Since the season of Lent is our preparation for the
commemoration and celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ, we must
engage in prayer. (For a sermon on Lent and Fasting, see here.) This is all the
more so because the forty days of Lent is actually patterned after the forty
days of Jesus’ prayer and fasting in the wilderness immediately after His
baptism and before His public ministry.
Since we are dealing with prayer, we are going to look at
Jesus Christ. I do not know any better approach. The Gospels portray Jesus as a
man of prayer. He prayed at his baptism (Luke 3:21-22), in the morning before
heading to Galilee (Mark 1:35-36), after healing people (Luke 5:15), all night
before choosing His 12 disciples (Luke 6:12-13), while speaking to the Jewish
leaders (Matt 11:25-26), giving thanks to the Father before feeding the 5000
(Matt 14:19; Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16; John 6:11), before walking on water (Matt
14:22; Mark 6:46; John 6:15), while healing a deaf and mute man (Mark 7:31-37),
giving thanks to the Father before feeding the 4000 (Matt 15:36; Mark 8:6-7),
before Peter called Jesus “the Christ” (Luke 9:18), at the return of the
seventy (Luke 10:21), before teaching His disciples the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1),
before raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41-42), for little children (Matt
19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17), that His name be glorified (John
12:27-28), at the Lord’s Supper (Matt 26:26; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19), for
Himself, for his disciples, and all believers (John 17:1-26), “Father forgive
them…” (Luke 22:34), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matt 27:46;
Mark 15:34), “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46), for
blessing on the bread (Luke 24:30), and is praying even now for us (Rom 8:34;
Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1).
But here, we are going to look at the well-known story at
the garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed in deep anguish the night before His
crucifixion. We will read Matthew 26:36-45:
Then Jesus went with his
disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here
while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he
said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of
death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell
with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may
this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he
returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep
watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so
that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and
prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away
unless I drink it, may your will be done.” When he came back, he again found
them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went
away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he
returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and
resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the
hands of sinners.
This part of the life of Jesus Christ is quite fascinating.
Many church theologians and bishops from the early church used this passage to
highlight the humanity of Christ. Indeed, we see in the story the sheer
humanity and vulnerability of Jesus Christ. He weeps like all of us. He cries
in agony. In Luke 22:44, it even says that in His sorrow, “His sweat become
like drops of blood.”
The Strength of Jesus Christ
The title might appear inappropriate, considering that the
story paints Jesus Christ as a human filled with sorrow and grief. The
descriptions that Jesus gives about himself in the passage portray His extreme
vulnerability: “he began to be sorrowful and troubled” (26:37) and “my heart is
overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (26:39). Even His commands
indicate that at that very moment He was in need of friends who can comfort
him: “stay here and keep watch with me” (26:38). There was also a hint of
disappointment and irritation in His words: “Couldn’t you men keep watch with
me for one hour?” (26:40) and “Are you still sleeping and resting?” (26:45).
But strength is displayed precisely in the midst of
weakness.
In the same moments when He was deeply troubled, He was able
to pray the difficult prayer “Your will be done” (26:39, 42, 44). This prayer
is so simple and basic, but its meaning is profound and its implications are
far-reaching. When Jesus prayed this line, it meant that God’s will be done
even though He knew it would cost Him pain, even though what God required was
death, even though it would not bring any good to Him or give Him earthly
rewards, even though the whole nation will taunt and mock Him, even though His
closest friends will betray, deny, and desert Him, and even though He would
appear like a defeated fool.
This is the strength of Jesus.
The temptation looming over Him to abandon His mission was
very appealing. Jesus was sent by the Father (John 3:16-17; 7:28-29) to
accomplish something, and the fulfilment was about to come true. He knew about
His purpose. He knew that He is the Suffering servant prophesied in the
Scriptures (Isa 53:1-7). He knew that He would die, and He made quite an effort
to reveal this fact to His disciples (Matt 16:21-28; 20:17-19; Mark 8:31-38;
10:32-34; Luke 18:31-33). We see in our story that He was sorrowful. We can
even say that there was reluctance in His tone: “if it is possible, may this
cup be taken from me” (26:39, 42).
We can learn from Jesus’ prayer that we need to pray about
the things we have previously committed to God. The temptation is always there
that we will abandon our commitments. When Jesus asked His disciples, “Watch
and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (26:41), the word used for temptation was similar to the one used in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:13). The
word refers to the “final, decisive test that accompanies the coming of God’s
kingdom” (cf Rev 3:10).[1] Like Jesus, we are tempted
to abandon our commitment for the kingdom! How often have we made that prayer
of commitment to serve and evangelize, and yet we are still not serving or
evangelizing? We must pray, Jesus said, so that we are given strength to enact
those commitments we have already made to God.
Jesus prayed because He was feeling weak and troubled. Jesus
was at the verge of abandoning His commitment and mission. He needed to
communicate to God His fear, His anxiety, His sorrow. Without prayer, our
commitments to God can easily be forgotten. Obedience is not a one-time
decision. In fact, Jesus was not content to pray once; He prayed the same
prayer three times (26:39, 42, 44). Sometimes we have to utter the same prayers
many times. We have to renew our covenant with God every day.
One Sunday morning, a husband was violently woken up by his
wife. It was already 9AM, and they have to be at church by 10AM. The husband
did not rise from the bed. Instead he lazily pulled up the blanket to cover his
entire body. The wife pulled the blanket away, and asked: “What’s wrong? You
realize it is Sunday, right?” The husband replied, “Yeah, I know, but I don’t
want to go to church today. Can we skip going just this once?” The wife was
surprised and said, “No, we have to go to church!” The husband replied, “OK.
Give me three good reasons why I should go to church today?” The wife happily
obliged and said: “First, God wants us to be with His people in worship today.
Secondly, our children will miss Sunday school. And finally, you are the pastor
of the church.”
The Weakness of the Disciples
Whether we like it or not, we are less like Jesus and more
like the disciples in the story. First, we are prone not to pray. Jesus’
statement is apt: “the spirit is willing but the body is weak” (26:41). Jesus
asked the disciples to pray three times, and He was disappointed three times
too. Not only were they not praying, they were sleeping (26:40, 43, 45). The
third time, He asked them with a stern rebuke: “Are you still sleeping and
resting?” (26:45).
Secondly, we are prone to abandon our commitments. The
contrast between Jesus and the disciples cannot be missed. The mention of three
specific disciples in the story—Peter, James, and John (26:37)—seems
purposeful, considering how these three fellows were the ones who were closest
to Jesus Christ and were the ones who made great commitments to Jesus Christ.
Peter was someone who voiced what was in his mind quite impulsively. He made
strong verbal commitments to Jesus: “Lord, why can I not follow You right
now? I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37) and “Lord, I am ready
to go with you to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). The two sons of Zebedee,
James and John, had a somewhat related story. When Jesus asked, “Can you drink
the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” they
confidently responded “We can” (Mark 10:38-39). But the same three disciples
who made these statements were the same people who, in the last hours of Jesus’
life, failed miserably. At Gethsemane, they were not even asked to lay down
their lives or drink Jesus’ cup; they were asked simply to stay and pray. Sure,
they stayed, but did not pray (26:38-40).
We, like the disciples, are weak human beings. Our spirits
are willing. Our minds are willing. Our hearts are willing, But our wills are
weak. We can make commitments and covenants with God every time we hear a
sermon, but we often times fail to carry through those commitments.
Like Jesus, we can be tempted to abandon our mission and
calling for fear of suffering, for fear of the future, or for
self-preservation. When Jesus experienced these, He “fell with his face to the
ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be
taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will’” (26:39). Then He repeated
the same prayer three times. If we are experiencing weakness, we must go back
to the Father, fall on our knees and pray. And we should do this as often as we can.
We may have made commitments this Lenten season to fast. Are
you experiencing trouble or weakness? Why don’t we go to the garden of
Gethsemane and pray “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken
from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (26:39)? Have you made commitments
in the past that you have not yet accomplished or have already abandoned? Let
us go to the garden of Gethsemane and pray “My Father, if it is possible, may
this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (26:39).
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