Mark 14:27-52, Jesus & You In the Garden of Gethsemane
Introduction:
In our last lesson we saw Judas pointed out by Jesus as His betrayer. Judas has left the room and gone out to betray Jesus. While Judas is gone, Jesus has instituted the Lord’s Supper to be done in remembrance of Him. Jesus and the disciples have left the city of Jerusalem and are walking to the Mount of Olives .
Jesus’ Prediction (14:27 -31)
All will fall away
As Jesus and His disciples are walking out to the Mount of Olives , along the way Jesus makes another startling statement. Just as Jesus made a startling statement at the table that one of them would be His betrayer, Jesus has another bombshell to tell His disciples: “All of you will fall.” How startling and upsetting these words would have been to these eleven dedicated followers of Christ. Jesus further states that this would be the fulfillment of prophecy, “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” This prophecy can be found in Zechariah 13:7. The striking of the shepherd clearly refers to being killed, for Jesus continues that after He has been resurrected, He will go ahead of His disciples to Galilee .
Disciples’ response
Peter immediately jumps into the conversation with great words of faith and dedication. “Even if everyone falls, yet I will not!” You have to admire these words of Peter. He knows his own heart and his own intentions. He loves Jesus and He is ready to stand with Jesus. But Jesus makes a specific prediction about what Peter will do. This very night Peter is going to deny Jesus three times before dawn when the rooster crows. As difficult as the first prediction must have been for the disciples to hear that they would all fall, how much more difficult to hear that Peter would deny Jesus this very night before the dawn of the sun! Not only would Peter deny Jesus, but he would deny Jesus three times in the span of a couple of hours. Peter insisted emphatically that he will not deny Jesus. Peter even says, “If I have to die with You, I will never deny You!” All the rest of the disciples say the same thing. We are reading about some very dedicated men who are ready in their minds to die for their Lord. This is the faith that has been evident previously in the gospels. When Jesus decides to go to Jerusalem despite the fact that the Jewish leaders want to kill Him, Thomas says that they should all go with Him and die with Him. They have dedication and loyalty to Jesus. Jesus says they will all fall and that Peter will deny Him three times. The disciples insist that they will not fall and that Peter will not deny Jesus.
The Garden of Gethsemane (14:32 -42)
The humanity of Jesus
Jesus and His disciples come to a place called Gethsemane and Jesus tells His disciples to sit there while He prays. Then Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with Him and goes a little further. What we now read begins to remind us about the humanity of Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus began to be horrified and deeply distressed. We must envision the turmoil that Jesus is experiencing. Jesus even says directly to Peter, James, and John, “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow--to the point of death.” We cannot even begin to know the distress that Jesus is feeling right now. He knows that He is moments from His arrest. He knows that He is going to be beaten, painful mistreated, and scourged. He knows that He is going to be made fun of, mocked, and humiliated publicly for all of Jerusalem to see, including His disciples and His mother. He knows that He is going to be nailed into a cross and hang on that cross for hours. The Son of God is going to experience all of these things. The writer of Hebrews said, “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 3:10). No man has ever known what Jesus would go through. No one could foresee all the events of their own betrayal, rejection, arrest, painful mistreatment, crucifixion, and death. These things were heavily weighing upon Jesus’ mind. Jesus, with all these things in mind, instructs Peter, James, and John to stay here and to stay awake.
The prayer of Jesus
Jesus then goes a little further, falls to the ground, and prays that if it is possible that the hour might pass from Him. Jesus prays, “Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” I wonder at how great the temptation was for Jesus to call all of this off. This was Jesus’ purpose and the fullness of time had come. But how easy it could have been to avoid the agony and avoid the cross by stopping all that was about to happen. Jesus could have left the garden and given up on what He was supposed to do. We will spend more time looking at the nature of Jesus’ prayer later in the lesson. After prayer, Jesus comes back to His disciples, whom He had instructed to stay awake with Him, and finds them sleeping. Jesus tells His three disciples to stay awake and pray. Jesus specifically directs His words at Peter, after telling Him about his coming denial, to stay awake and pray so that he will not enter into temptation. Jesus then goes away and prays again, saying the same thing. When Jesus returns, He finds the three disciples sleeping again. Jesus now tells them that it is time. The time has come, for the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
The Arrest of Jesus (14:43 -52)
The betrayal
While Jesus is still speaking these words, Judas arrives with a mob that has swords and clubs. The large crowd has been sent from the chief priests, scribes, and elders. How frightening a scene this must be as a mob is moving closer to you in the middle of the night with torches lighting the way and swords and clubs in their hands. But if this is not frightening enough, the gospel of John tells us that the chief priests and Pharisees have ordered a Roman detachment of soldiers to go, too. A Roman detachment, or cohort, of soldiers was 600 in number. We do not know if this is the exact number of soldiers coming, but even if it is only a fraction of that, it is enough to strike fear into the hearts of the disciples. Judas then walks right up to Jesus, says “Rabbi,” and kisses Him. This is the sign so that the large mob can identify Jesus in the middle of the night. Immediately, the mob lay their hands upon Jesus and arrest Him.
The disciples’ reaction
Peter then draws His sword and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Peter said that he was ready to die with Jesus, and his actions prove those words thus far. Peter is ready to defend Jesus. He is not going to allow His Lord to be taken away without a fight. But Jesus intervenes. Jesus notes how this large mob and detachment of soldiers have come brandishing their weapons. Yet Jesus was in the temple courts every day simply teaching, and nothing was done. I believe Jesus is noting not only their need for a great force to arrest Him, but that they are choosing to do this at night. Every day Jesus had been in the temple complex teaching and they did not do anything. But now they will arrest Him in the night. But the scriptures must be fulfilled. Luke records Jesus’ final words of the arrest, “But this is your hour--when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).
But then we come to some of the saddest words recorded in the gospel. “Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled” (14:50). The disciples who insisted that they would never fall and insisted that they would never deny Jesus, now run away. In verses 51-52 we read of one young man running away naked. What we see is that the soldiers were ready to arrest not only Jesus, but anyone who was His follower. We see this in John 18:4-9 where Jesus demands that His disciples be let go. What love Jesus still showed His disciples that He did not care about Himself, but about His disciples. Though He was about to endure such terrible treatment and be forsaken, Jesus’ concern was first for His disciples. What selfless acts we continue to see in Christ, even in His hour of need.
Practical Applications:
The Prayer of Jesus
Persistence in prayer
We certainly would be remiss if we did not consider for a few moments the way that Jesus prayed. One of the obvious points for our consideration is the persistence Jesus had in prayer. Three times Jesus went a short distance and prayed to God. Jesus did not feel that it was enough to simply offer one prayer and think that it would be sufficient. Jesus continued to pray the same things until His betrayer arrived with the large mob and Roman soldiers. If Jesus, the Son of God, saw the need to pray repeatedly and with persistence, should not we as His followers and mere human beings do the same? If anyone had access to God and the ability to sway the mind of the Father, Jesus was certainly the one. Even still, He saw the need to pray repeatedly what He desired. This is such an important lesson. Too many times our requests are made only once to God, and we do not show our earnestness in prayer. Three times within a very short time Jesus continued to repeat His request that the hour might pass from Him. If we want to receive answered prayer, it is time for us to be more persistent. We all need to call upon the Lord repeatedly about what we need and desire.
Pray according to God’s will
Another key element in Jesus’ prayer is that He prayed according to the will of the Lord. Though Jesus repeatedly prayed that the hour may pass from Him, Jesus also said, “Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” Though Jesus wanted a particular outcome, and wanted this cup of distress to leave Him, what truly mattered was God’s will and not His own. Our prayers must be prayed according to the will of the Father. I am afraid that too often we do not say these words and we do not want God’s will first in our lives. We want our will to take precedence. What often matters to us is what we want. Our prayers will never be answered if we only ask for our own selfish desires (James 4:3). God’s will must always be more important than our will.
Prayers can be answered “No”
Did Jesus get what He prayed for? Did the hour pass from Jesus? Did the cup pass from Him? The answer to all three questions is “No.” Jesus did not get what He asked from the Lord. Despite the answer being “no,” Jesus still did the Father’s will. He did not throw in the towel, chastise the Father, or resort to complaining or depression. If the Son of God received an answer of “no” from the Lord, do you suppose that we may receive a “no” answer from time to time? Of course we will receive a “no” answer. Why did the Father say “no” to Jesus? It seems clear that the reason the answer was “no” was because God was working something greater. While the path was painful, Jesus would become the sacrifice for sins and the author of salvation. It was necessary for the answer to be “no” since it was not only to glorify Jesus but to save the world. We must see that there are reasons why we receive “no” answers from the Lord. But we trust that He is working greater things in us that we cannot see when the answer “no.” We must not lose faith, but have greater trust in God that He knows what is best and is accomplishing something in our lives.
The Failure of Ourselves
We do not live up to our words
But in the greatness of Jesus we also see the shortcomings of ourselves. For all that Jesus was enduring and sacrificing for us, we see that we completely miss the mark for what Jesus has asked of us. How often we do not live up to our words, just as these disciples did. The disciples said that they would never forsake Jesus, never deny Jesus, and would die with Jesus before any of these things would happen. Yet the disciples fell short of their words. We learn a valuable lesson, one that is rather obvious but necessary to consider. It is one thing for us to “talk the talk,” but it is entirely different to “walk the walk.” It is easy to claim to be a follower of Christ and say that we would remain with Him through thick and thin. It is entirely different when the hour of temptation comes and our words are put to the test. What we think we can endure and what we can endure are usually two different levels. We are not as mature in Christ as we often think we are.
We often do not stay with Him
There are many times that we are unable to stay with Him, as He requested of Peter, James, and John. It was an important time to spend with Jesus. Jesus was on the ground just a few paces away praying, yet the disciples could not stay awake with Him. I wondered, at reading this passage, how often we are the same. When it is the time of temptation and the time of trouble, and our Lord is right there, we will not spend time with Him. How often we neglect to spend time with our Lord. Instead, we are sleeping or caving in to the desires of our flesh. There are more important things to be doing in the kingdom of God , yet we place such a priority on the clamor of our flesh.
We can forsake Jesus
The worst of all is to see His disciples forsake Jesus and run away from Him. What a terrible choice we make to turn and run away from Jesus! Where are we running to? There is nowhere to run to if we are not running to Jesus! What else will give us peace and rest? Where else can we go to have our burdens lifted and our worries removed? I wonder about that scene as well. While I understand the reason the disciples ran, since they were to be put under arrest as well, I do not understand where they were running to. Where were the disciples going to go? After making some hard teachings, many disciples no longer followed Jesus. Jesus asked His disciples, “Do you also want to go away?” Peter gave an excellent response, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Where are we going to run to if we are not going to run to Jesus? He is the one with the words of eternal life. He is the one who can offer deliverance and salvation from the evil of this world. Where are we going to go? Let us not forsake Jesus by seeing there is nowhere else to go.
What Shall We Do?
Know the weakness of the flesh
Jesus hit our problem directly on the head when He said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” We have to know our weaknesses. We must know that we have areas that are exposed to Satan’s darts. As long as we are in the flesh, we will be exposed. Our spirits may be strong, but our spirits are in a fight with the flesh. There are times when the flesh is going to win. We are foolish if we ignore this reality. We must see what we are up against. We must know the battle that we are involved in. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12 ). But this is not all that we are to do. It is important to recognize that we are human and are subject to our sinful desires through the flesh. But we cannot leave it at that.
Be watchful!
Jesus told His disciples to be watchful. Jesus was telling them to make preparations. The hour of temptation was coming upon them. It was no time to be unprepared when the temptation struck them with its weight. Because of their lack of preparation, the disciples failed the test. The disciples could not stay awake with Jesus. The disciples forsook Jesus in His darkest hour. Peter denied Jesus three times before the morning came.
What are the preparations we can make?
--Pray. Jesus tells His disciples that instead of sleeping, they needed to be awake and praying. As we have noted earlier in the lesson, it is time to turn to God in prayer to get us through with Jesus.
--Gird up the loins of our minds. 1 Peter 1:13-16 tells us what we need to do to be prepared. First, we need to get our minds ready for action. It is a call to put on the armor to be ready for battle. We need to get our minds strong and ready for what will happen. We know our flesh is weak and that temptations are coming. So we must be mentally ready to endure and not be taken by surprise.
--Peter goes on to say that we must exercise self-control. We cannot give any room to the flesh to bring us down and cause us to stumble. We must maintain self-control in all areas.
--Finally, we cannot be conformed to our desires but must be holy in our conduct because God is holy.
It is you and me in the garden with Jesus. The hour of temptation will come. Will be we prepared, or will we be asleep? Will we remain with the Lord or will we forsake Him and run? We might say all the right words, but it is our actions that will be measured and will be a test of our faith. The spirit must overcome the flesh through the power of Jesus Christ.
