Jesus in the Garden

So we’ve been in this series on Mark for a while now on Wednesday nights, and there are two big questions that we’ve been looking at through this series. Can anyone name them?

So today, we’re going to be in Mark 14:32-50. You can start turning there in your Bibles now.

While you turn there, I’ve got a question for you. Do you get stressed out? What stresses you out, give me examples.

I get stressed out with school and finances. I have had some friendships that have stressed me out. Those are all real sources of stress.

I think it’s pretty universal that all of us at some point are going to worry about something. I don’t think there’s ever been someone who never got stressed. Part of the reason I feel comfortable making that claim is because in our passage today, we’re going to see how Jesus Himself was stressed and anxious. And through this passage, hopefully we will learn something about who Jesus is, and who we are because of Him. So let’s read this section.

Mark 14:32–50 CSB

Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.” He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.” Then he came and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake one hour? Stay awake and pray so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Once again he went away and prayed, saying the same thing. And again he came and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to him. Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The time has come. See, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.” While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived. With him was a mob, with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. His betrayer had given them a signal. “The one I kiss,” he said, “he’s the one; arrest him and take him away under guard.” So when he came, immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. They took hold of him and arrested him. One of those who stood by drew his sword, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear. Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, to capture me? Every day I was among you, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Then they all deserted him and ran away.

Let’s pray and then we’ll take a closer look at this passage.

So real quick, we’ll talk about the context of this passage. At this point, Jesus has already had his last meal with His disciples. And He knows that soon, He will have to die on the cross. He asks God if there is any other way - He doesn’t want to suffer. Look at how He prays, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will” Even though He is still surrendering to the Father’s will, its clear that He is anxious about what is about to happen: his death. He’s already known that Judas is going to betray him, and we see that betrayal actually happen in this passage.

Actually, that betrayal from Judas is probably not talked about enough. I have been hurt by friends before but I have never been betrayed like this - someone who I spent every day three years in a row with. How do you think you would feel? How would that impact you emotionally?

I think that this actually should remind us of one of the main questions that we have during this series: who is Jesus? Well, Jesus is just as human as you. Let me say that again: Jesus is just as human as you. Sometimes, we might think that Jesus being perfect and holy (and by the way, He definitely was perfect and holy) means that He never had emotional ups and downs. But that’s simply not true. The perfect, sinless Christ had moments where He was troubled and anxious. He was deeply human, just as much as He was truly God.

That can be pretty hard to wrap your head around, right? But Scripture is clear. You don’t have to turn there, but listen to Philippians 2:6-8. Speaking of Jesus, it says

Philippians 2:6–8 ESV

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This passage isn’t saying Jesus stopped being God, it clarifies that God has taken on a human form. And notice that although this passage says “human form”, it doesn’t mean just something physical. Jesus wasn’t just human because he had a physical body. He was thoroughly human - He had a human mind, a human soul, and human emotions as we see in Mark.

Now, I want to pay special attention to how Jesus responds to those emotions in Mark. His response is not to lash out, or bottle it up, or take out His frustrations on His disciples. What does He do? He goes and He prays. How often is that our response? And I’m not asking this to pick on you guys, I’m asking myself this too. How often do I face stress and my first instinct is to ask God for help?

Just yesterday night, I was up near my old school Biola and I was getting dinner with Michael and Daniella, two of my best friends when I was at school. And we were talking about a close friend of ours who is, as far as we can tell, is no longer following Jesus. This friend has pushed all of us out and doesn’t respond to our texts. And that has caused a lot of stress and hurt - we care for this friend but we don’t know what to do. I realized as I was talking with Michael and Daniella about what to do that we had skipped over the most important thing that we could do. We should pray. We were so caught up in what we were going to do to try and fix the problem that we forgot all about our God who actually can do something.

If Jesus, God in human form, when faced with pressure, stress, anxiety, and worry went to our Father in prayer as His response, why do we try anything different? Why do we try to gut through the stress on our own? Why do we try and fix things ourselves? This isn’t a rhetorical question - seriously think about it for a second. Why do I ignore the gift to ask the Lord for help and comfort?

Now, I’ve mentioned a little bit about why Jesus was anxious in the first place. He knew that His death was coming soon. If His arrest took place at around midnight, that means that He only lived for about another 15 hours before He died on the cross.

I don’t need to give you all the details on this, but dying on a cross was intentionally designed to take a long time and be as painful as possible. Jesus knew that. Some crucifixions would often last the whole day, others would simply be left on the cross and die over time. It wasn’t a secret how brutal crucifixion was. No wonder He was anxious.

And, not only was crucifixion physically the most painful form of death, it was also the most shameful. I think this is something that doesn’t get talked about enough. In the Roman perspective, because this was a form of execution that only the very worst criminals recieved, dying on a cross was the most shameful way to die. At this time in Israel, the Romans would often crucify rebels who tried overthrowing their authority. Other times, they crucified slaves who revolted against their masters. You would not be crucified as a regular Roman citizen - that was too much. This later would make Christianity super bizarre to Roman people: why in the world would you worship a man who was crucified? It doesn’t make any sense. And that’s not even talking about the lashings that Jesus recieved, or the mockery of the crown of thorns. His entire crucifixion process was painful and shameful.

Remember - Jesus is 100% God and 100% human. He felt the pain and the shame of this death. So how was He motivated to continue and follow God’s will even though He knew that it would be a terrible death?

Listen to Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 12:1–2 CSB

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Why did Jesus go through this emotional suffering, this shame, and this physical torture? For the joy set before Him, that through His death we would receive life in His name. For the joy of restoring a right relationship between God and all of humanity. For the joy of conquering death and sin.

Because of His death, we now can ask for forgiveness from sin and receive eternal life with Him. If you’ve never done that before, I would encourage you to talk to your small group leader. They would love to discuss what that looks like with you. Don’t push it off. Talk to them. Ask questions.

As Easter and Good Friday get closer and closer, we’re going to hear a lot more about Jesus’ death and resurrection. And my encouragement to you is to remember that Jesus really was human. The emotional ups and downs that you feel are not distant to Him - He gets that. And remember, as Hebrews says, that the same Jesus who suffered is the same Jesus sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. A human is sitting at the right hand of God and He understands you and loves you. So bring those anxiety filled prayers to Him and let Him handle it.

Let’s pray.