Word of Salvation – March 2024

 

Gethsemane – JESUS IN AGONY

 

Sermon by Rev. S. Voorwinde on Luke 22:39-46

Scripture Readings:

            Mark 14:32-42 & Luke 22:39-46

Sermon Text:

            Luke 22:39-46

 

Introduction

How do you cope with difficult and scary situations that you can’t avoid? As you reflect back on your own life, how have you coped with difficult and scary situations that you couldn’t avoid?

• Imagine a Year 12 student about to sit the final exam in their worst subject. How do they feel? How do they cope?
• Or what about Olympic athletes on the starting line for the race of their lives? Maybe it’s the 100-metre dash or perhaps it’s the 400-metre free-style. How do you calm your nerves in a situation like that? How do you not jump the gun or miss it altogether?
• Or think of an older person who has been suffering from heart problems and needs a triple or perhaps even a quadruple bypass. What sorts of thoughts would be going through her mind as she enters the hospital where the operation is going to be performed? Will she make it through? Will she survive?
• Or let’s up the ante a little further and imagine a soldier about to go into battle. Think of the Australian cavalry, the Light Horsemen, of WW1. They apparently made the last cavalry charge in history. They were riding their horses to make a surprise attack on the Turkish garrison in Beersheba in southern Israel. What thoughts would have been going through their minds? Or think of the allied forces landing on the beaches of France during WW2. Somehow, they would have to blast their way through fortified enemy defences, all the while coming under heavy artillery fire. Would they make it? Would they win the battle? Would they survive?

But all of these situations pale into insignificance compared to what we have just read about Jesus. The student facing the exam, the Olympic athlete at the start of that all-important race, the patient before a major operation, and even the soldier about to go into a life and death battle can’t compare to what Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here we have Jesus facing the toughest situation he had ever faced in his life. Here we have Jesus facing the hardest situation any human being has ever faced in their lives. Jesus is about to endure the cross, the decisive battle for our salvation, the decisive battle against sin, death, and the devil. Will he take them on? Will he persevere? Will he prevail? Or will he back down? Or might he even back out altogether and make a run for it while he still can?

Today I would like to answer these questions as we look at Luke’s account of what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane.  It is the shortest of the three accounts in the Gospels. Luke says nothing about Jesus taking Peter, James, and John with him, and that he came back to them three times, only to find them sound asleep each time. Luke gives a very compressed account. But whichever way you look at it, Gethsemane is one of the most remarkable and mysterious situations Jesus ever found himself in. But to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible, I want to look at this passage under three headings:

1. Jesus and his disciples (vv. 39-40)
2. Jesus and his Father (vv. 41-44)
3. Jesus and his disciples again (vv. 45-46)

 

1. Firstly, then, we begin with the earlier situation of Jesus with his disciples (vv. 39-40)

• Luke begins with a very matter-of-fact statement in v. 39. “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.”

It all sounds straightforward enough. Jesus and his disciples had eaten the Last Supper together earlier that evening. They had celebrated the Passover and now they are heading to the Mount of Olives where the Garden of Gethsemane was located. That’s probably where they would have camped out for the night.

But there’s a catch. Not all the disciples are with Jesus. One of his disciples was missing. And that of course was Judas. Luke has already told us that Judas has made a deal with the chief priests and the officers that he would betray Jesus to them. They would pay him money and he would betray Jesus away from the crowds. And Jesus knew it. He even predicted it to his disciples at the Last Supper. They should all have known that Jesus would be betrayed.

But here’s the thing. Notice that in our opening verse Luke tells us that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives as was his custom. In other words, he went to the Mount of Olives as usual. He went to the exact same spot where they had been camping out every night for the past week. He was already outside the city walls of Jerusalem. He already had the cover of darkness on the Mount of Olives. And just over the hill was the wilderness, where they would never have found him. He could have made a run for it, but he didn’t. He went to the Mount of Olives as was his custom, as usual. He knew exactly what was going to happen. But he went to his normal spot, where it would be easy for Judas to find him. That’s amazing.

• When they reached the spot, Jesus told his remaining disciples, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation” (v. 40).

He’s not asking them to do too much. In fact, he’s asking them to do something that he had taught them before, and probably more than once. He’s even asking them what I think he’s taught all of us as well. Remember that petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:4)? But they failed to do it. And as a result, they all fell into temptation. Judas betrayed him. Peter denied him. And the rest all ran away. But before we point the accusing finger, let me ask you a very personal question: How often do you pray that you may not enter into temptation? Is it only when you recite the Lord’s Prayer? Or do you pray for that at other times as well? Or do you perhaps think that you are above temptation or that you are immune from temptation? If Jesus’ closest disciples can fall, so can we. Let’s pray more regularly that we do not fall into temptation.

2. But the greatest temptation of all was for Jesus himself. We see this when he spends time alone with his Father (vv. 41-44).

 

• Jesus removes himself a short distance away from the disciples. “About a stone’s throw,” it says (v. 41). He is still close enough to them, that they can probably hear every word he prays.

The normal posture for prayer in those days was standing. But here it says that Jesus knelt down and prayed. Matthew says that Jesus “fell on his face and prayed” (26:39). Mark says that “he fell on the ground” (14:35). But there are no contradictions here. Jesus prayed for at least an hour (Matt 26:40; Mark 14:35). He started the prayer in a kneeling position, but then as the prayer became more intense, he fell with his face to the ground.

• And what a prayer it was! Luke gives us the gist of it: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done” (v. 42).

Jesus wants the cup to be removed. But what is the cup? In our culture a cup is usually a pretty positive thing. Who doesn’t like their nice cup of tea? What jockey doesn’t want to win the Melbourne Cup? Or what rugby team doesn’t want to make it to the Bredisloe Cup? And on New Year’s Eve we sing Auld Lang Syne, which has the line, “And we’ll take a cup of kindness yet.” Even when we take Lord’s Supper or Communion, as we take the wine, it is referred to as “the cup of blessing which we bless” (1 Cor 10:16). So across our culture, at all levels, a cup is seen as a very good thing.

But in Jesus’ day that wasn’t always the case. Let me give you some examples from the Old Testament:

In Psalm 11:6, David prays a very strong prayer:

“Let the Lord rain (burning) coals on the wicked;

fire and sulphur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.”

In Psalm 75, Asaph predicts a day of judgment to come in these words:

“For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup

With foaming wine, well mixed,

And he pours out from it. And all the wicked of the earth

Shall drain it down to the dregs” (v. 8).

Isaiah refers to it as “the cup of staggering” and “the bowl of God’s wrath” (51:22).

Or think of what the LORD said to Jeremiah:

“’Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.’

“So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it” (Jer 25:15-17).

So what then is the cup that Jesus wanted the Father to remove from him? It was the terrible cup of God’s judgment and of God’s wrath. And what was in that cup? Do you remember what Jesus had said to his disciples about the cup of wine at the Last Supper? “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). It is as though he had looked into the cup and saw that it was filled with his own blood. He found it repulsive and revulsive. It appalled him completely and he begged his Father to take it away. Was there no other way? Does it have to be like this? “O Father, you are the God of infinite possibilities, is this the only way to secure the salvation of your people? Please can’t you do it differently? Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.”

But that’s not the end of his prayer. Another sentence immediately follows: “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus was tempted to avoid the path of suffering that God had appointed for him. But in the end, he is prepared to bow to the Father’s will, although he desperately had wanted it to be different.

• And immediately Jesus’ prayer was answered. As it says in the next verse, “And there appeared an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (v. 43).

That may not have been the answer that Jesus wanted, but it was the answer that he needed. What do you need more when you are tempted? For the temptation to be taken away or for the strength to endure it? What does a student need more before a difficult exam? To have the exam cancelled or to sit down and pass it? The Father knew what Jesus needed. So he sent an angel from heaven to strengthen him. Jesus had resolved to walk the way of suffering. Now he needed the strength to persevere. And that can be hard, very hard. He had chosen a bitterly hard road. And that explains those puzzling words of v. 44:

• “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.”

He was strengthened, but that did not take away the agony. There was still a torturously difficult road ahead. But what exactly was that agony he was in? Let’s see if the other accounts of Gethsemane can help us answer that question.

• Matthew says that Jesus “began to be sorrowful and troubled” (26:37).
• Mark says that he “began to be greatly distressed and troubled” (14:33).
• In both these Gospels Jesus says, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt 26:38; Mark 14:34).
• Then we get some further insight into Jesus’ agony from the letter to the Hebrews, where it says that “Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears” (Heb 5:7).

Now let’s put all of these together: Jesus was sorrowful; he was troubled; he was distressed; his soul was very sorrowful, even to death; he prayed with loud cries and tears. How would you summarise all of that? Perhaps the best answer is the way Luke puts it, “he was in agony.” That just sums it up so well. He was in agony. And in that desperate emotional state, “he prayed more earnestly.”

And as he prayed, that agony was so overwhelming that it even affected him physically: “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Even as Jesus prayed, he was sweating profusely. The sweat was just pouring off him and dripping on to the ground. He is just one pool of sweat and he is drenched in it.

But even that doesn’t explain everything. His sweat became like drops of blood. In other words, it became bloody sweat. He was sweating so hard that it mingled with his blood. This is a very rare medical condition known as ‘hematidrosis’. The term simply combines the two Greek words for ‘blood’ and ‘sweat’. An article in a medical journal back in 2003 had this to say about hematidrosis, “The psychogenic cause was found to occur in an acute emotional period, for example, fear of death.” Now isn’t this the exact situation that Jesus was in? As he faced death, Jesus sweat mixed with his blood. He was terrified, he was petrified by what lay ahead. Death was staring him in the face.

We can so sympathise with Jesus for the emotional turmoil in which he finds himself. But surely this raises an important question: Weren’t there others who faced death more bravely than he did? Think of Socrates who drank the hemlock with complete composure. And on that score didn’t even some of Jesus’ own followers do better than he did?

• Think of Polycarp the bishop of Smyrna in the second century. He refused to say, “Caesar is lord,” and for this he was hauled before the authorities. His punishment was death by fire. But before he was tied up to be burned, the consul was prepared to give Polycarp one more chance. “Polycarp, consider the greatness of your age. Just curse Christ and you will live.” To which Polycarp famously replied, “These 86 years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I curse my King who saved me?” After those words he was consigned to the flames.
• Or think of those who were persecuted for their faith at the time of the English Reformation. Two Anglican clergy, Latimer and Ridley, were condemned to being burned at the stake. And as they were being tied up, Latimer said to Ridley, “Come now, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light a flame in England such as will never go out.”

Compared to Polycarp, Latimer and Ridley, Jesus in Gethsemane seems to cut a pathetic figure. Here he is, lying on the ground, drenched in sweat and blood, praying with loud cries and tears – a sorry sight. Why is he so different from these courageous followers of his?

The question reminds me of the movie The Passion of the Christ. It was about twenty years ago, and we went to see it as a family. And in the car on the way home we were discussing what we thought of it. We couldn’t all agree on whether it was good or bad, but in the end we did think the film had its limitations. For us the big question was, how did Jesus suffer? On the cross he suffered in three ways:

• He suffered physically, and in the movie his physical suffering was portrayed very graphically – at times almost too graphically. We flinched at every blow.
• On the cross Jesus also suffered emotionally, and that was more difficult to portray, although some of it did come through in the film.
• And then Jesus also went through the profoundest spiritual suffering on the cross. And that’s impossible to portray in a movie. For Jesus that was the crux of the matter. He could cope with the physical suffering. He could cope with the emotional suffering. But the thought of being forsaken by God, of being deserted by his own Father, of being left in the lurch by the One we whom he had enjoyed such intimate fellowship for all eternity, that’s what he dreaded. That’s what filled him with agony. On the cross he would drink the cup of the wrath and judgment of God.

That’s what explains the blood and the sweat in Gethsemane. Jesus did not drink the cup in Gethsemane, he consented to drink it. On the cross he drained that cup to the dregs for the sins of his people.

3. Then, finally, in vv. 45-46, Jesus is with his disciples again.

 

• But when he gets up from prayer and comes back to them, what does he find? They have all fallen asleep from sorrow.

It had been a big day. They had to prepare the Passover. Then that evening they had eaten the Passover together. As they ate, Jesus had said some heavy things that were hard to digest. Jesus would be killed. They would be scattered, and they would all desert him. So now they had all fallen asleep, not because they were so tired but “for sorrow” (v. 45). It had been a long, sad day.

• Even so, Jesus was not impressed. While he was sweating great drops of blood, his apostles slept!

So in the last verse of our passage, he rebukes them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (v. 46). He is repeating almost exactly what he had said before. When they arrived at the Mount of Olives, he told them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation” (v. 40). But instead, they had nodded off. So he tells them again, but now it’s probably too late for them. Judas has just arrived. The hour of temptation has come.

Conclusion

In closing, let me make just two points of application:

1. We learn from the disciples’ experience that prayer is hard. Yes, they were tired. Yes, they were sad. But they should have prayed. And we should pray too and never give up. Jesus persevered in prayer and so should we:

• Keep praying not to enter into temptation.
• Keep praying for those who don’t believe yet.
• Keep praying for your families.
• Keep praying for those who govern us.
• Keep praying about everything that troubles you.
• Keep praying every day.

2. So this passage leaves with the challenge to pray and keep on praying. But for some of us here, this passage poses an even greater challenge. On the cross Jesus drank the cup – the cup of God’s judgment and wrath against human sin. Now either Jesus drank that cup for you, or you will still have to drink it yourself. If we trust in Jesus Christ and in him alone for our salvation, then he has drunk that cup for us. Then the cup of God’s wrath and judgment has become for us the cup of blessing and salvation. So there are two cups. Which one will you be drinking from?