#15 In The Garden Mark 14:32-34

Just three years after a rugged prophet excited all Israel with his announcement recorded in Matthew 3:2, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," the promised King was now preparing for national rejection. Why? Because there was more to the message of , as seen in John 1:29, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” You see, , the King, was also God's Lamb, and death for the Lamb must precede crowning for the King!!

Jesus had been warning His disciples about His approaching death, but they wanted to think only about His coming kingship. When the appointed hour of sacrifice was near, Jesus gathered His disciples in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover memorial of Israel's deliverance from death in Egypt. Before the meal was very far along, Judas Iscariot slipped away to inform the Jewish religious where his Master could be found. With only His faithful disciples around Him, Jesus changed His last Passover meal into 's Supper. Matthew 26:28 tells us that He gave a New Covenant in His blood "which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The bewildered disciples could not yet grasp the necessity for Jesus' death, but His words about suffering, separation, and solace convinced them that their Master expected to die. The solemn supper finished, Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem and followed the path into the Kidron Valley that led to the Mount of Olives. They crossed a brook that flowed with the blood of animals sacrificed in the temple, and Jesus must have thought how His own blood would pour on the ground before another day ended.

Jesus felt the need to pray, so He led His disciples to a garden of olive trees and shrubs on the lower slope of the Mount of Olives. It was named Gethsemane, or "olive press," as olives were processed there into oil, for the use of the owner. Apparently the spot was well known to the disciples as a prayer retreat, and they found it in the dark with no difficulty. Among this little group of olive trees occurred the greatest soul struggle experienced by a human - a struggle for purity, for life, and for ultimate submission to God.

Jesus, facing His last night alive on earth, entered the garden of prayer. Here the Son of God fought His greatest battle: the submission of His will to take upon Himself the sins of all mankind and to be separated from His Father in judgment. We cannot really comprehend this, but we can seek a holy appreciation for the measureless suffering Jesus accepted for us.

We are accustomed to sensing a quiet assurance in the prayers of Jesus. He always displayed a trust in his Father's accessibility and in His goodness to 1 answer. Standing before the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus thanked God aloud before He called for Lazarus to come forth after four days in the grave. The miracle was no sooner sought than it was granted.

But in the garden, Jesus' praying was altogether different. Instead of standing or kneeling, Jesus fell upon His face, prostrate before God in helpless appeal. The scene amazes us: what could bring the glorious Son of God so low? And what was His petition?

That a "cup" would be removed from Him, that this hour would pass from Him. Three times Jesus prayed this way, and the intensity of His pleas must have disfigured His countenance - the countenance that had been transfigured during His prayer on Mount Hermon.

The Garden of Gethsemane truly became the Garden of Grief. Luke 22:44 calls it "an agony" pressing on Jesus. Mark 14:33 records that Jesus "He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.” Matthew 26:37 also reported that Jesus "began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.” In Matthew 26:38 Jesus told His disciples, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” In a whirlwind of grief, Jesus apparently was near death in Gethsemane.

In Matthew 26:39, Jesus referred to a cup, asking, "He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” In the Old Testament, we read of the cup of wrath or cup of evil, referring to the bitterness of wrath or evil that will be experienced by wrongdoers. Jesus never displeased His Father by wrongdoing, but He knew the wrath of God would break upon Him when He took on Himself the sins of the world. That knowledge apparently produced the physical, mental, and spiritual agony He suffered in Gethsemane.

The physical torment was the most evident. Luke 22:44 says, "And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Some doctors say this probably means the capillaries in the blood system burst, actually spilling blood from the pores of His skin along with the perspiration.

In the extremity of physical stress, the greater suffering of Jesus was undoubtedly mental. The Bible teaches that Jesus loved to be with people. Critics complained that John the Baptist was something of a recluse, but they criticized Jesus a "drunkard” and a "glutton” because He "ate and drank with sinners." He did enjoy mingling with people, and so the parting with more and more of His friends caused increasing grief to Jesus.

2 At first, Jesus was surrounded by so many followers that He had literally had to find places of seclusion for rest. Then John 6:51-52 says that one day He turned to the half-hearted and sensation-seekers, and said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” And verses 66-67 give us this insight, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus took only the "inner circle" of three disciples with him to pray - and they fell asleep. In desolate loneliness, forgotten by His friends, Jesus prayed for strength to carry the burdens of the world.

I like what the writer wrote when he wrote:

"It was alone the Savior prayed, in dark Gethsemane. Alone he drained the bitter cup and suffered there for me. Alone, alone, He bore it all alone, He gave Himself to save His own, He suffered, bled, and died, alone, alone."

Isolation in the garden, however, was not Jesus' most painful separation. Matthew 27:46 tells us that would come on the cross when Jesus brokenly called: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Whatever Jesus must have felt in the Garden did not even come close to the emotional pain He felt on the cross.

Hebrews 4:15 tells us that from the day of Adam to the present generation, Jesus Christ is the only One about whom it can be said, "He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” In our wildest dreams we cannot imagine the sensitivity of such a conscience. Jesus Christ in His sinlessness never had a selfish thought, never spoke a wicked word, and never cast a covetous look. But in the darkness of Gethsemane the spotless Lord of glory begins to feel the weight of the sins of humanity.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus Christ, as no other man, knew the horror of sin. He had seen sin make demons out of angels, immoral beasts out of men, and destructive forces out of benevolent elements in the universe. Sin was completely repulsive to Him, yet He was destined to be "made sin" in order to redeem sinners. Have you ever felt the shame of guilt, the bitterness of hatred, or the misery of rejection? Jesus has been there before you. In Gethsemane, He began His terrible suffering in order that you and I might be 3 forgiven, cleansed, and transformed. For in Gethsemane came victory as well as agony.

Look, once more, very closely at Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane. He prayed three times in the drawn-out struggle, each time voicing the same plea and the same commitment, finally reaching complete victory.

Matthew 26:39 tells us that Jesus prayed, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Notice that Jesus renounced His own will even as He expressed His revulsion against the cup of sin and its accompanying wrath. Self-concern would have compelled Jesus to avoid the suffering for other's sins, but Jesus resisted the sin of selfishness and surrendered His will to the Father's.

Choosing to follow our own will instead of God's will is the destructive sin of God's fallen creatures. In Isaiah 14 we read the arrogant "I wills" of Satan's rebellion against God. Just before the Gethsemane agony, Mark 14:29-31 tells us about the self-confident declaration of Peter, “On the way, Jesus told them, All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there. Peter said to him, Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will. Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, Peter - this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me. No! Peter declared emphatically. Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” We know, of course, that Peter allowed his fear to overcome his faith and he did in deed deny ever knowing the Lord of glory.

For the Garden to this very day, our disobedience to God is in reality the assertion of our will in place of the will of God. And we will never come to the place of full usefulness as a Christian until we have our own "Gethsemane" where we can honestly say, "Lord, not as I will." You see, God's will is not something to be considered, but something to be done!

The crisis was past; the conquest was complete; and in the distance Jesus heard the clanking of swords and saw the flashes of lantern carried by a mob intent on capturing Him. Awakening His sleeping disciples, Jesus informed them His betrayer had arrived. There was no fear of what awaited Him - Jesus had won, through final surrender to His Father, and Satan had lost the crucial battle of his war.

Sooner or later, every Christian must come to the place of making the decision of saying "yes" to self or saying "yes" to God's will for their life.

A combination lock is built so that when you get all of the pieces of the 4 mechanism in line, the lock opens. And when all of the pieces of my will align with the Word and will of God, victory opens for me. That is the personal meaning of Gethsemane. When you go there, Jesus will be with you to lead you through to victory. If you are not saved, why not today?

Everyone please stand for prayer.

Father,

Your Word is true. Thank you for making victory available to each of us. Now give me the courage to follow the truths of your Word and will for my life in my everyday living. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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