Lent 2020--Mark 14:32-42--"Sleepy Eyes"

Over twenty year ago, when I was in seminary, Tanya and I had a number of people helping us out so I could stay in school full-time and not worry about the bills. Well, what I’m about to tell you is kind of embarrassing: we came home to Sacramento for Easter and while home we made our rounds to individual families who were supporting us. The purpose of these visits was to thank them for their continual support, and to give them an update on what’s happening in school, along plans for the future (If ever you supported a missionary, our visits was like a missionaries on furlow). Here’s the embarrassing part: I nodded off in the middle of one of the visits, in the middle of talking with this family. Wow!

Sleepy Eyes

Text:

Other Lessons: (antiphon: v. 4); ;

Sermon Goal: That hearers recognize the weakness of their own sinful will and flesh and recognize their salvation in Jesus aligning Himself with the Father’s will that He suffer and die for all.

Suggested Thematic Hymn:

Go to Dark Gethsemane LSB 436

Liturgical Setting

The Passion Reading recounts Jesus’ prayer and trial in Gethsemane, while His inner circle’s sleepy eyes and weak flesh fail them (and Him). The Psalm bids us to lift our eyes to the Lord for help, in confidence that “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (121:4). urges us to wake up from sinful slumber and make no provision for our sinful flesh. We achieve this not by works of the Law but by putting on Jesus Christ through the Gospel. is Jesus’ final sermon to His disciples before Maundy Thursday, in which He urges us to be watchful for the Last Day.

Relevant Context

After the Last Supper, the move to the Garden of Gethsemane () sets the stage for Judas’s arrival after Jesus prays. The watching and prayer in Gethsemane recalls Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness, when the devil tempts Him to take the easy way out reject His Father’s will. After this scene, Jesus resolutely sets His face toward the cross and, before the Jewish and Roman authorities, boldly states who He is and what He came to do. The author of might very well have had this scene in Gethsemane in mind when he wrote these words: “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. Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

Textual Notes

This evening we find ourselves in the Garden of Gethsemane, observing Jesus’ inner circle of Peter, James, and John who cannot keep their eyes open to watch and pray with Jesus for even an hour, while Jesus comes to see that His Father’s will is that He drink the cup of God’s wrath, for us and for our salvation.

“Gethsemane”—: “Jesus often met there with His disciples.”

“Sit here while I pray”—The readers of Mark have seen Jesus at prayer (1:35; 6:46), but this is the first time we learn any content of His prayers. says that Jesus “withdrew from them about a stone’s throw,” probably about thirty yards. For Jesus, prayer was not a public performance (cf. , ) but a time to pour out His heart to His Father.

v. 33: “Peter and James and John”—One might describe these three as Jesus’ “inner circle.” They had been with Him at the transfiguration ()—another time they had drifted off to sleep ()! In the case of both the transfiguration and Gethsemane, they were able to serve as eyewitnesses of these crucial events in the life of Jesus. It is interesting that these three also had particularly promised to be willing to suffer with Jesus: James and John had insisted that they could drink the same cup of the Father’s wrath as Jesus and be baptized with the baptism He would undergo on Calvary (), and Peter had said he would never fall away from or deny Jesus (14:29, 31). Within Mark’s narrative, this makes their failure to watch and pray with Jesus more striking and emphasizes how Jesus alone could drink the cup of wrath, be baptized in death, and watch and pray against Satan’s temptations.

v. 34: “My soul”— describes the soul as “all that is within me.” It refers to the person’s whole being, which emphasizes that Jesus is distressed and troubled, not just in His body but in His entire being—heart, mind, soul, spirit.

vv. 33–34: “distressed and troubled . . . very sorrowful, even to death”—This is the height of agony and sorrow. Jesus is at His breaking point. While many martyrologies romanticize the deaths of Christian martyrs by portraying them as stoic and eager in the face of suffering and death, we should be comforted that even God’s Son was deeply troubled by what He was going to endure.

v. 34: “My soul is very sorrowful” (περίλυπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή μου)—This is strongly reminiscent of the Septuagint versions of and , in which the psalmist’s soul (ψυχή) is described as “very sorrowful” (περίλυπος). In both of these psalms, the psalmist goes on to console himself, saying, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God” (42:11; 43:5). If this psalm is what Jesus is alluding to, it is quite possible that He comforted Himself in Gethsemane with these words of consolation that God His Father would save Him!

v. 35: “fell on the ground”—Deep agony of soul can have profound effects on the body. This is an important insight for our own care of the soul. In the Large Catechism, Luther urges us to get help for body and soul in the Lord’s Supper, for “It will cure you and give you life both in soul and body. For where the soul has recovered, the body also is relieved” (Concordia, 438[LR1] ).

“the hour”—This is a reference to all of His sufferings, not to a duration of time. “The hour” is also a prominent theme throughout John’s Gospel, pointing forward to the time of Jesus’ suffering and subsequent glorification.

v. 36: “Abba, Father”—“Father” is Jesus’ normal way of addressing God His Father. “Abba” is an intimate way of addressing His Father. It does not mean “Daddy,” but has more of the sense of a free son in a household addressing the paterfamilias. Later, Paul will say that the right of calling God “Abba, Father” is granted to those baptized into His Son (; ).

“all things are possible for You”—“For nothing will be impossible with God” (). “With God all things are possible” (). It truly was in the Father’s power to change how things would go for Jesus, but it was not in the Father’s will.

“this cup”—The “cup of God’s wrath” is a prominent theme in the Old Testament, and it was too much for God’s people to bear. Jesus had introduced this theme in , when He portrayed His future suffering and death as drinking from a cup and being baptized. After He underwent the furious baptism of fire under the Father’s anger against the sin of the world and drank the cup of wrath down to its dregs, we who have been baptized into Christ’s death and have drunk the cup of His atoning blood no longer need to fear the Father’s wrath ().

“Yet not what I will, but what You will.”—Jesus proves to be the faithful Son, submitting to His Father’s will. The connection with the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer should be noted, especially in the face of our own death: “God’s will is done . . . when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die.”

v. 37: “one hour”—Peter could not stay awake for even sixty minutes; Jesus was willing to face “the hour” of torment and crucifixion for us.

v. 38: “Watch and pray”—The reader of Mark’s Gospel will have Jesus’ admonitions about watching and praying in expectation of the Last Day freshly in mind, since it came only one chapter earlier (13:35–37).

“into temptation”—This is the same term for temptation (πειρασμός) in the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. To fail to do God’s will is to fall for the temptation of the devil. Note that the Sixth and Seventh Petitions are closely related: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.”

“spirit . . . flesh”—Paul often uses these terms to refer to the sinful old Adam (flesh) and the new man created in us by Baptism (spirit). In this context, Jesus probably does not mean exactly the same thing as Paul when He refers to the willingness of the spirit and the weakness of the flesh. Peter, James, and John had indeed sinned by not obeying Jesus, but their human flesh was so weak that it could not stay awake. Here the contrast is between the willingness of the spirit and the inability of the flesh to carry out God’s will apart from His grace and help. Even Jesus, with human flesh, was subject to physical weakness and needed His Father’s aid. In Gethsemane, even the sinless Word made flesh must pray for help from His Father, which He receives. How much more then for all of us who have not merely weak human flesh but are hindered by sinful flesh, which Paul shows is utterly depraved!

v. 40: “what to answer”—When God’s Law finds us sinning, we have no excuses! “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” ().

v. 41: “the hour has come”—Jesus has clearly passed through His time of temptation and has conformed His own human will to the will of the Father.

Sermon Outline

Main Sermon Theme: In Gethsemane, Jesus’ inner circle of Peter, James, and John cannot keep their eyes open to watch and pray with Jesus for even an hour, while Jesus comes to see that His Father’s will is that He drink the cup of God’s wrath, for us and for our salvation.

Over twenty year ago when I was in seminary Tanya and I had a number of people who helped us out so I could stay in school full-time and not worry about the bills. Well, what I’m about to tell you is kind of embarrassing: we came home to Sacramento for Easter and while home we made our rounds to individual families who were supporting us. We made these visits to thank them for their continual support, and to give them an update on what’s happening in school, and plans for the future (If ever you supported a missionary, our visits was like those missionaries on furlow. Here’s the embarrassing part: I nodded off in the middle of one of the visits, in the middle of talking with this family. Wow!

Sermon

I. [This opening paragraph is a personal anecdote, so the preacher should think of a time he (or someone he knew) nodded off at an inopportune time.]

Surely you have had a similar experience, being so tired that you can’t fight fatigue anymore and you drift off to sleep. We all should be able to identify with Peter, James, and John as they succumbed to exhaustion in Gethsemane, while Jesus steadfastly watched and prayed to His Father.

Surely you have had a similar experience, being so tired that you can’t fight fatigue anymore and you drift off to slumber. We all should be able to identify with Peter, James, and John as they succumbed to exhaustion in Gethsemane, while Jesus steadfastly watched and prayed to His Father.

It had been a busy, exciting, scary, confusing, roller-coaster week for the disciples. No wonder they had “sleepy eyes” and just needed to see the inside of their eyelids for a while. Who knows if Peter, James, and John had gotten any shut-eye since they had heard the sermon from Jesus about staying awake and watching for the Last Day ()?

Mark 13:32–37 ESV

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Maybe they had taken it quite literally. On top of that, what could be more sleep inducing than watching another person pray? And as far as their own praying went, well, haven’t you ever nodded off during your own prayers? They reclined on the soft grass in the garden, the cool night air was perfect for sleeping—a nap was inevitable, right?

Indeed, it was. It was sinful that they didn’t do as Jesus told them, but let’s be honest: neither would we have, if we had been in their shoes. Now is not the time for self-righteousness and Peter-, James-, and John-bashing. It happened the way it had to. This event teaches us to identify sinful humans—even believers!—as sleepyheads whose willing spirit cannot overcome the weakness of their flesh.

On the other hand, this scene identifies Jesus as the Lord of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps, whose eyes were set only on doing God’s will. When it came time for all righteousness to be fulfilled and all the sin of the world to be paid for, it had to be Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus. He had to be the only one awake to persevere through the homestretch of His active obedience, to suffer the pangs of hell in His passive obedience, and then to sleep the sleep of death in the tomb, for us men and for our salvation.

Tonight’s Passion Reading places before our eyes the depths of woe Jesus would suffer for us. We see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane—sorrowful and troubled, even to the point of His sacred heart failing right then and there. The weight of the world’s sins pressed down mightily upon Him; He fell upon His face in weakness and trembling, begging, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me.” The cup Jesus spoke of was the cup of His Father’s wrath against all the sin of the world. God’s wrath is His unmitigated anger, a furious outpouring of condemnation, the fires and torments of hell.

Jesus did not want to drink that cup. Perfect, sinless, holy Jesus, whose will was truly perfect, prayed that He would not have to drink the cup of God’s wrath, and He knew that it was possible for His Father to change things (). This teaches us that death and hell are not good or desirable for humans. Death, decay, and eternal suffering was not God’s plan for humanity; those are consequences of Adam’s fall, which involves us all. Except for Jesus. He was sinless. He didn’t merit death; He didn’t deserve to drink the cup of God’s wrath. So His prayer certainly wasn’t cowardly or faithless but was the language of faith in the God for whom all things are possible.

Now, I did leave out some essential words from Jesus’ prayers. He didn’t stop with, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” He continued, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” Again, He prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And a third time, He prayed the same prayer.

And then the Father answered His Son’s prayer. While it was possible for the Father to remove the cup, the Father’s will was for Jesus to suffer to spare you. The Father answered Jesus’ prayer by giving His Son the strength to accept His good and gracious will, and the Son willingly went into captivity when Judas showed up to betray Him. Moments later, Jesus said that all this was done to “let the Scriptures be fulfilled” ().

Surely the Scripture recorded in is in the background here. There, the Suffering Servant of the Lord is said

to be stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities; cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of God’s people, even though He had done no violence and no lies were upon His lips. Why all this punishment on the Innocent Victim? Isaiah writes, “It was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief” (53:10). The Father willed to crush His own Son and make Him an offering for the guilt of our sin.

Those who are parents cannot even begin to wrap our minds around how the Father could love us sinners enough to pour out His wrath against His own Son. It torments us to see our own children suffer. How could God kill His own Son? We must receive this news with awe and thanksgiving that the Lord has done this to save us from our sins; we simply trust God’s Word, which says that His good and gracious will was to love us by sacrificing His only-begotten Son.

The Father eternally loves His Son, and Isaiah’s prophecy did not stop with the death of Jesus. It pointed forward to Easter, when Jesus appeared to the disciples, gazed upon them with living eyes, and said, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, their eyes looked upon His hands and His side. “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord” (). His nail-marked hands speak of God’s goodwill toward you and all sinners: “Peace be with you.” The scars on His hands reveal the good and gracious will of God, that peace between God and man had been made by Him who was delivered up for our sin and was raised for our justification.

Through all this, Jesus had eyes only for His Father’s will and, through this, fulfilled what He had told His disciples in : “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (vv. 38–40).

The good and gracious will of God is that you set your eyes on the Son, believe in Him, and have eternal life as a free gift. With that Good News in mind, you can fall asleep in peace each night, awake to serve Him each morning, and when your eyes eventually go to sleep in death, be confident that they will awaken to everlasting life in the resurrection.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Midweek of Lent 2