went a little beyond and prayed.
Unlike the disciples who fell asleep, Jesus continued pray with with more than words.
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
My soul is sorrowful, even to death
If it were possible, the hour might pass from Him
Abba, Father - intimate term
Remove this cup from me
All things are possible for you
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Lord’s Tearful Petition (14:35–36)
He was not asking the Father to violate His redemptive plan or go back on His promises. Instead, Christ’s petition was an inquiry into whether or not redemption might be accomplished through some other means. Jesus’ request was not a sign of weakness, but the utterly expected response of one whose pure, sinless character necessarily and severely recoiled at the thought of bearing man’s sin and guilt, and suffering God’s wrathful judgment
Ultimately, the cross was essential to the redemptive purposes of God.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Yet, not what I will, but what you will
3. Jesus came to encourage us to pray – Mk 14:37-
By asking the hard questions:
-Are you asleep?
Luke’s account suggests that their weariness was not only fatigue but rather compounded by sorrow and despair, they were so overcome that they almost collapsed into an exhausted sleep.
And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,
Their sadness with Christ’s coming death perhaps the emotional pain and Christ’s inferred disappointed when He said that they would all deny Him, could have lead sleep a sleep of sorrow, but is also have been a wake up and watch and pray for one hour.
Could you not watch one hour?
Suggests the amount of time that Jesus had been praying that first time.
Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
The second time that Jesus came back and asked them, they didn’t know what to answer Him.
Third time - are you still sleeping & taking your rest?
Indifferent to both Jesus needs and their own need for strength and watchfulness in the face of Jesus warning that they would deny Him
In the weakness of their flesh Peter, James and John were unable to stay alert, watchful, awake even when Jesus woke them two times and commanded them to watch and pray. So in fact, they failed in two ways,
They did not obey Jesus
They did not watch and pray.
“The disciples needed to learn that spiritual victory goes to those who are spiritually alert in prayer and depend on God, and that self-confidence and spiritual unpreparedness lead to spiritual disaster.” (MacArthur Study Bible note)
Understanding our weaknesses, He also reminds us:
“Watch & pray”
That you might not enter into temptation
4. The Son of Man is betrayed
The hour has come
It is enough:
Having prayed and asked His Father if there was any other way, in the midst of soul pain and sweat drops of blood, Jesus was committed to His Father was asking Him to do.
Into the hands of sinners
The Son of Man
Term used by Jesus of Himself to emphasize His humiliation.
14 times in Mark
Is betrayed, given over
Into the hands of sinners
Judas was leading a hostile mob including a cohort of Roman soldiers (up to 600) , the Temple police and antagonistic members of the Sanhedrin
So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Whether Jesus saw & hear them or being who He was, knew, He spoke even as Judas and the mob entered that section of the garden.
On this Good Friday, on this Easter weekend, until our Lord calls us home or returns, we too are called to “watch & pray:
- That we enter not into temptation
Most our prayer is reactionary.
As we pray for what we are facing and for we know is our Father’s heart, what can we pray for re what has to change in our hearts and the hearts of others for God to do in our midst what His indicates is His will?
- For things that break our Lord’s heart
Not watching and praying
Not keeping a watch on self and teaching
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Not keeping a watch over souls
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Lost and unrepentant
- That in time, with our Lord’s help, we will do more of what we know is right
- That not our will but what God’s will be done
Word
Multitude of trusted counselors
Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.
- That when our Lord returns, He will find us watching and waiting.
No one knows the day or the hour - Matt 24:36-51-
Be ready
Be a faithful and wise servant
Parable of 10 Virgins
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
AWV/Apr 7/23
