Preasure

Have you ever faced a ton of pressure?

I am not sure if anyone has seen the movie Enchanto? I have 3 kids 5 and under and so we definitely get our kid movie fill

But essentially the plot of this movie is there is this family that has been given this gift where each person in their family has some sort of power, one kid can talk to animals, another can grow things, another can see the future and there are a bunch of others

But there is one that has almost this super like strength named Luisa

And as the movie progresses what ends up happening is you find out she is under a crazy amount of pressure to do things for the town and her family.

And you always figured she was fine, but in reality she is getting ready to break any second.

Because the pressure has built up so much (and there is a long musical number but it was a little to much for a Sunday morning)

But she catches herself in a place where she is ready to break

But I think the question comes how do we respond when we face pressure? And not just a pressure we face at work, or but when the pressure becomes to much.

And we have been in this series where we have been looking at these last moments of Jesus’s life.

And in the backdrop of almost this entire story is this pressure or maybe a better term would be weight that Jesus is carrying

because Jesus knows what is is about to happen, and how it is going to happen.

And so you can imagine just what he would have been feeling

And whats really interesting is the story we are in today it takes place in is this area called the Garden of Gethsemane

and there are two thoughts that scholars have about why this is significant. One is this is the location.

This is where Jesus went

But secondly Gethsemane means ‘oil press.’

And this was probably where they made olive oil,

But it involved using these large stones to put pressure on the olives

And some scholars believe Jesus Himself is under unimaginable pressure—not from stone and weight, but from the weight of sin, suffering, knowing he would be betrayed, tortured and really the sacrifice of his life

And so this is where we will be today. and so we will be in Luke 22:39-46

Luke 22:39–46 NIV

39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

So this passage starts and this is right after they had the last supper, you can imagine this weight Jesus is holding and we are told that Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives or Garden of Gethsememe as usual.

And I want us to catch as usual, because this means this was not the first time.

Jesus probably came here to pray throughout the week.

And even if it was not the garden of Gethsemene, Jesus always made sure to find times to retreat and be with God in prayer

Because the truth is the best thing we can do when life just feels heavy, is actually what we do before our lives feel that way.

Its almost like a cruise ship. if you have ever been on a cruise ship before they leave port they make every single person come on deck and go over what happens if the boat starts to sink.

And they tell you this so they do not have to explain as much if the boat starts to sink.

Because you have to prepare before

And the truth is in our walk with God, I think sometimes we get this attitute wheere we only come to God, when our lives start to sink.

But the issue with this is while yeah God listens and God cares and he will sit with us in those moments,

Do you realize how much better off we are when we build that foundation before things start to sink.

Because they we start to understand that things are bad, but we are not alone,

We start to know that its not just ourselves that we are leaning on, but its God

I will say this as a pastor, I have walked alongside a lot of people in their final moments of life, and it is amazing the peace that is with some of the people that have laid down this foundation.

But I want to keep going, because Jesus tells his disciples as he is praying, to pray for them to not fall into temptation

And Jesus goes about stones thrown away. So I think I could throw a stone to the back of the sanctuary, so maybe that far.

But Jesus begins to pray, and whats amazing is he does not just go “seriously this is what we are doing?! Can’t this happen another way, maybe with someone else?

But his response in verse 42 is I would prefer not to do this, but this is not my will, but yours.

And I want to pause here, because after this happens and as Jesus continues to pray on one hand he is bringing his concern, but Jesus’s larger concern is actually for God’s will to be done

And prayer is a way we build the foundation, but its also the way where we can align our hearts with the heart of God.

Its almost like if you have ever driven somewhere familiar and you had your phone giving you directions

And your phone tells you to turn one way and you go I know thats wrong.

And what happens is you go your way only to find out it was trying to gude you away from traffic or an accident.

And God is not just guiding us away from hard things, but I think the more time we spend in prayer, the more we become aligned with God’s heart

Where it becomes less about our will and where we say okay God, this is what I want, but I am going to trust you.

Not my will but yours.

And so this next part might be kind of odd but look at verse 44 (and I know we read this, but i want to read it again) because if you are having a hard time imagining the weight that Jesus was feeling this verse really paints a picture for us. it says;

Luke 22:44 NIV

44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

So here is Jesus and the weight is so heavy that he begins to sweat blood.

And this is actually a very rare thing that scientist believe happens to a person, when they are experieacing such anguish, such anxiety that small blood vessals start to rupture cause the person to sweat blood.

And I want to pause again, because sometimes our picture of Jesus is He is God (which He is), but He is just God.

And so when bad things happened, he just went its all good.

I am God, so this is not a big deal

But we forget that He was fully God and Fully man,

So we do not just see Jesus going whatever, but he was feeling the heavieness of this moment,

He was probably extreamly anxouis right now, He probably was scared.

And I think for us we need to understand that (that while this passage is dark) the beautful part of this is that we have a God that actually experiances and lived like we did.

So when we come to God and go I am freaking out about that, he is not just distant going you’ll be good.

But He lived that anxousness.

He knew what is was like to be scared

He was homeless

There were times he was hungry

There were time he was sad

He would get angry

And while He did not sin, he knew what it was like to be human.

I mean its almost like how if you have or have had a small kid and they are just having a melt down in the store.

Whenever that happens theres almost another parent that walks by and goes I get it.

We were like that at the last store.

And heres what I want us to get you might go I feel like I do not have anyone to talk this through or anyone who can relate to this, this Jesus has lived through joy and heart break.

And even in this passage we are told an angel strengthens him right before this and so what is Jesus’s anguish is not a sign that He is faithless, but the fact that he is being faithful in his anguish

And lets look at the last couple of verses, because I want us to see the contrast here between Jesus who is in anguish and then the disciples. look at verse 45-46. It says:

Luke 22:45–46 NIV

45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

So the beginning of this passage Jesus tells the disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation, and for the disciples they are kind of confused on the exact details of what is happening to Jesus (even though He told them)

But they know enough to be in sorrow about it or even about Jesus telling them that they would mess up.

And so I want us to see the difference. On one hand is Jesus who is in angush is about the suffer these terrible things but he prepares by praying ,

And then here are the disciples and they are couping with it by sleeping.

And I know we are going a little shorter today, but I think the question is have we aligned our heart with God, and if so when we face these things in our life, do we go to God, do we live out what He has called us to or do we sleep.

And maybe not just litterly sleep, but do we become numb or get to the point where we just stop paying attention to the world around us and the circumstances, because it would be easier to sleep.

And so I am going to pray for us and maybe today you are in a place where you are in anguish, maybe you feel numb, but I just want to finish, here:

because in the Bible there are three really important Gardens.

There is the Garden of Eden, where man falls, there is a garden city in the end of the book of revelation where all things are made right.

And then in the middle there is the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus begins this journey to the cross and really reconciling humanity with our sins.

And the beautiful part about sitting in this story today, is it provides a place for us ot align our hearts back to God.

Will you pray with me?

Song: Cornerstone