Praying with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

Introduction

Scriptures are a marvelous gift from God. God’s Word is perfect and reveals everything we need to know to honor God, to experience God, to be saved and set free from sin. It is a treasure. And from time to time we come across a passage in Scripture that stops us in our tracks. Like Moses, who was told to remove his sandals when he approached the burning bush, there are some texts that just feel like we are treading on holy ground. Today is one such text. The more I study this text, and meditate on this text, the more I feel inadequate to preach from this text. Christ suffering in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane in the moments before his arrest. There are insights in this passage that are beyond what I am capable of putting into words. We are presented with a Savior, Jesus Christ, who is wonderful, who is holy, who is human.

Context: The context for our passage is important. The hour has now come. Jesus has set his affairs in order. He has commissioned his disciples with the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to remember his death. He has sung a hymn with his disciples. And now there is only one thing that remains before the great work of crucifixion would begin. In the few hours remaining of his freedom, he must meet with his Father in prayer. He must pour out his heart in agonizing prayer.

Main Idea: Today, I invite you simply to behold the wonder, the glory, the mystery of Jesus Christ, your Savior.

Luke 22:39–46 “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.””

Meaning & Application

How might we be instructed so as to behold Christ with great love and adoration through this passage?

I BEHOLD THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST

First, let us behold the Humanity of Christ.

General: We are struck as we read these words by the frailty of Jesus Christ aren’t we. Here we have a scene that when truly considered can make the strongest of men weep. Jesus Christ, in all of his humanity, alone in the garden weeping, pouring his heart out in prayer, pleading with the Father. To understand this scene and its depth we have to go backwards and see the larger story. We have to understand what is called the Covenant of Redemption.

Covenant of Redemption: The Covenant of Redemption is a covenant that was created between all three members of the Trinity. Before time and space were created, God existed. The perfect Trinitarian God of Scripture: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, engaging in a relationship of infinite and eternal love for all eternity past. In that space of Holy Communion between the members of the Trinity, God the Father covenanted with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit to redeem a fallen people. And in that Covenant of Redemption, God the Son determined that in the right moment of history he would not only assume the nature of flesh, but that he, in that human body, would offer himself as a sacrificial lamb on the altar. The Covenant of Redemption might better be called the Covenant of Love, because in it we see the lengths to which God has determined to go in order to rescue his chosen people. This was always the plan.

New City Catechism: The New City Catechism, which we use to lay a foundation of faith asks the question, ‘Why must the redeemer be truly human.’

“That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses.”

Yes, only one who was truly human, could suffer the punishment for human sin. And only one who was truly human could sympathize with us in our own weaknesses. And so, the Son of God, covenant with God the Father, to take on flesh, to obey the law, and to become the sacrificial lamb.

In Gethsemane: Here in Gethsemane, that ancient Covenant of Love is drawing near. The weight of our sin is not yet on his shoulders, but the cup of God’s wrath is beginning to be poured out. Christ, the Son, is beginning to taste the cup of God’s wrath. Jesus knows fully what is to come. He has shared it with his disciples on many occasions, warning them that he is going to Jerusalem that he might be killed, that might fulfill the covenant. The disciples have not fully understood him. But he has had a steely resolve to see his work through.

Until This Point: Until this point in the life of Christ, there is nothing quite as profound as the grief with which we see him in the Garden. Certainly we have seen the humanity of Christ before this. Christ grew tired and needed rest. Christ grew hungry and needed food. Christ wept at the death of his friend Lazarus. The full emotional life of the Lord has been on display from the beginning. And yet here, in Gethsemane, there is something new. The Gospel writer Mark includes this sentence from Christ before he went off to pray. He turned to his disciples and said

Mark 14:34 “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death…”

This phrase is very human. What Christ was experiencing in his heart was something that felt like death. The sorrow of what awaited him was crushing upon his soul.

Physical: While the betrayal by Judas, the flogging by the Roman guards, and the public torturous crucifixion would make many men’s blood boil in anxiety. I do not believe that is what caused his soul to be sorrowful even unto death. These things added to his anxiety. These things caused real grief, because he was a real human, who really felt and really suffered.

Spiritual: But that which had his soul in sorrow even unto death, was the spiritual reality of what awaited him on that cross. Christ was to become a substitute. One man, taking the place of many, underneath the judgment of God, for sins he did not commit. The presence he had known with the Father from before the foundation of the Earth, would in some mysterious way, give way. The comforting assurance of the Father, would changed as he took on our sin and became repugnant to the Father. It was this, hellish nightmare, of infinite darkness apart from the Father, that formed the basis of his cries.

Gethsemane Means “Oil Press”: Here in the Garden, our Lord Jesus is beginning to taste of the blackness of sin. The word Gethsemane, literally means “oil press.” Olives would be taken and crushed in a press, unti the oil came out. This moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ is beginning to be pressed, crushed.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Tasting of The Blackness of Sin: Christ, who knew no sin, became the sin bearer, in order that he might be the scapegoat that takes our sin into the wilderness with him. Our sin would placed upon his shoulders, and in the Garden of Gethsemane, he is beginning to experience the blackness of what it means, experientially, to be the sin-bearer. The taste of sin is in his mouth. The horror of its consequences before him. It would not just my sin that was being placed on his shoulders. That alone would crush any man were he to stand before God, but it was the sins of all God’s elect. The weight and the putrid acidity of it, weighing down upon him. As God he had always abhorred sin. But now as man, he is tasting it. On his shoulders was being heaped every hateful thought towards God, every misdeed towards another, every theft, every drop of blood ever spilt from the days of Cain and Abel, every transgression becoming intimately known to Jesus Christ the pure.

See His Resolve: See the humanity of Jesus Christ as he experiences sorrow, grief, anxiety, fear. None of these morally sinful in the slightest, they are normal aspects of the human experience. Behold your God who took on flesh. Not just in appearance as if he were a ghost. Not relying on his divine nature to cheat through the hard moments of his life. Fully human. His body exhausted. His nerves roiling inside of him. His sweat pouring off him. His capillaries bursting from the pressure as blood streamed down his forehead.

Experiential: What might this witnessing of the humanity of Christ form in you.

#1 Fear: On the hand, might I suggest fear. Oh how foolish and sad a state of affairs when men sin with a smile on their face. If they only knew. Here, Christ is beginning to taste of the reality of the consequences of our sin. And it is so painful to his body and soul that his body shakes violently from the anxiety until blood breaks forth from his pours. Fools may laught at their sin now, but what a horrifying reality, that they will one be conscious of the separation from God the Father that awaits them.

#2 Worship: On the other hand, wonder and worship of Christ. Christ has gone before you. He submitted himself to a death you deserved, so that you would never have to experience this.

What love is this that we see in the Garden of Gethsemane?

What love is this that Christ the righteous one would suffer this kind of torment for me.

Behold the humanity of Christ.

II BEHOLD THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

Second, behold the temptation of Christ.

Twice in Passage: Twice in this passage, Jesus gives his disciples the same instruction. In verse 40 he says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Then at the end in verse 46 he repeats himself, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” That phrase functions as the bookends of this passage, and therefore is one of the main points of this passage. Between those two instructions from Christ, Christ enters the ring. He goes a stone’s throw away from them, and he begins to plead with God fervently on his knees. I believe this passage is structured in such a way as to indicate that he himself was entering temptation’s lare, which is why he pleads with his disciples that they might not enter in themselves. Further, the fact that an angel appears strengthening him in verse 43, is similar to what we find in Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, when after he had been tempted by the Devil for 40 days, angels ministered to him.

Lies of Satan: I wonder how Christ was surrounded and taunted as he knelt and prayed in the Garden. Temptation comes in two forms: external and internal. Christ never experienced even a shade of internal temptation. He never experienced the lust of the flesh or the false affections for idolatry that we experience, because he alone did not have a corrupted nature. He alone had no sin. Yet Christ, was tempted in every way like we are, externally. We can be sure that that hour in Gethsemane was of greater temptation than his 40 days in the wilderness.

What Did They Say: What did those demons say, what was their strategy to try take Jesus down in these final moments of his freedom. We will never know for certain. But knowing the strategies of the enemy, knowing how he tries to make a man doubt his calling, we can guess. Charles Spurgeon does excellent work imagining what the enemy must have been saying to him in this moment of agony. I have built on some of his ideas.

Your Weakness: Perhaps the devil and his demons surrounded Christ as Christ’s blood fell to the ground in anxiety and grief. And he began to torment him. “Who are you to call yourself the Son of God? See how weak you are, as your body trembles at the mere of death. You coward. You can barely make it through the prelude to your suffering, and you think you’ll be able to endure more. Give up now, you weakling.” Yes, which of us who have walked long enough with Christ do not know those words.

Friends Sleeping: Perhaps he pointed to his sleeping friends only a stone’s throw away, “See your friends, sleeping over there. They cannot stay up with you for a few minutes. They will abandon you. You are all on your own. What worth do you have? The hundreds that followed you and cheered you on only days ago in Jerusalem are nowhere to be seen. You failed. Give up now.” As a human, those words ring deeply. Realizing that you’re alone, painful spiritual warfare.

Mother: Maybe he played on his human intimacy, “And what will you do, when you see your mother weeping at the foot of your cross. Will you be so bold then. Will you not wish you had taken a different path. Come down now. Flee this ludicrous plan.” The Devil is conniving isn’t he. He’ll find any way to steer us away from the will of the Father.

Betrayed: Maybe he pointed to Judas, the betrayer. “See, one of your inner twelve is cavorting with the priests even now. He’s given you up. Your own friends, those whom you spend time with, whom you have loved, whom you have prayed for, betraying you. Your ministry is worthless. You can’t even convince your inner circle. Your mission is doomed the start.

Fiery Darts Failed: All of these fiery darts of the enemy were launched at our Savior in this garden. Though, so silent that the disciples could fall asleep in the garden, if one could see the spiritual reality of that Garden on that night, they would see fiery darts like a military seige lighting up the very air around them. Spiritual gunfire unleashed on Christ. All of the greatest threats and temptations were hurled upon our Savior, in his weakest moment, in his human moment. But not one of those darts found a place to rest. Not one of those flaming arrows so much as singed his mantle. The mental and psychological angst of fervent prayer in this moment was so intense that he sweat drops of blood in combat against these enemy voices. Christ was tempted in ways that no human being besides him has ever or will ever experience, because the temptation all the way through.

Christ’s Resolve: But Christ never gave in. Tempted in every way, yet never taking his eyes off God the Father. Which of us can say that we have accomplished in our own temptations what Christ accomplished in his. Unwavering. Steely resolve. Fully human, yet not giving the devil an inch.

Experiential: What power this is in the Christians life! Hebrews 12 says,

Hebrews 12:3–4 “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

The scriptures teach us to look to this moment, and to gain great personal strength from it. Consider Christ, and all that he endured, and how he saw it through. And now look to your own battles, your own struggles, your own temptations. When we are walking firmly in the grace of Christ, a fiery resistance to the evil one builds inside of us.

Behold the temptations of Christ!

III BEHOLD THE PRAYER OF CHRIST

Lastly, behold the prayer of Christ. Notice, how just as the passage was bookended by the command to not enter into temptation, it was also bookended by the command to pray! This passage is about prayer. And specifically it is about the intimacy and the vigor and the rawness of our Lord’s desparate prayer in the Garden of Gesthemane. What do we learn from this passage about Christ’s prayer. Let me suggest eight observations from Christ’s prayer.

A His Custom: In verse 39, we see that it was “his custom” to come to this place and to pour his hear to God his Father. Great prayer is not developed in one moment of great need. Great prayer muscles are developed in the custom of prayer, in the habit of prayer. What the world needs, is prayer warriors, who labor daily in the work of prayer.

B His Courage: Second, see his courage in prayer. He went to the Garden of Gethsemane as was his custom. It was a place that Judas the betrayer would have known he would be at. It was not hidden. His hour of trouble was approaching. But like the prophet Daniel before him, who we are told when and prayed in his upper room with the window open as he had many times before, Christ goes and prays boldly to God the Father, in a public space. Christian, there are some trials in life that we cannot escape, nor should we try to escape them. There are times to run and hide, as Joshua’s spies hid when spying out the city of Jericho. But there are times to see the hardship approaching, and to take with your chest facing forward, and prayers rising up to God.

C His Solitude: Third, we see the solitude of his prayer. He entered the garden with a few men, but left them at a distance in order to retreat by himself and be alone with his father. There are many prayers that are good and developed by close Christian brothers and sisters. But there is no replacement for our prayer closets, those quiet hours with God, where no one sees, nobody knows, but your walk with God is strengthening.

D His Posture: Fourth, see his posture. He “knelt down.” There are many postures we can pray in. It is not wrong to sit and pray, or to lay and pray, or to walk and pray. I make good use of all of those. But we need time on our knees. It is on the knees where great pleading takes place. Show me the callouses on a man’s knees from hours of prayer, and I will show you a man used mightily of God.

E His Agony: Fifth, see his agony of prayer. Here we have Christ pleading with the Father. His body full of sweat, and blood dripping from his brow, as he labored presenting his full self to God the Father. Indeed, not all prayer will look like this. But Christ sets forth an agony of prayer that is one to behold. He has nowhere else to turn, and he runs to His Father, and presents all of himself. This is the heart of prayer. And in Christ’s agony we see not only the wonder of Christ and the example of humanity he set forth, but we also see the kind of prayer life that we should aspire to. A pleading prayer. An agonizing prayer. Perhaps we are not in seasons of great trial or fear like Christ, but that does not mean that we cannot fervently go before God the Father, pleading for His will to be done. How do we pray for family members that do not know Christ? How do we pray for our children? How do we pray for our Church? Look to Christ, and learn what it means to plead with God.

F His Relationship: Sixth, he begins his agonizing prayer with the precious word, “Father.” As a Son to His Father. This is a term of intimacy. Of personal love and affection. He’s speaking to the one who knows him more intimately than his closest friends. The one whom at Christ’s baptism parted the skies and said, “Behold my son, in whom I am well pleased.” In that hour of agony, with all the fiery darts of the enemy, the Son begins his prayer “Father.” Oh, what encouragement to us to remember the tender love and care of our Heavenly Father. Some of us when we first think of God, our first move is to think of judgment and his law and his wrath. All of those are true, but it is not his defining quality. His defining characteristic is his love. And, we Christians, are loved by the Father with the same love that Christ had. “Father” we pray! And our Father delights in hearing.

G His Will: Seventh, look at His Will in prayer. Jesus out “If you are willing, remove this cup from me.” What do we have here? How can Christ, who was God, say “Not my will, but yours be done.” Let us see the wonder of Christ, the God-man.

Two Wills: Jesus Christ had two natures, one divine, and one human. The two natures can truly be said to come togther in one person, so much so that there is a true union between those two natures in the person of Christ. But with those two natures, Christ had two wills. One will of the divine nature, which was omniscient, knew all things, and omnipotent, was powerful to do all things. Another will of his human nature, which did not know all things because he was human, and was not all powerful, but was limited by its humanity.

Human Will: His human will hungered for food when he fasted in the desert, his divine will did not. His human will thirsted for water when he hung on the cross. His divine will did not. And here we see that his human will recoiled at the weight of the reality of the suffering that was about to come upon him. It is no more morally sinful for Christ to naturally recoil at the great suffering he would endure, than it would be for any of us to pull back our hand quickly from an open flame. It is human to experience fear of death. Neither is it immoral for Christ in his human nature, who was not omniscient, to plead with God for certainty regarding his mission. Just as a young man considering giving his life to full time mission work overseas, might plead with God over his calling, might wrestle with God as he seeks clarity on what God would have him do. So here, Christ in his final moments seeks clarity from God the Father over his calling, seeing if there is any other way besides the cross, but never pleading for anything other than the will of the Father. “Not my will be done, not christ the human will that recoils at the suffering laid out before me. But I seek the will of God the Father in all things, totally, and assuredly.”

On Us: Christian, what marvelous words from our Savior. And what a lesson for us in our prayer life. We bring many concerns and desires of our heart to God. Oftentimes wrestling over the calling placed on our life, and the struggles we must endure in this life. Always, at every turn, the Christian must learn to pray like Christ, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

H His Victory: Eighth and finally, see Christ’s victory. After he has labored in prayer for an hour or so, and after receiving such horrifying temptations thrown at him from the enemy, he stands up unscathed and prepared for the work ahead. The Devil lost. Christ did not deny his calling. He did not lose his resolve. No, through his prayer He stood up with confidence in the direction the next few days would go. Yes, the final victory would be won on the cross, where Christ would die for you and me, where Christ would give his blood so we could be forgiven and restored unto God. But the battle for that battle was here in the Garden, and through mighty prayer, Christ prevailed, unscathed. Church, prayer is that great tool in our life to prepare us for the difficult work we are called to. A prayerless Christian is never ready for life’s great trials. They approach trials frantically, as one out of control. But show me a man regularly on his knees in prayer, in good times and bad times, and I’ll show you a man, who when Judas arrives on his doorstep is prepared, because he is living in the comfort of the Lord.

Behold the Prayer of Christ!

Conclusion

I conclude with these words. Here in the Garden of Gesthemane we see an aspect of Christ that we find in no other passage of Scripture. It is a passage worth coming back to over and over again, because in it we see the humanity of Christ in all of its rawness laid bare. There is something altogether wonderful and horrifying to think of God, in human nature, agonizing in prayer until he sweat drops of blood upon the ground. This is our Savior.

Behold Christ!