Praying in Gethsemane
Notes
Transcript
Jesus Prays in the Garden
Jesus Prays in the Garden
Hey guys, good morning. Hope you all are doing well this morning.
It is a joy to see you all today, what a blessing it is to gather this morning and worship together.
Corporate worship is important, gathering together encourages us and i believe it blesses our Lord when we come to His house and gather to worship.
I know I am encouraged when I see your faces, it brings joy to me heart.
Today, we come once again to the gospel of Matthew, we are only about a chapter and a half from the end of the book.
So today we come to the moment of Jesus leading this disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, and there Jesus takes time to pray for the moments he and the disciples are about to face.
So this morning we are going to look at a large passage here, Matthew 26, and we will look at verses 36 to 56 before our time is up this morning.
But lets start here Matthew 26: 36-40
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
Remember they have just left the upper room, they have left the city through the eastern gate and crossed the Kidron valley and have come ot the garden of Gethsemane.
The garden here isn’t a garden like we think about, no it is a olive tree grove, and in the center of the grove is the olive press where the fruit of the trees would be crushed to make olive oil.
This is a solitary place, they have ben there before and thus Judas will know where to lead those to betray him a little later in the evening.
So lets begin with this first thought today...
1. A Call to Prayer....
As we have opened the text, Jesus and his disciples have entered into the area we know as the Garden of Gethsemane, the Olive orchard if you will where olive trees grew and oil was produced.
It is quiet there in the evenings, no workers, the area was calm and there Jesus and His disciples could be alone.
And so as Jesus enters through the gate into the orchard, He stops and asks most of His disciples to wait there. You can see that at the end of verse 36, you all wait here for me.
Why? We are not exactly sure why… but we do know this, While 8 were asked to wait there near the entrance, Jesus took 3 a little further into the garden with him.
Why did he do this? We are not exactly sure, but we know these 3 seem to have a little different relationship to the Savior, perhaps because of their leadership. They have been with him privately, remember just a little before here where we saw them up on the mountain of transfiguration.
Peter, James and John He will take a little farther into the garden with him.
And listen to what Jesus says to them.. verses 37-38
37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
Listen to what Jesus says , “..My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”. v 38
So Jesus really communicates two thoughts here too those 3 men, ..
First he says....
A. Jesus says literally He is “crushed with anguish.” My soul is very sorrowful. He knows and understands what awaits Him in a few hours.... He knows the manner of death, the beatings He will endure will be horrific. remember He is fully man and fully God. His flesh would suffer for humanities sake.
Jesus will suffer and die, but even more horrific is to bear the sins of the world upon this life.
The one who knew NO sin, would bear our sin, literally take that sin upon his life, carrying it upon himself, essentially becoming the scape goat. He would carry our sin away, suffering for our transgression that the penalty for sin would be satisfied and we could be forgiven.
Wow..
This would not be easy but He would do it for us, because He loved us, He loved the world.
And secondly Jesus calls for those three too...
B. Jesus calls them to watch with Him.. the wording for watch isn’t to keep an eye out or be on the lookout for… No He is calling for them to stay awake, alert and pray this night with Him and for Him, for their entire group of comrades.
The hour might be late, but Jesus is calling them to rally, pray and keep on praying.. My friends, corporate prayer is powerful prayer.
If Jesus called for them to pray together then it is important that we pray together in all things… So we share our needs and our hearts with one another in prayer.
Corporate prayer is powerful prayer.
I am reminded of people like Count Zinzendorf, born in 1700, He said Yes to Christ as a young man. He was a leader in the Moravian church, and social reformer of this day.
He sought to bring Christ to the heart of people. He said “...I have one passion, it is He. Only He.”
In August of 1727, Zinzendorf and others made a covenant to pray and they did, 24 hours aday people in their church set watch to pray around the clock… it lasted for a hundred years.
My friends, there is always a call to watch and pray...
Now let me share another thought with you here, lets pop over toe Luke 22, verse 40
40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
This is important here, now remember we talked last week about Jesus pointing out that Peter would deny Jesus more than all the rest. In fact Jesus told Peter before the rooster crowed the next morning, He will have denied Jesus 3 times.
Here Jesus issues the call to watch and pray, and as Luke mentions, as well, Jesus says watch and pray also “...Pray that you enter not into temptation....”
Peter and the other disciples will face a great deal of temptation in just hours from now…What will make the difference… Prayer.
Prayer always makes the difference. What we are being told here, if they had watched and prayed they would have remained faithful…
Yet Jesus know in His omniscience, the men were weary and fatigue, the late hour would induce sleep
Prayer is the difference maker my friends… Prayer leads us closer to God the Father, helps us know His will, guidance and power.
Pray...
2. Jesus Prayed...
That night as Jesus calls on Peter, James and John to watch and pray with him, we see that Jesus prayed as well.
Now we know from the testimony of the Scriptures, Jesus did pray that night, but he didn’t pray with the disciples, He went off by himself as he often did and prayed.
Let’s look at the Scriptures… verses 39-40
39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
So think of this, He left 8 of the disciples near the entrance to the garden, and took Peter, James and John and went a little further toward the interior of the garden and gave them the command to watch and pray.
But slipping off a little further He begins to pray...
Now what He is asking here in this prayer has been a point of controversy through the years as people have debated the meaning of what Jesus is asking for from the Father...
v39 “.....“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”....
Some have said the was trying to abandon the work of God completely, Lord deliver me from this..... No, I don’t think so…
There is a lot of stress here, in His humanity, I cannot imagine knowing what he was about to face… we have talked about that a little. He knows all things are possible for the Father, God is omnipotent.
If it’s possible for this cup to pass from me… but if not… Not my will but your will… The “cup” Jesus mentions here, refers to the cup of suffering… But regardless if the cup could pass or not, The meaning here is that Jesus makes it abundantly clear I Will carry out your divine plans.
He knows all things are possible for God. He is willing, and he does.
And then there is something else I want you to see my friends..
I want to point this out here, if you look at the Gospel of Luke, oh Doctor Luke gives us more detail if the moment...
41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Two thing for you to see here…
A. One is for the moment that awaits here, we see an angel appears to Jesus as He is praying by himself. An Angel comes to strengthen Him.
The next 8 to 10 hours are going to be difficult my friends. He will be marched back into the city, to the house of the high priest, to the Pilate and then Herod and back to Pilate house.
Jesus is taken down into the soldiers areas and beaten and whipped, finally after all this Jesus is forced to walk to the place of his crucifixion, carrying his cross part of the way.
It has been estimated that Jesus walked almost 12 miles in those 8 to 10 hours, let alone his suffering.
God gave Him strength for the moment…
My friends, I believe there are times like that for us, in our broken, weary condition God strengthens us for the moments at hand.
B. Luke also tells us that Jesus, as he prayed His sweat became as great drops of blood. What does that mean....
The condition is called “Hematohidrosis”, (Hema-ta-hidrosis ) its a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood,
It occurs under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress
As Jesus is under such emotional and physical strain that night, his natural body reacts under it.
How incredible...
In the midst of this strain, Jesus prayed.... So let me ask you… do you pray regularly, or do pray each day - everyday.
Jesus prayed daily, so it was natural for him to pray in that moment of great anguish.
Are you praying naturally each day?
If you don’t, well you miss out on more than you will ever know.....
Now just one last thought my friends for this week....
3. Jesus Betrayed....
We know that night as Jesus prayed, He went back to those 3 men, Peter, James and John 3 times, admonishing them to watch and pray with Him
He asked them, and he went and prayed… then coming back to them again He admonishing them to watch and pray, then He would retreat from them and pray more, He did this back and forth 3 times…
That is just how important these moments were....
But sadly the time had come...
Join me in looking at verses 45-50
45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
47 While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.
Wow, Judas, the betrayer lead those who wished to kill Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane that they might arrest Him.
And when they came Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss and they laid their hands on Him.
The whole point here is the arrest of Jesus.... He allows it. They only do what He allows, remember who Jesus is, the very Son of God. He could have called legions of angels to His defense, but instead He allows them.
Now it is here that we see one of the last miracles of Jesus...
V 51-54
51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
Now the Gospel of John, chapter 18 tells us that the disciple with a sword was Peter...
As they lay hands on Jesus, Peter rushes up draws his sword and swings, and cuts the ear off one of the High Priest’s servants named Malchus John 18:10, wow
Now you know that hurt, and in the midst of Peter’s zeal, Jesus tells him to put away His sword… V 52 for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
Ole Doctor Luke tells us that Jesus steps over to Malchus and heals him, listen to Luke 22:51
51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.
Wow, you would think seeing that, they would have walked away from Jesus, but their hearts are crooked and being betrayed they took hold of Jesus arresting him to lead Him to Caiaphas house, who was the High Priest.
And remember, what happened.,.. when they took hold of Jesus the disciples fled… being scared they rean
56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
Even John Mark (Gospel of Mark), when they took hold of him, ran out of this clothes
51 And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
He was wearing the more simple tunic without the outer robes that evening, and when they tried to capture him… he leaves them holding his clothes..
Wow..
My friends, we are moving closer and closer to the cross… it is sad for us to recount, the way people treated him, but all this is necessary.
God did this to redeem us, to save us from our sin.
He did this out of His great love for us, to bring us back to Him that we could not only walk with Him here, but in the next life as well.
He is the only way to heaven my friends, do you know Him today?
It begins with a decision in your heart, by faith you ask him to save you.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Have you done this today?
Have you but feel like you are not as close to him as you once were, you can be. All you need to do is ask him to forgive you. He will and you can be restored....
Let your heart be His today fully and freely....
Let’s pray