Pre Easter Prayer
21 Days Prayer and Fasting 2025 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Palm Sunday / Jesus’ pre Easter Prayer
Palm Sunday is the Christian holiday that occurs on the Sunday before Easter. This celebration commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, mentioned in each of the four Gospels. Jesus entered the city knowing He would be tried and crucified and welcomed His fate to rise from the grave and save us from sin! Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the remembrance of Jesus' last days as He began the journey towards the cross.
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
He had just left the upper room with his disciples after taking part in the “Last Supper”. Either late Thursday night or early Friday morning. He must die Friday afternoon, between 3:00 and 5:00, when the Passover lambs are being slain. He must die at the appointed hour for the slaying of the Passover lamb, because He is the true Passover. He must be in the grave before sunset because He must be in the grave three days – a Friday, part of it; all day Saturday; and a portion of Sunday. There are only hours now; midnight has very likely passed.
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
Gethsemane, meaning “olive press” in Hebrew, it was a garden located on the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem.
It was a place where Jesus often went for prayer, rest, and fellowship with His disciples.
37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
This was the third time He had taken these three men with Him. They were with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration and in the home of Jairus where He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
It was with these three that He began to show His sorrow and trouble.
38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
You are my closest friends. I need you right now.
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
From time to time in the Gospels you will see people who ran to Jesus, imploring Him for help or thanking Him, and they fell on their faces before Him in subject to honor Him. This is the only time in Scripture where Jesus falls on His face, prostrating Himself in the lowest form of humanity before His Father.
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
If it possible (or) if there is another other way for mankind to have salvation except for my suffering and death.
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
What is this cup?
In the Old Testament, “cup” symbolized suffering and God’s wrath and judgement for mans sin.
James and John ask can we sit on your left and right in your Kingdom.
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
Jesus had to drink the cup of God’s wrath for sin, they had to drink from his cup which implies the suffering they would endure for his namesake.
Sons of Zebedee was James and John. Out of the original 12 disciples, James would be the first to die by beheading and John was later was thrown into boiling oil and later exiled to the island of Patmosthe where he was the last disciple to die.
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus is willing to obey the Fathers will. What was the Fathers will? It was prophesied in Isaiah around 700 years before this.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
Jesus’ prayer was not as quick as it appears. At least an hour.
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He only returned to them because He was concerned for them.
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
What is in the cup that Jesus had to drink? If you are a Christian, your sins were in that cup. The wrath of God for your disobedience was in that cup.
Ill: Dame breaks, water rushes, your death is near. At the last second an earth quake erupts, the earth opens up, and drinks the water and you are saved. Jesus drank God’s wrath on the cross so you would not have to.
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.
44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Third prayer same answer. Paul prayed three times as well for his thorn in the flesh.
Could there be more to the three times. Where was taking place again? The garden of Gethsemane. This is not by accident.
Remember Gethsemane, in Hebrew means “olive press”.
An olive press is how you get oil out of the olives. It was a multi-step process. A large mill-stone was used to crush the olives during the first phase.
The resulting pulp was then pressed by squeezing it in baskets using a weighted olive press to extract the oil.
So Jesus is surrounded by olive trees in the garden of Gethsemane and Luke’s account of this same prayer states this.
44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Dr. Luke is the only Gospel writer who mentions “sweat … like drops of blood.” His use of the word like may suggest that the sweat merely fell to the ground like clots of blood. But there is a rare physical phenomenon known as (hee·muh·ti·drow·suhs), in which, under great emotional stress and pressure, the tiny blood vessels would rupture in the sweat glands and produce a mixture of blood and sweat.
The olive is valuable, but the more valuable oil is only produced through the crushing.
To get all the oil out of the olives, you had to crush and press it; not once, not twice, but three times. And this correlates to the three times Jesus prays His anguished prayers in Gethsemane.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Oil in biblical times was used for anointing kings. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Jesus is also called our Messiah “The Anointed One” how did you anoint... by oil.
Song: Jesus Messiah
Closing: The oil was used in biblical times for fuel to light lanterns.
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
