Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:29-46)

As we know, there are different ways of telling a story. This reality happens in news reports, in obituaries, in eyewitness accounts, in family discussions. The same occurs regarding the stories of Jesus in the Gospels. Each Gospel refers to what took place in Gethsemane, but they don’t report the same details. For example, John does not make any reference to Jesus’ distress and his agonising prayers. All he says is that Jesus and his disciples went to Gethsemane and that Judas appeared with soldiers to arrest him.

Luke is possibly different from the other three accounts in that he was not an eyewitness of what occurred. Matthew and John were present. We may wonder about Mark, but it is regarded as likely that he is the unnamed man described in Mark 14:51-52 (in any case, it is generally accepted that Peter helped him compose his Gospel). Luke also does not say that Jesus prayed three times, nor does he say that Jesus separated Peter, James and John from the other disciples. This does not mean that Luke did not know those details. Rather it is a reminder that the Holy Spirit guided him to mention the details that he does because through them he gives his picture, his report, his assessment of the life of Jesus.

Somebody has said that when we come to the gate of Gethsemane we should remove our shoes from our feet because we are entering holy ground. Imagine being in heaven and overhearing a conversation between the Father and the Son. With what respect we would listen. In Gethsemane, we overhear one side of a conversation between the same divine persons. Yet we should have similar reverence as if we were sitting beside the river of life. Because this conversation had a great deal to do with whether we would ever sit at the riverside.

Intention (v. 39)

Luke tells us, first, that Jesus chose to go to the garden which was at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It is Luke that tells that this was Jesus’ custom. He may mean that was Jesus’ custom at Passover time since it was necessary to stay in Jerusalem if one was keeping the Passover. It was Jesus’ custom at other times as well for John tells us that he ‘often met there with his disciples’. He had gone to Bethany on the previous evenings of this last week which was drawing to a close. But his last evening before his death would be spent in the garden after he left the upper room.

Since he knew that Judas would know about this practice, he could have avoided going there if he wished. So why would Jesus have chosen to go to the garden? There was the resolve to proceed with his mission, there was the desire he had for fellowship with his disciples, and there was the necessity for dealing with his own thoughts through earnest prayer with his Father. In all probability, there would be a mixture of those three features.

Instruction (v. 40)

Luke’s account brackets the incident with the same call by Jesus to his disciples to pray that they would not enter into temptation (vv. 40, 46). Clearly, we know that they did not listen to the first instruction because they chose to sleep instead. Did they listen the second time? It does not look like it.

Why did Jesus give this instruction? This question can be answered in two ways. First, there is a general application in the sense that we should pray this request continually. After all, it is one of the petitions found in the Lord’s Prayer. We should make use of this petition because of our inherent weakness caused by sin. The fact is that, for us, any temptation is dangerous in a spiritual sense because it may be the arrow that the devil needs to enter our minds and hearts.

Second, there are times when temptation is liable to be stronger than at other times. The disciples had been warned earlier that evening about how the devil had asked to sift them like wheat. Sifting is a graphic description, one that indicates something being thrown all over the place until only what was genuine remained.

It is important to note that Jesus refers to entering into temptation. We know that some temptations are brief, they may only happen once or twice, and their presence in our minds does not last long. But there can be periods of intense temptation as many Christians have testified. Jesus here gives counsel to his disciples about their own need of prayer before such a time comes, not so much to avoid it, but not to be so intensely affected by it.

Isolation (vv. 41-42)

It is Luke who tells us the distance that Jesus withdrew from them. Some commentators point out that the word translated ‘withdrew’ can have the meaning of reluctance, as if he did not wish to leave them in this time of danger. Yet such was the pressure on his own heart that he was compelled to move away, perhaps so that he would not be distracted. But his repeated returns to them shows that they were still very much on his mind.

We are not usually informed what posture Jesus used when he prayed. John tells us that Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven (John 17:1), although the context indicates that he would have been standing with his disciples at that time. He says to his disciples in Mark 11:25, ‘And whenever you stand praying…’ Kneeling in prayer by us may indicate heightened reverence, but Jesus would be reverent whenever he prayed. Perhaps, kneeling indicated something of the intensity that he felt.

His prayer is marked by sense of sonship, submission to God’s will and specificity of request. Although the petition is short, the imperfect tense of the verb indicates that it was repeated, perhaps many times.

There are many things that can be observed in the life of Jesus and one of them is his awareness of the precious relationship he had with the heavenly Father. In one way, he had known this relationship from eternity, but here he prays as the Father’s servant, submissive to the will of the One who had sent him into the world. Because he is God, Jesus could have claimed equality here, but he didn’t. Instead he prayed as the Mediator appointed by the Father to perform the work of redemption. Indeed, he said to Peter that he could have summoned legions of angels to defeat his enemies, but what would have happened to our salvation if he had?

The specific nature of his request is seen in his reference to a cup. The illustration of a cup in itself is neutral because the Bible speaks of the cup of blessing and the cup of wrath. Here it is the cup of wrath, but what is surprising about it is that he had done nothing worthy of divine wrath. He had been holy in thought, word and deed. Never had he known a sinful thought or performed a sinful action. But he was holding the cup as our Representative and as he looked at it he saw what an awful thing the wrath of God is. Yet he is willing to drink it if there is no other way for his people to be delivered from divine wrath.

Input (v. 43)

Luke is the only Gospel writer who tells us that ‘there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.’ This appearance occurred as he was a stone’s throw away from the disciples, so it is possible that they did not hear what the angel said to his Creator. The angel strengthened him not by giving physical strength as if the angel could somehow participate in the relief that Jesus wanted. Instead he did or said something that brought strength to Jesus.

Some have suggested that he bowed reverently before Jesus, others have suggested that he brought a message from heaven to Jesus, and others have suggested that he quoted words from the Old Testament about the sufferings and glory of the Messiah to Jesus. I would incline to the last option, but who can say? Whatever method was used, it is astonishing to think that a creature strengthened the Mediator in his mission of salvation!

Moody Stuart in his Recollections of John Duncan mentions how Duncan ‘would sometimes ask, “Who is your favourite angel? which of them would you like best to see? Many would choose Gabriel; but the one I most desire to see is the angel who came down to strengthen my Lord in his agony in the garden.”’ There is something striking and intriguing about Duncan’s desire.

Andrew Bonar had a well-known sermon about different angels who were sent on divine missions. In his sermon he imagined what those angels would say to him and to people in his congregation. When it came to this angel, Bonar had the angel say this: ‘say to your communicants, if they had been there, if they had seen one of the great drops of blood that fell on the cold ground, or one tear on that holy countenance, so marred and worn more than any man’s, or heard one groan as he cried, “Abba Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!’ they would surely come to the Communion Table with awful reverence and wonder, their tears dropped into the cup of blessing and the broken bread wet with the weeping of grateful love.’

Intensit

Having been strengthened, we see that Jesus continues to pray. Even although he has been strengthened he is still in agony. We can see the intensity of his agony in that he was sweating profusely. He sweated blood. Apparently, some when dying in agony have sweated blood. But here it was great drops. The greater the agony, the more earnestly he prayed. The evidence for that was the presence of those great drops, and it is interesting that Luke the doctor is giving us a diagnosis from which we can appreciate to some extent the intensity of the Saviour’s agony.

Instruction (vv. 45-46)

And then suddenly the prayer was over, at least in the sense in which he had wrestled with his dilemma. But another kind of prayer was not over, indeed it had to begin, and that was prayer by the disciples. So far, they had not prayed in the garden. Now they were to leave the garden at his command, and he tells them to leave it prayerfully because a strong trial is ahead of the after his arrest. Sometimes sorrow can cause us to sleep, but the Saviour reminds them and us that it is more important to pray.

What thoughts can we conclude with?

One thought is that here we see the reality of the humanity of Jesus. He was and is a real man. In this incident, we see his deep emotional life, his reaction to the awful prospect that was ahead of him. Surely we can say of him, ‘Never man prayed like this man!’

A second thought that should come to mind is the awfulness of the cup of wrath that the Lord will give to those who live sinful lives. If the holiest man who ever lived shrunk from drinking this cup, how much more should any who deserve to drink it?

A third thought is the willingness of Jesus to go through with the experience of paying the penalty for sin. Going through with it was going to cost him a great deal, revealed in his cry about being forsaken by the Father. How far was he willing to go in order for his people to be delivered from that penalty.

A fourth thought concerns the reality of being very close to an important event and not realising the significance of it. The disciples slept through this astonishing event. Not only did they fall asleep, but they also returned to their sleep after Jesus had awakened them. It is good for us that the account of this incredible event has been preserved for us in the Bible. We can read it as spectators who don’t fall asleep. Yet we must be more than spectators because we must also be participators in the sense that we learn from it the importance of prayer.

Donald Macleod reminds us that ‘The wonder of the love of Christ for his people is not that for their sake he faced death without fear, but that for their sake he faced it, terrified. Terrified by what he knew, and terrified by what he did not know, he took damnation lovingly.’