Gethsemanes

27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same. 32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 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.” 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

zach 13:7

Introduction

Presumption has always been dangerous for anyone who follows Christ, for following him necessarily involves some hardship. Many are those who have fallen along the way. That is why Jesus invited Peter, James, and John to be with him while he prayed in Gethsemane.

Not long before that night, James and John, “Sons of Thunder,” had confidently answered Jesus that they had it in themselves to drink from the cup he would drink from Mark 10:38–40. Then, with the Crucifixion only hours away,

Peter had loudly proclaimed, “Even if all fall away, I will not” (14:29). This was perilous talk indeed, as the next couple of days would so tragically demonstrate. What they saw that night in the garden would strengthen them for the years to come. And prayerfully considered, it will strengthen us for the years to come. [1]

John 15:20 ESV

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Jesus predicts Peter’s denial (14:27–31)

Mark 14:27–31 (ESV)

We now, in predictions of Peter’s denial, return to the familiar theme of how hard a way is discipleship of the kingdom of God. [2] Should he have to die with Jesus (how near to the truth we can stumble without knowing it), he will not disown his Master. This, evidently, is too much for the others! They also protest their loyalty.

Neither the disciple’s desire to stand with Jesus, nor their sincerity, is in doubt. The question is whether the quality of their commitment will see them through what was to come.[3]

a. Privilege and responsibility

If the Twelve did from time to time see their position as one of enormous privilege, they were now beginning to see the other side of the coin. ‘To whom much is given, from them much will be expected.’ (Luke 12:48) How wonderful to be in the upper room witnessing and sharing the last supper! How equally heinous to have so witnessed and shared and then betrayed the central character.[4]

b. The heart of discipleship

Repeatedly Mark’s story has shown the sad failure of group after group to grasp the meaning of, or enter into, the experience of true discipleship of Jesus. In one sense we have been better placed to see what it does not involve than what it does. The last supper puts the balance straight.

Eating and drinking was understood in the first century as a deep and intimate form of acceptance and sharing.

Jesus has encouraged his disciples to eat his body and drink his blood. There could be no deeper symbol of total dependence on him and commitment to him. Even more significant still are the background themes of Passover and covenant. At the first Passover God defeated the enemies of his people and set his people free, protected as they were by the blood of the sacrificial lambs.

Christ offers his life sacrificially to defeat the enemies of God’s kingdom and to set free those who will be joined by faith (symbolized here by their eating and drinking) to him.

And it means covenant. God in Christ brings about the new covenant prophesied in the Scriptures. The shedding of blood confirms the covenant at the most total and serious level of all. The covenant people will henceforth not be one natural race, like the Jews, entered into by physical birth. People who respond to the invitation by faith will be the people of the new covenant of the kingdom of God.

c. Human frailty and discipleship

The story of Peter’s protestation of loyalty to Jesus makes sad reading for us, knowing as we do what will eventually take place. That Peter and the others meant what they said is not in doubt.

The mistake the disciples made was to be too confident in their ability to stand faithfully on their own when the battle became fiercest. Yet, despite their coming failure, they will not be given up. The message from the risen Christ will be for ‘his disciples and Peter’ (16:7).[5]

Mark 16:7 ESV

But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

Gethsemane (14:32–42)

‘Gethsemane’ probably means ‘oil-press’ or ‘olive-press’. The area, identified by Mark only as a place called Gethsemane (32) is located by John as a garden beyond the Kidron ravine (Jn. 18:1–2). It is taken to be on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives, some half a mile from the wall of the city.

Mark 14:32–42 (ESV)

32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 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.” 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Deeply distressed … Troubled … Overwhelmed with sorrow

The powerful verbs used of Jesus’ condition—deeply distressed … troubled … overwhelmed with sorrow (33–34) underline the fact that For Jesus being faithful to the end was costly. The battle begun with baptism and temptations (1:9–12) is now reaching its climax. In this situation we can understand that he genuinely needed his closest friends to watch with him in Gethsemane.

is it worth the effort; is it worth the devotion; is it worth giving your life - you genuinely need Christian friends around you or its doubtful you will live faithfully unto Christ

His prayer, in so far as we are allowed to listen in on it, constitutes one of the most poignant events in the gospel. He addresses God as Abba, a word in the Aramaic language Jesus would speak. We are probably to understand that this word was used when elsewhere in the gospels the Greek word for ‘Father’ is recorded from the lips of Jesus.

Abba is intensely personal and intimate.[6]

It is not a drama acted out for the benefit of the faithful.

It represents a real struggle by Jesus who alone on earth knew what was involved. ‘Take this cup from me’ (36). It is not an opposition to his Father’s will, but a facing of the horror of the death he faces. Yet even with this horror ahead he reaffirms his Father’s will (36). This brief insight into the intimate prayer life of Jesus shines a light not only on the cost of our redemption but also on the nature of Jesus as God and man. The two are seen as one in this crucial moment for the redemption that will be offered to all.[7]

“Stay here and keep watch.”

If they had watched closely and entered into prayer like his, they would have found the courage necessary to make it through what was coming.[8]

When he first returned, he singled out the most vocal of the three, Peter. “Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak’” (vv. 37, 38). There was kindness here. Jesus understood human weakness, but they must pray or they would fall.

Mark says, “Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him” (vv. 39, 40).

Finally, we read: “Returning the third time, he said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!’

A scandal in the Gethsemane experience

The sleeping disciples who failed to watch recognizes that there was a scandal in the Gethsemane experience which could not be suppressed. It concerned not Jesus, but his immediate disciples who slept when they should have been watching and praying.

There is no reason to believe that such an offense was artificially created in the Church; a burden of shame rested upon the three who had come to be regarded as closest to the Lord. Mark faithfully preserved the tradition that Only the three were told to watch and that only the three slept.

His intention in doing so, however, was to strengthen Christians under persecution in Rome and elsewhere by providing a sober warning that the admonition to watch and pray applies ultimately to all believers, who stand equally exposed to the failure which marked the three disciples[9]

The disciples cannot even remain awake

Three times he returned to find them sleeping—perhaps heavy with fear as well as tiredness. On the third occasion the word ‘enough’ can have the meaning ‘the bill is paid’, as though there in the garden of Gethsemane everything was finally established. What had been settled in prayer would be carried out in life—and death (41).

“The Hour Has Come”

Jesus, who so strengthened himself in prayer while asking that the “hour might pass from him,” accepted it, saying, “The hour has come,” and went out to drink the cup and win the greatest victory ever won.

In verse 35 Jesus had prayed that if it were possible “the hour” might pass from him. He now says “the hour has come,” and the possibility contemplated in his prayer has proven invalid.

The approach of Judas with a company of men indicates that the matter about which Jesus prayed has been settled: he is going to be handed over to sinners. The two statements “the hour has come” and “the Son of Man is handed over to sinners” are synonymous, the second simply clarifying the tenor of the first declaration. They indicate that

The moment is imminent when the power of sin and death will overwhelm Jesus and destroy him. This is Satan’s “hour,” because “the sinners” are his agents. Jesus has been delivered by God (cf. Ch. 14:21; Rom. 8:32) into the realm of Satanic power from which there is no protection.

That the transcendent Son of Man, whose triumph is so emphatically affirmed in Ch. 13:26, should fall into the hands of sinners is conceivable only in terms of the sovereign will of God and the submission of the Son.

While Jesus did not hesitate to speak openly of his betrayal, the reference to the betrayal and death of the Son of Man served to direct attention to the utter seriousness of the offense. Jesus’ apparent defenselessness and humiliation in Gethsemane veiled his true dignity. Only after the resurrection did the significance of the transaction concluded there become clear.

Just as rebellion in a garden brought Death’s reign over man (Gen. 3:1–19), submission in a garden called Gethsemane reversed that pattern of rebellion and sets in motion a sequence of events which defeated Death itself (cf. Heb. 5:7–10).[10]

The lessons are here if we wish to see them.

The disciples all failed, and significantly Peter, who fell asleep three times, went on to deny his Lord by that same number—hardly a poetic coincidence! But all was not lost. Their scandal was to become their salvation because in the years to come all came to fortify their lives in prayer.

Peter and James died martyrs’ deaths, and John was a man of unswerving devotion to Jesus who endured to the end.

Praying and doing

Prayer in the Bible and in Christian tradition is much more than spiritual injections into the interstices of life. It is also about wrestling with big issues, about prolonged time in God’s presence precisely away from all the pressures of life’s busy round of activities.

It is for gaining a perspective on those activities from the vantage point of being alone with God. The use of the mountain as the place for such encounters in the Bible contains rich symbolism (see on 9:2–8). In this situation we can understand that he genuinely needed his closest friends to watch with him in Gethsemane.[11]

If we truly follow Christ, we will experience our own personal Gethsemanes.

Jesus said:

John 15:18–20 (ESV)

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Gethsemanes are the inevitable lot of those who follow Christ. We must embrace this truth.

There is a fortifying available for all who go through the inevitable Gethsemanes. It comes through dependent prayer. Such prayer sometimes delivers us from our Gethsemanes, but more often through them. The Father heard Jesus’ cry and answered his prayer, and he was crucified. Whatever the answer, there is always a supply of courage for God’s children.

An Application

All of us should give ourselves to regular, daily prayer. If you are not living a life of dependent prayer, you are sinning. You cannot and will not have the courage necessary to follow Christ.

As one example: men, you who are fathers should be praying daily in detail for your spouse and each of your children (cf. Job 1:5). If you are not doing so, you are sinning. There is more: if the only time you pray for the ill or the grieving or the needy in your local church body is during the Sunday pastoral prayer, you are sinning (cf. 1 Samuel 12:23). We are all called to daily, dependent prayer—all of us!

The call to prayer is a call to discipline.

Unfortunately, many reject this idea. They argue that such thinking promotes legalism. But there is an eternity of difference between legalism and discipline. Legalism has at its core the thought of becoming better and thus gaining merit through religious exercise. Discipline springs from a desire to please God. Paul, an outspoken opponent of legalism, admonishes us to “… discipline [literally gymnasticize] yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7, NASB).

God’s servants must exercise themselves with an athletic-like discipline as they pursue God’s purposes for their lives. There will be no prayer life without this.[12]

We know that the Holy Spirit prompts us to pray, even making intercession for us. But we also know there is our part. We are called to be fellow workers with God. “[C]ontinue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” says God’s Word, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12, 13). This requires discipline.

We can hear a thousand sermons preached about the secret to the Christian life, but it gets right down to our own discipline. If we do not have that, we are sinning. All of us need to live lives of dependent prayer, that there might be steel in our soul—the steeling of the church. [13]

[1]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 2, pp. 164–166). Crossway Books. [2]English, D. (1992). The message of Mark: the mystery of faith (p. 217). InterVarsity Press. [3]English, D. (1992). The message of Mark: the mystery of faith (p. 217). InterVarsity Press. [4]English, D. (1992). The message of Mark: the mystery of faith (p. 217). InterVarsity Press. [5]English, D. (1992). The message of Mark: the mystery of faith (pp. 217–219). InterVarsity Press. [6]English, D. (1992). The message of Mark: the mystery of faith (p. 219). InterVarsity Press. [7]English, D. (1992). The message of Mark: the mystery of faith (p. 221). InterVarsity Press. [8]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 2, p. 168). Crossway Books. [9]Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 521). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. [10]Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 522). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. [11]English, D. (1992). The message of Mark: the mystery of faith (p. 219). InterVarsity Press. [12]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 2, p. 170). Crossway Books. [13]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 2, p. 172). Crossway Books.

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