The Garden of Gethsemane

Introduction

I want to read two passages for you this morning. I am going to spend most of my time in Luke 22, but I will begin in John 18 and draw some particular points from it. I have a particular detail that I want you to see in the John narrative. In the John narrative, we see that Jesus crossed the Kidron. This is not simply a geographical detail. In the valley of Kidron many years earlier, another king crossed the Kidron due to betrayal - King David.

David’s Kingdom was overtaken by his son Absalom, and he fled over the Kidron. The people of God wept for David. The Kingdom fell into ruin for Absalom was a wrathful king.

The Kidron was a place where betrayal was particularly painful. For David, it was a place of betrayal, a place of loss, a place of humiliation, a place full of the consequences of anarchy. For Jesus it would be the same. For in the moments to come, a disciple would betray him, he would be put on a false trial, his disciples would abandon him, and he would be strung upon a cross. However, this is not the worst pain and agony that Jesus would endure.

The worse would be the wrath of God for all humanity.

John 18:1–5 ESV

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 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. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

Luke 22:39–46 ESV

39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Explanation

Jesus commands his disciples.

“as was his custom”

Jesus would often go to this place to pray with his disciples.

Ordinary places become extraordinary places in the blink of an eye. You never know when the daily places become the places you will set down altars. Our ordinary places become places of great triumph or shame - depending on how we live them. We don’t get to choose the time or place, but we do get to choose the obedience each day.

It’s like someone who works in a factory who loses a limb by not listening to safety codes. Forever, that spot is “where that happened.” But there were hundreds if not thousands of days where the rules were violated.

Jesus is telling his disciples to stay awake, because temptation would be coming for them.

And the stakes are really high. The last time humanity was not watchful in a garden, all of humanity was doomed and the earth was broken.

Temptation is coming in a real, powerful, and devastating way like it did the last time. Be ready for it.

Notice that Jesus does not ask them to man up and get ready for temptation. He says PRAY. Go to the Father for strength.

Jesus pours our his heart to God

“Father,”

When we paint a stoic and transactional picture of the relationship of the Father and the Son, we do far less than we should.

If there is anyone in the world who can bail you out of trouble, it should be your father. Your dad.

Jesus is asking, “Dad, is there any other way?”

It breaks my heart to read this text. Because I would do anything in the world to help and save my son.

“if you are willing, remove this cup from me”

What is the cup? The cup is the wrath of God.

Two things happen with this cup - Jesus GIVES everything, and Jesus GETS everything.

Jesus gives everything. He has already given his throne in heaven. He has lived a perfect life in thought, word, and deed. What He will now give is the closeness he has with the Father. The perfect, Triune God, existing before time itself, is now in turmoil. Why? The Father has turned his face from the Son.

The Father has turned his face from the son, because of our second truth. While Jesus gives everything, Jesus also gets everything. Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God without spot or blemish, will take the sins of the world upon Himself. He gets our sin. All of it.

We say that phrase so often that we have robbed it of its power.

Imagine your sin this week. For the close follower of Jesus, acknowledging our sin is a joyful yet devastating practice. Imagine your sin today and how it will place you at odds with the God of the universe. Now imagine the weight of that sin for a week. What about a month? How about a year. What about your whole life? How immensely devastating our sin.

It is hard enough for us to cope and labor under the weight of our own shame. Imagine carrying one more persons. It would break you. Imagine carrying the weight of a dozen people. Now imagine carrying the weight of the sin of this room. Now imagine covering the weight of those who are saved throughout Kentucky. Try throughout Kentucky since it was founded. Now the United States. Now the entire world. Now the whole world past, present, and future for those who will call upon the name of Jesus. That is the weight of sins that Jesus felt.

Now here is the most beautiful part. How this beautiful truth affects us.

Jesus GIVES everything good, and Jesus GETS everything bad.

We GIVE everything bad, and we GET everything good.

If anything happens today, it should be the immense awe that you have of Jesus just doubles or triples. For

How do we give everything bad, but Jesus gives everything good?

If you are not a believer, I want you to listen hard.

Christianity is not simply a set of truth claims. It is not a group of people who moralize everything. It is not a political stance.

Christianity, at its core, is founded upon this one principle. That we are sinners in need of God’s grace.

Our sin has led to the destruction, discontent, and dissatisfaction in our lives, and one day it will end in our complete destruction.

We are here today, worshipping, singing, listening to God’s word, for one reason. We have been saved by Jesus, who gave Himself for us. There is no other reason for us to be here.

What are the disciples doing? Nothing. Not a think. Sleeping.

This continues to echo the point, all is grace.

We are all bumbling idiots.

If the disciples were not under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I imagine that this detail would not have made it into the account.

I don’t know how that interaction went, but I can imagine that John would not have wanted it told. Or Matthew.

But all is grace, and praise be to God that He gives it freely if we will only ask.

You need Jesus to save you. And only Jesus can save you.

Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

From this moment forward, history is forever altered.

The cross does the altering, but Jesus setting his will to go to the cross happens here. His submission to the will of the Father.

The Son of God, fully aware of the consequences of his choice to place the full weight of sin upon Himself.

Philippians 2:5–8 “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Sandwiched between Jesus request to be spared of this, he submits to God’s will. Lord, let me be in the middle of your will in this way. Asking only under the preface that it would be your will and completely ok with the consequences of your will either way.

The Agony of Jesus

“and being in agony, he prayed more fervently so that sweat droplets became like blood”

When we see the agony of Jesus for us, it should cause us to worship. He has provided everything for us at an incalculable cost to Himself.

One of my favorite old hymns, “I Stand Amazed,” has this stanza that says, “For me it was in the garden, He prayed: “Not my will, but Thine.” He had no tears for his own griefs, but sweat drops of blood for mine.

We ought sing that chorus forever, “How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful, is my savior’s love for me.”

The agony of Jesus brings about the reversal of the curse that Adam wrought. The Word who was in the beginning and saw its unraveling has begun to fix it.

Max Lucado // The Bible is the story of two gardens: Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand. In the first, God sought Adam. In the second, Jesus sought God. In Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that led to his death. From Gethsemane, Jesus went to a tree that led to our life.

Invitation

Jesus paid the wages of sin. That wage is death.

My only question for you is has he paid yours?