Sit Here While I Pray
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In his commentary on Mark, James R. Edwards calls this passage, “Prelude to the Cross.”
“prelude” = a preliminary action to a work of higher importance
We have prelude music before our services. It’s music that precedes the more important event of the worship service, but it’s really more than that.
Prelude music announces the start of the worship service. It sets the tone for the worship service. And as such, it really is part of the worship service.
Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane announces Jesus’s now very quick journey to the cross. It is really part of Jesus’s work on the cross as he submits to his Father’s will. And it sets the strange tone for Jesus’s work on the cross, which is for Jesus a work of willing obedience but also a work of deep sadness.
Before we rush forward to the joy of the resurrection, we should spend some time with Jesus in Gethsemane, sitting with him while he prays before he goes to the cross.
We want to look at this passage in a few different PARTS...
Part #1: vv. 32-34
v. 32, “Gethsemane” -
from the Hebrew, meaning “olive press”
at the foot of the Mount of Lives
familiar place for Jesus and his followers to gather (cf. and below)
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
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. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
That Jesus chose to meet with his disciples in this usual place when he knew that Judas was looking to betray him shows that Jesus was not trying to dodge the cross. He was deliberately moving toward the cross.
v. 32, “Sit here while I pray.” -
Mark records Jesus praying alone only twice before - both in times of significance for his ministry
In Jesus prayed because he was pressed to keep healing in one location when he had to go preach in other locations
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
In Jesus prayed because the disciples didn’t understand the significance of Jesus feeding the five thousand so he came walking on the water as only God could
And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
Here in 14:32 is the most significant time: Will Jesus avoid the cross or will he submit to the will of his Father?
The fact that Jesus finds the time and space to pray during these significant points in his ministry ought to challenge us. It’s precisely during “significant times” that we are likely to tell ourselves that we don’t have time to pray. But if the Son of God, very God of God, who had no sin found the time and space to pray when things were at their most significant, so must we. We must follow the lead of our Master Jesus who teaches us not only how to pray In , but also, to put it simply, that we must pray.
v. 33, “And he took with him Peter and James and John...”
This is the inner circle of disciples. They were with Jesus on other significant occasions as well.
They were there on other significant occasions as well.
When Jesus raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead, they were with him.
And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.
When Jesus was transfigured, they were with him.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,
When Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple and the signs of the end of the age, they (joined by Andrew) were with him.
And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
But in this case they were not just with him because they had been with him in the past. They were with him now to learn something about themselves and about Jesus.
Previously Peter boasted in :29-31...
Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.
Likewise, James and John had previously boasted in ...
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,
These three had bragged about their faithfulness to Jesus, but they are about to learn that they aren’t even faithful enough to keep watch and pray. And after Jesus’s death, resurrection, ascension, and the coming of the Spirit, these three will look back on Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane and his willing submission to his Father as an act of perfect faithfulness.
We should never talk about how faithful we are to the Lord. Perhaps we shouldn’t even let someone else talk about how faithful we are to the Lord. Ultimately, the very best of us, is totally unfaithful while Jesus is perfectly faithful. It is a humbling, pride-attacking, painful lesson to learn, but one we must learn as Peter, James, and John did. We can’t trust in ourselves because we are so utterly faithless. We must only trust in Jesus because only Jesus is so perfectly faithful.
v. 33, “…and (Jesus) began to be greatly distressed and troubled.”
HCSB / “deeply distressed and horrified”
HCSB / “deeply distressed and horrified”
KJV / “sore amazed, and to be very heavy” - in Gethsemane (the olive press) Jesus is pressed down, squashed under the weight of the sorrow he feels at the thought of becoming sin and experiencing the divine wrath of his Father
v. 34, “And (Jesus) said to (Peter and James and John), ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.’” or keep awake
NKJV / “exceedingly sorrowful” to the point of death
HCSB / “swallowed up in sorrow” to the point of death
But even here there are whispers of hope. Jesus’s words are similar to the sorrowful words of and 43.
and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
Jesus’s soul is cast down, even pressed down with grief, but he shall again praise his Father in Heaven.
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Part #2: vv. 35-36
v. 35, “And going a little farther, he fell on the ground...” v. 35, “...and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.”
He must go to his Father in prayer alone, just as he will go to the cross alone. Peter, James, and John don’t understand his relationship with the Father. They don’t understand the cross that awaits him. They wouldn’t understand the prayer he prays as he is pressed down to the earth.
Here’s how James Edwards describes it...
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Gethsemane: Prelude to the Cross (14:32–42)
Nothing in all the Bible compares to Jesus’ agony and anguish in Gethsemane—neither the laments of the Psalms, nor the broken heart of Abraham as he prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:5), nor David’s grief at the death of his son Absalom (2 Sam 18:33). Luke 22:44 even speaks of Jesus’ “sweat falling to the ground like drops of blood” (so, too, Justin Martyr, Dial. Trypho 103.8). The suffering of Gethsemane left an indelible imprint on the early church (Heb 5:7).
Scripture paints an ugly picture of this scene...
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
Listen to how
…this was agony, to a degree we can’t comprehend. Jesus quakes with agony because he knows that he will stand before the Father as sin, the very object of God’s wrath. We will quake if we stand before God without Christ to answer for our sins. Jesus stood before the Father to answer for the sins of all those who would be redeemed.
We sometimes experience grief so significant it crushes us. We lose a parent. We lose a spouse. We lose a child. The grief from such things can only be described as ‘agony.’ Here in Gethsemane Jesus felt agony on an infinitely greater scale than we ever will. Truly, he is able to sympathize with us not only in our weakness but in our agony as well. And we can be sure that he loves to comfort us in our agony because his agony in Gethsemane was not only to the glory of his Father, but also for our good. If Jesus endured this agony in Gethsemane and endured the agony of the cross, what would he do for us? Surely he loves to comfort us.
v. 36, “And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.”
Only in Mark does Jesus call God the Father, “Abba,” a term of intimacy, trust, and affection.
Jesus said that he would send the Spirit to his followers and its by the Spirit that we too are able to address God with intimacy. Cf. and
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians
That Jesus addresses God the Father with such intimacy in the midst of this agony is serious and curious and awe-inspiring. Jesus knew this was the Father’s will, that’s why he prayed to the Father in the first place. Jesus knew all things were possible for his Father, that’s why he said to his Father, “Remove this cup from me.” But Jesus also knew that his Father was Abba, that’s why he trusted his Father enough to say, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Concerning this prayer of Jesus, one commentator asked, “Is it possible for Jesus to fulfill God’s will in all ways but this one, or in some other way? Perhaps, as with Isaac, the sacrifice can be averted even though the arm of Abraham is raised for the dagger’s plunge,” (Edwards, 434). The answer is, of course, no. This is the will of the Father and Jesus submits to it as he always had. He is at the same time the Son on the altar and the ram caught in the thicket.
One Jesus is at once the Son on the altar and the ram in thicket.
This is the cup of God’s wrath that Jesus will drink full strength on the cross.
v. 36, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 434). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.Jesus is at once the Son on the altar and the ram in thicket.
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Part #3: vv. 37-39
v. 37, “And he came and found them sleeping...”
Jesus had just told them, “Watch, lest (you) be caught sleeping,” (). The disciples (at least Peter, James, and John) almost immediately - at least in the short term - fail that test.
In fact, they will fail this test three times (vv. 34, 37, 38), which may correspond to Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus (14:30), but definitely proves to the disciples once again that they cannot muster the faithfulness that Jesus demands. Instead, they must depend on his faithfulness.
v. 37, “…and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?’”
In , Simon confessed Jesus as the Christ and was given the name, “Peter,” which means “rock.” Jesus said that his church would be built upon the confession of Jesus as the Christ, a confession that, among Jesus’s disciples, first came from the mouth of Peter; a confession/reality that would be preached by all the Apostles.
But here in , Jesus doesn’t call Peter “the rock,” he calls him “Simon,” which no doubt sounded to Peter like a description of his weakness as he struggled to stay awake. Peter had a willing spirit but weak flesh. Therefore, he needed to watch and pray to avoid temptation. He chose to the sleep instead.
Sometimes I need to sleep more than I do. All the time I need to watch and pray more than I do. The answer is slothfulness in following Christ is not more rest (unless it is rest in Christ), but rather the answer to slothfulness in following Christ is greater watchfulness and more time in prayer.
v. 38, “‘Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”
v.
v. 38, “‘The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’”
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Part #4: vv. 40-42
v. 39, “And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.”
v. 40, “And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy...
v. 40, “And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy...
The hour was late and they had just consumed the Passover meal with its abundant food and wine. It’d be like tying to stay awake during the football game on Thanksgiving as you sat in the recliner rocking back and forth after eating a pound or two of turkey. You’re not really at your most alert!
We’d like to think that we would have understood the significance of this moment better than the disciples did, but we probably wouldn’t have. And because they didn’t, they “did not know what to answer him,” (Mk. 14:40).
v. 40, “…and they did not know what to answer him.”
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Part #5: vv. 41-42
v. 41, “And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough...”
v. 41, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?”
v. 41, “It is enough...”
HCSB, “Enough!”
“It is enough” or “Enough!” are merely guesses at the meaning of apechei, which seems to be an statement of exasperation. One writer says it could mean something like, “What’s the use?”
v. 41, “…the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
v. 41, “The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
The Son of Man betrayed into the hands of sinners is the hour. Jesus’s time has come.
There is a contrast that we should notice here between “Son of Man” and “sinners.” If someone said to us, “I had to go down to the DMV and sit with all those sinners,” we would ask, “And what do you think you are?” But when Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man and says that he will betrayed into the hands of sinner, none of the disciples ask, “And what do you think you are?” They know that Jesus is not a sinner. The Bible teaches that Jesus had no sin (; ). But the sinless Son of Man would become sin and gives his life for sinners.
v. 42, “Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
James Edwards finishes his comments on this passage with this...
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Gethsemane: Prelude to the Cross (14:32–42)
What profound irony Gethsemane conceals, for when Jesus feels most excluded from God’s presence he is in fact closest to God’s will! Gethsemane is the prelude to Calvary, for in a valley beneath the city Jesus allows his soul to be crucified; on a hill above the city he relinquishes his body.
