Mark 14:32-42 Divine Conflict

Divine Conflict

There are a few things they say you can’t avoid; death and taxes. I would like to add conflict to that list.

How do you handle conflict?

Is it fight or flight?

More specifically how do you handle spiritual/ divine conflict?

Are you more inclined to fight? Do you look for Satan around every corner?

Are you more inclined to flight? You can explain away everything that goes on as “just part of life.” You don’t see Satan at work in any situations.

Today, I think we should learn how to handle personal and divine conflict from the situation in the Garden of Gethsemane. First we will look at Jesus in the garden and then we will look to his interaction with the disciples and see how we should be encourage today.

The Heaviness of the Moment

The scene in the Garden is one of great temptation. This, I believe, is the greatest test of Jesus apart from the cross.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus would be faced with something that he had never had to encounter. He must experience the eternal wrath of God for the sake of sinners. Think about that for a moment - All of the eternal wrath of God would be poured out on the Son of God to satisfy His righteous judgement.

Not only would he face the wrath of God, but he would experience the betrayal of his closest companions.

THE HURT

As we have seen, Jesus is in a familiar place with his disciples - The Garden of Gethsemane

John points out that this was such a familiar place and that is how Judas would know where he could lead the crowd to arrest him.

Here we need to see that Jesus does a very human thing in the face of conflict. He retreats to a comfortable, known, safe place.

Ex - A kid running into their parents room in the midst of a thunder storm.

This would have been a large garden, a place of safety, and concealment.

And it is here that Jesus embraces comfort and companionship in the face of hurt. While in the Garden goes a step further than just going to the garden with his disciples, he goes further in with those he is closest to.

Peter, James, and John were invited to join him for this difficult moment. They had seen Jesus in a way that no one else had . At the transfiguration his deity was displayed, and in the garden they would see his humanity like no one else would.

Practically, Jesus shows the depth of his anguish in a very human way.

As I said, he invited those who was close to to be with him.

He was greatly distressed and troubled (v.33),

He told them that his soul was sorrowful almost to death.

He fell down (v.35)

He cried out for help (v.36)

Luke tells of an angel that came to minster to him, and that he was sweating drops of blood while he prayed.

Sweating drops of blood was a bodily response to the stress that Jesus was under.

Why did Jesus show such a deep level of hurt in the garden. Didn’t He know what he came into this world to do.

Luke 2 - Young Jesus, 12 years old, was with his parents in Jerusalem for Passover, but when they left he remained in the temple. When they finally found him he explained, that He must be in his Father’s house, tending to his Father’s business.

And now Jesus had arrived at the day before His Father’s great plan of redemption would be experienced in a way that it had not in all of human history.

So, I think it is clear that Jesus wasn’t surprised at what he would face, but what hurt him was the attack he would experience to his holiness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

It was Jesus’ holiness led him to desire anything other than bearing the weight of sin. That is why he said (v.36), “And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.”

THE HUMILITY

He knew that God the Father has all power over all things, including sin and death, and Jesus’ desire at this moment was to face anything but drinking the cup of God’s wrath. So, in humility, on his knees, he cries out to the father!

Have you ever considered that Satan didn’t want Jesus to die? If he would not die he would have been in disobedience to the Father, and a sinner. There wouldn’t have been a perfect sacrifice.

Ex. Satan in the crucifixion scene in the Passion of the Chirst

But Jesus, knowing his role, and what he would face trusted ultimately in the will of the Father.

Mark 14:36 “And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.””

Next to the cross this was the greatest temptation Jesus would face.

Jesus had already overcome the temptation in the wilderness.

And here he faced temptation with humble obedience to the Father and with deep concern for his disciples.

In the midst of divine conflict Jesus humbly embraced the heaviness of the moment with his sight set on the will of God.

The Hope of the Messiah

Jesus’ hope was in the will of the Father being carried out to perfection, and in the middle of this scene he points his followers to trust in the same.

2 Invitations and an Example Given in the Garden

This was a heavy moment for Jesus, but it was extremely scary to the disciples too. Knowing this Jesus invites the disciples to:

1. Place - “They went to Gethsemane,” “Sit here while I pray...”

This is an invitation to be with him. To be close, the be present, to embrace the heaviness of the moment with him. They were wanted, invited, and encouraged - even as Jesus faced the toughest night of his life.

2. Purpose - “Watch and pray” (vv.34, 38) The only hope they had of making it through the night was to watch and pray.

The disciples had become self-confident, even self-reliant, but Jesus cautions Peter, James, and John to be watchful.

They would not be. Their physical sleep is a picture of their spiritual condition.

v.37 - He found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Could you not watch one hour?”

v.38 - Jesus gives the reasoning for his instruction to watching and praying - “That you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The temptation to fall away, to deny Jesus, was coming.

They were zealous in their spirit to follow Christ, even to the death, but their unredeemed flesh was still weak.

Our minds out pace our bodies at times, and here the self-confidence of the disciples caused them to loose sight of their own weakness in the flesh.

Here, Jesus shares with them how they, and us too, can combat the weakness of the flesh. It is through prayer!

Yes, we must be watchful. Peter explains later, “ “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ).

Peter’s words were spoken here from experience. You see, he had not been watchful, and his weak flesh was over come by temptation, but we can learn from his experience.

I don’t believe that Jesus was as concerned with the disciples’ immediate success in the garden as he was in them learning their dependence in him for lay ahead.

3. Power - v.42 “Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Jesus shows that when one is in the perfect will of God there is nothing to fear. The world may come down upon you, your friends may reject you, your health may fail you, but here Jesus shows that he is not intimidated by his condemners.

It’s important to see in our text today that Jesus was not afraid of his objectors, but of the possibility of his holiness being tainted by the sins of the all who would believe.

Calvin - Christ did not simply fear death. What led him to pray to be delivered from death was the dread of a greater evil. When he saw the wrath of God exhibited to him, as he stood at the tribunal of God charged with the sins of the whole world, he unavoidably shrunk with horror from the deep abyss of death.”

Conclusion |

I pray that you realize today that you are caught up in a divine conflict. Satan does prowl around looking to devour you. Are you aware of that? How have you been responding?

Paul warned, “[W]e do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ).

With that in mind, may you remember the the invitations and example given in the garden.

You have a place in the presence of Christ. At all times and in every situation look to be with him, rest in him, rely upon him.

You have a purpose in this divine conflict. Watch and pray - for yourselves and those around you

You have power, not in yourself, but in Christ.

You don’t need to shrink back from the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but with boldness we are to be killing sin, pushing back darkness, and praying that God is honored and directing it all!