The Garden of Gethsemane stands as one of Christianity's most profound moments – the final hours before Jesus faced his destiny on the cross. In this deeply moving exploration of Mark 14:32-41, we unpack the raw humanity and divine purpose revealed as Christ approaches his darkest hour.
From the symbolic setting of Gethsemane (which literally means "oil press") to Jesus sweating drops of blood under immense pressure, this passage offers extraordinary insight into Christ's experience. We examine how Jesus, despite knowing what awaited him, still brought his closest disciples for support – modeling the importance of spiritual community during life's most challenging moments.
The tender moment when Jesus addresses God as "Abba Father" (similar to saying "Daddy") reveals the intimate relationship between Son and Father even as the cross loomed. His prayer – "Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will" – perfectly demonstrates how to balance honest human desire with ultimate submission to God's perfect plan.
Meanwhile, the sleeping disciples provide a sobering counterpoint to Jesus' vigilance. Their failure to "watch and pray" offers powerful lessons about spiritual alertness and the reality that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." When Jesus addresses Peter by his old name "Simon," we see how our unregenerate nature tends toward spiritual slumber while our new nature desires faithfulness.
Whether you're facing overwhelming circumstances or simply seeking deeper understanding of Christ's sacrifice, this episode provides practical application for staying spiritually alert through prayer, community, and submission to God's will. Join us as we witness Jesus at his most vulnerable, yet most triumphant moment – teaching us how to face our own Gethsemane experiences with faith and courage.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible, where we go
verse by verse and sometimesphrase by phrase, through the
Word of God.
My name's Glenn.
I'm here with Steve.
We are in the Gospel of Mark.
We've just seen Jesus leavingthe upper room and going out to
the Garden of Gethsemane.
It's a very dramatic time andJesus is under a great deal of
(00:41):
stress and pressure.
He knows what's coming and heknows what he's about to have to
do.
Disciples are a little sleepyand we're going to see how they
fail the Lord by not stayingawake, but nevertheless, let's
go ahead and jump right in.
Open your Bibles to Mark,chapter 14, starting in verse 32
.
Steve, can you read down toverse 42?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
They came to a place named Gethsemane and he said to
his disciples Sit here until Ihave prayed.
He took with him Peter andJames and John and began to be
very distressed and troubled andhe said to them my soul is
deeply grieved to the point ofdeath.
Remain here and keep watch.
He went a little bit beyondthem and fell to the ground and
(01:27):
began to pray that if it werepossible, the hour might pass
him by.
And he was saying Abba, father,all things are possible for you
.
Remove this cup from me.
Yet, not what I will, but youwill.
And he came and found themsleeping and said to Peter Simon
(01:47):
, are you asleep?
Could you not keep watch forone hour?
Keep watching and praying thatyou may not come into temptation
.
The spirit is willing, but theflesh is weak.
Again he went away and prayed,saying the same words, and again
he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy
(02:07):
and they did not know what toanswer him.
He came the third time and saidto them Are you still sleeping
and resting?
It is enough.
The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of man is beingbetrayed into the hands of
sinners.
Get up, let us be going.
Behold, the one who betrays meis at hand.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
With this, jesus has left the upper room, they sing a
hymn and they go out to theGarden of Gethsemane.
Jesus knows what's about tohappen.
He knows this is the finalmoments before he gets arrested
and he will be crucified in amatter of hours.
He was under tremendous stressand pressure because he
(02:50):
understood very well, more thananyone, what was going to happen
to him in the coming hours.
So much so that Dr Luke saysthat Jesus was under so much
stress and pressure that hestarted sweating.
Drops of blood Tells us that inLuke 22, 44.
Remember, jesus was human aswell as divine, so he was under
(03:13):
tremendous amount of pressurehere, more so than we will ever
know.
And it's quite interestingwhere they went?
They went to Gethsemane, andthe word Gethsemane means oil
press.
It was the place where theywould take the olives in the
olive grove, take them out, andnearby there they would have a
(03:33):
press where they squeezed theolives to get the olive oil.
So, right near where the oliveswould get squeezed to the
breaking point, jesus is beingspiritually squeezed up to his
limits.
He says I am to the point ofdeath.
He says so, steve, what comesto mind when you read this
(03:54):
section about Jesus in theGarden of Gethsemane when he's
under so much of the stress andpressure.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It shows his human side and it shows that he does
know what's going to happen tohim.
Crucifixion was a very crueldeath.
It was a cruel way for capitalpunishment.
The person really more or lessbled to death and also was
asphyxiated.
Because they had to raisethemselves up on the cross in
(04:25):
order to breathe Just throughsheer lack of strength they
would sink back down again andthen have to pull themselves
back up to catch a breath.
They would just really die intremendous agony.
It was a cruel, cruel way todie.
So everybody knew that Nobodywanted to be crucified.
Jesus knew what was going tohappen and what was going to
(04:49):
take place.
I do find it interesting,though, that, as he's asking for
this cup to be taken from him,we use that specific language in
the other Gospels that it'sreally not Jesus doubting, I
don't think, glenn on what he'sgoing to do, because he then
here says but not my will bedone, but your will be done.
(05:10):
So I think that part of theagony that he's experiencing is
not only the type of death thathe's going to have, but the
actual separation that he'sgoing to experience on the cross
as he takes on this bearing ofthe sin of the world to pay the
debt that we have and that thedebt that he paid for us.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
He brings his disciples, they go out to the
Garden of Gethsemane and he says, sit here until I have prayed.
Then he takes a smaller groupPeter James and John his inner
circle.
He goes a little further awayand asks them to stay while he
prays.
Now I submit this can give us abit of a support for a church
(05:52):
leadership model, in the sensethat Jesus had a group of
disciples Smaller than that.
He had a group of 12 that wouldultimately become his apostles,
the specific 12 that werechosen by him.
Then a smaller group of thosewas the three Peter James and
(06:12):
John.
If you remember, those were theones he took with him on
several occasions when he wanteda little more privacy With this
.
Our churches should take this toheart.
We need a group of leaders thatare wise, that are chosen.
We should also get smallergroups than that to help lead
the core of the core, so tospeak, and our pastors, our
(06:35):
church leaders, should have asmall group of men that can come
alongside them and look them inthe eye and tell them the truth
and can be there for supportwhen they need be.
Our pastors need that support.
So we should take this to heart, because Jesus no less than our
Lord had an inner circle, agroup that he used for his
(06:56):
personal support.
We should take that as well inour churches.
In verse 35, he falls on theground and prays.
If you want to see this prayer,just read John chapter 17.
The entire chapter is thisprayer that he prays right here
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
With this, jesus is being ledthrough difficult circumstances
(07:19):
and he says my soul is deeplygrieved, to the point of death.
Steve, will God lead us throughdifficult circumstances that
try us, sometimes even to thepoint of death?
Yeah, he does.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Part of it, I think, Glenn, is our bodies begin to
break down and we get differenttypes of maladies that our body
can't handle.
There's many of thosesituations that have to do with
the different types of diseasesand things that we contract.
But through all of that, weknow that Jesus is with us.
(07:55):
As Jesus says here in verse 36,all things are possible for you
.
We have a model here that Jesussays remove this cup if you can
, but if not, my will be done,but yours.
I think that that's kind of theattitude that we most often
need to have.
We want to be healed from thedifferent things that we have.
(08:17):
Many times Well, not many times,all the time but we should also
say but not our will, but yourwill.
God knows what's best for us,and many times what's best is to
take some of us over to theother side, where we're going to
have a new body there and ofcourse we're all going to have a
(08:37):
glorified body at some point intime that's not going to get
sick at anything else.
But there are times when itcomes to us that are very, very
stressful, that happen to us andhappen to loved ones, and it's
not pleasant, but it is a timethat we can get encouragement of
knowing that we are a believerand that, as it talks about in
(09:01):
Philippians worry about nothing,pray about everything, and God
will give us the peace beyondall understanding.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
What do you think was Jesus' emotional state?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
at this point, I think his state was that now
it's coming to fruition.
Everything that he has beenworking up to is now coming to
the point.
The sin debt is going to bepaid and he is the one that is
going to be the sacrifice, thepropitiation, the satisfactory
sacrifice for that sin debt.
All of his teaching, everythingthat he's done, it's all now
(09:36):
coming to the point of why he'sdone.
It's all now coming to thepoint of why he actually came.
And John 3.16 says For God soloved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son thatwhosoever believeth in him shall
not perish but have everlastinglife.
This is it, this is theculmination of that verse that
Jesus is fixing to go through.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
It must have been extremely stressful and none of
us can sit here and pretend toknow what was going through his
mind because it was unique tohim.
But we know he was verydistressed at this point, to the
point of death, it says.
I think that sometimes happensto us, sometimes happens to
(10:15):
people in churches, where Godleads us in a path where we
really can't see past where weare now, can't see getting
beyond that.
I wonder what practical thingswe can say to people, because
there's people that have hadjust one thing after another
hitting them from all sides.
(10:36):
There's so much emotional andspiritual stress that it does,
as you alluded, to start toaffect our physical bodies.
Sometimes we can't see a wayout.
What practical things can we doto realize, hey, our Lord went
through a time even greater thanus.
How can we take that and makeit real and get through these
(10:58):
really hard emotional times thatwe sometimes go through have?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
a close tie to Jesus, meaning have a relationship
with him.
That's what salvation is.
It's a relationship with JesusChrist, believing on him and
trusting on him.
That way, whenever we get tothese type of situations that
are stressful situations, we areprepared to handle them better.
(11:23):
I think Jesus obviously isprepared to handle this because
he says, not my will but yourwill, so he's obedient, even
unto death.
But that's for us to also model.
If we don't have that ongoingrelationship sometimes whenever
these stressful situations hitus, then we're taken off guard
(11:47):
and we then have to scramble toget back into a relationship
with Jesus Christ.
We should do that on a dailybasis so that whenever it does
hit us that we can just andalways go to church hang around
(12:21):
other Christians.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
The issues of life will get to the point where you
won't feel like doing any ofthose things.
But I submit that going off byyourself and just living in
misery is not a way to improvethings.
The only hope in this life isthe path of following Jesus
Christ.
Sometimes we may not feel likegetting up and reading our Bible
(12:44):
or listening to a sermon, orgoing to a pastor and speaking
with them, or just going andfinding a good Christian friend
and sitting around the tablewith them, but those things are
really what's needed because ourLord table with them.
But those things are reallywhat's needed because our Lord
example.
He took friends with him.
Now they fell asleep, but hetook them with him because he
needed people at that time andwe need people.
(13:07):
Going off by ourself in a timeof stress is really a very
unhealthy thing.
It's unhealthy physically, it'sunhealthy spiritually.
That's what pastors are for isto be a friend, find a good
local church, plug into a Biblestudy and be regular with your
Bible study and your prayer,even if you don't really feel
like them.
(13:27):
Then, in verse 36, we see a verytender personal thing.
He refers to the father as Abba, abba, father.
Now, abba is a term ofendearment.
It's something that a childwould say to their father, like
Daddy.
It's this common term within aloving relationship you would
have.
This is really the only placein the Scripture where Jesus
(13:50):
says this word, and he says itat a time where he most needs
the Father to comfort him.
He is in great distress.
Such a phrase is showing usthat even Jesus needed this very
tender, loving relationship.
This is very close, verypersonal.
We almost feel like we'rereading somebody else's mail
(14:14):
here, listening to somebodyelse's private prayer, when we
shouldn't have.
But Jesus is in a veryemotional state and he's saying
things here that he wouldn'tnormally pray.
I just find this to be a verytender, loving moment.
Then, in verse 36, he also saysall things are possible for the
(14:36):
Father and asks the Father toremove this, remove this cup.
He's saying remove the cross.
That's what he's asking for.
But then he submits.
He submits to the Father's will.
So we have to struggle withthis because, on one hand, we
have a divine person here.
Jesus is God.
We've shown that several placesand we're told that the cross
(14:58):
was predetermined from eternity.
It tells us that in Acts 2.23.
The cross was not plan B, thecross was plan A.
Jesus came here to die and heknew it would happen.
He's been telling his disciplesthat for quite a while now.
His purpose was to come forthis.
But now we have this prayerLord, father, abba, take this
(15:20):
cup from me.
It means, if you can take thiscross from me.
How do we explain this?
Well, I don't know if we everreally could, because, again, we
don't know his relationship orhow it relates with the Father.
But we know this he is humanand he's fully human and his
human will.
Christianity has always taught,from day one, that he had a
(15:41):
fully human nature that wasdistinct but unified with his
divine nature.
So he had two natures.
They were not commingled into athird thing.
He had two natures, one thatwas fully God and one that was
fully and entirely human.
Two natures, one that was fullyGod and one that was fully and
entirely human.
(16:01):
So he would feel everything ahuman would feel and he would as
a human will.
He would be stretched to thepoint of death.
His human will always is inaccord with the divine will.
The human Jesus would struggleand say, lord, is there another
way?
But he would always submitbecause of the divine will.
Steve, I don't know if there'sany way to add more to it than
(16:23):
that, but what's your thoughtson this idea of take this from
me?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I think that we can take encouragement from it.
I know I say that quite often inthis session, but what was it
that Jesus told Peter and thedisciples in our last session?
He said when I'm raised upagain, go to Galilee and meet me
there.
Jesus knows, yes, that he'sgoing to die, but he also knows
(16:50):
that he's going to raise himselfup.
We can take encouragement fromthat.
On our side, whenever we facedeath, we know also that we are
going to have life on the otherside.
Just like Jesus here is sayingall things are possible.
If it's possible, remove it,but not my will, but yours.
(17:10):
It's an encouragement to usthat we know that we will have a
life after this physical lifehere and then later we will have
a glorified body and havethings to do in that kingdom.
That is going to be established.
That is going to be established.
(17:32):
While it's a very diresituation, jesus does know that
he's going to be resurrectedagain when it gets to us.
And those dire, dire situationswhen we face death, we can
still take pleasure in knowingthat we have life on the other
side.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Again.
He says in verse 46, Abba,Father, all things are possible
for you.
Remove this cup from me.
Yet, not what I will, but whatyou will, At a minimum.
This is Jesus to his death,giving himself as an example for
us.
What should we do when we arestretched to our limits in
(18:05):
trials or temptations?
We should do the same, Lord, Iwant out of this, but not what I
will, but what you will.
To the very end, Jesus did hisrole as the Son.
He submitted to the Father.
He submitted to the cross.
He voluntarily gave himself forme and for you.
(18:27):
Jesus' human will is always inaccord with his divine will, and
we need to be the same way.
Our human will needs to be inaccord with the divine spirit
that's been given in us in theHoly Spirit.
We should take his example.
He was stretched to the limits,but he submitted to the
Father's will.
(18:47):
We can too.
At a minimum, it's his example.
Also, what's going on here?
Jesus' question when he askedthis reflects number one his
confidence in the Father.
To the very end, he hadconfidence in the Father your
will, not mine.
And two, the pain of arighteous Messiah taking on the
(19:09):
sin of the world.
We can describe the physicalpain of a raw, open, bleeding
back, rubbing against a roughcross and being whipped and
having nails driven through yourhands and your feet.
We can come to some idea of thelevel of pain of all of that.
(19:29):
But on top of that, Jesus hadthe pain of a perfectly
righteous, heavenly being takingon the sin of the world.
That's a pain that we reallyhave trouble fathoming.
He was perfectly holy andperfectly good and he's feeling
the weight of the sin of you andof me.
(19:49):
That's one of the reasons he'sscreaming out here in agony.
This verse is an example tosubmit to the Lord, even when
we're in pain and agony.
It's not a question of doubt,Steve.
Then, in verse 38, he asked hisfriends to stay awake and pray.
Why would he ask his friends tostay awake and pray?
(20:10):
Why would he want peoplepraying for him at this time?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Well, as we've been talking about.
I believe that this is a modelfor us all, the activity that's
taking place here with him andhe's giving us an example.
Gather our fellow believersaround us, ask them to pray for
us as we go through thesedifficult times.
I think that's why the morepeople that you have praying for
(20:37):
you and interceding for you, Ithink the better.
It also gives them something todo.
They're not just wanderingaround wondering what to do or
what's going on Now.
Of course, they fall asleepbecause it's been a long day for
them, but he's giving themsomething to do so that they
could help and participate inthis situation that he's about
(21:00):
to go through.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And all that's true, but there's a very interesting
little teaching hidden in thisverse.
Not hidden, it's right here.
Look at verse 38 again.
He tells to Peter and James andJohn keep watching and praying
that you may not come intotemptation.
The spirit is willing, but theflesh is weak.
(21:21):
He's telling them stay awakeand pray so that you don't fall
into temptation.
I find this interesting One,even to the very end.
He's about to be arrested, he'sstill giving spiritual advice
to his disciples and the adviceis keep praying so you're not
(21:43):
tempted.
Well, tempted to what?
Well, tempted to sin.
The sin was coming.
The temptation to fall away,the temptation to curse and deny
Christ, the temptation to goback to fishing instead of
following Jesus All those thingswere there and Jesus knew they
were coming.
What happens when we get to thepoint where we're alone and
(22:10):
we're not praying?
Well, we get tempted.
We get tempted to sin, we gettempted to fall away, we get
tempted to fall off track.
Steve, don't you think that'strue?
Whenever we get to the pointwhere we're spiritually weak,
then what happens to our walk inChrist?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Prayer is that conduit of that relationship
that we have with Jesus Christand God the Father.
Yeah, we should make sure thatwe are constantly praying, as he
just said here, because thespirit's willing, but the flesh
is weak.
It is sometimes a battle.
I find myself sometimes, glenn,forgetting to pray.
(22:47):
I want to pray and it falls outof my routine, and then I have
to get back into the routine ofit doing it as well, not because
I don't want to do it, but theflesh is weak.
Prayer is our conduit of therelationship that we have with
Jesus Christ and if we abandonit then we don't have that
(23:10):
relationship on a daily basisthat we need through prayer.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Notice here what Jesus does.
He is at the point of greatstress and pressure and he asked
his friends to go with him andpray with him.
What should we do when we getinto a low spot in our life?
We should do the same.
We should go to our friends andask them to pray for us.
One thing we should not do,that's very unhealthy to do, is
(23:36):
go off by ourselves.
If you're in a low point in life, then going off by yourself is
really unhealthy.
It's unhealthy spiritually,it's unhealthy physically,
simply because that's when thetemptation comes.
The temptation is to fall awayto sin, to be discouraged.
We really need our friendsaround us.
We need friends that we can goto and say I'm at a really low
(24:01):
point, Can you just come and sitwith me and have a silent
prayer or whatever?
Right, let's just go have lunchor take a walk and Christian
friends around you is really theway to keep from falling into
temptation, Really helpful.
There's very little else onthis earth that can comfort the
way a good Christian friend can.
(24:21):
We need to be aware of that andnot go off by ourselves.
So in the passage obviouslywe've talked about this Jesus
asked his friends to be therewith him and pray.
What are they doing?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
They're falling asleep, which really kind of
leads to that they don't, Ithink, know the gravity of the
situation, even though Jesus hasbeen telling them and been
preparing them that he's goingto be betrayed and that he's
going to be turned over and bebeaten by the Gentiles and then
(24:54):
he's going to die.
Actually, he's told him he'sgoing to be crucified and then
also raised on the third day.
But they still don't realizethat because if I think if they
did realize it, they would bevery vigilant to stay awake.
Jesus is aware that Judas hasgone out and plotted with the
leadership and secured guards tocome and arrest him.
(25:16):
He knows that that's coming,but his disciples don't and
they're falling asleep.
That's an indication of that.
They don't know what's going tohappen, so it's going to be a
surprise to them whenever itcomes.
But sometimes it's like us,glenn, maybe we don't know
what's going to happen in thefuture, but Jesus does.
(25:37):
We can learn from this.
We need to be always watchfuland we need to always be praying
, especially for those friends,like you say, that have asked us
to pray for them.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Remember the parable that he told not long ago in the
timeline here.
He talked about a landownerthat went away and was going to
come back and he said theservants were supposed to be
watchful.
It might come at midnight,might come at dawn, might come
anytime, but the job of theservants was to be awake, be
(26:11):
sober, be diligent, be watchful.
So what did Peter do here?
He fell asleep and the rest ofthe disciples fell asleep as
well.
The message that Jesus gives usis be awake, be sober, be
watchful.
Don't fall asleep in yourChristian life and then wake up
one day and you've missed anful.
Don't fall asleep in yourChristian life and then wake up
(26:31):
one day and you've missed anopportunity.
Don't fall asleep in theChristian life and then let good
Christian service opportunitiespass you by.
Don't fall asleep in theChristian life and then wake up
and you're dead, or wake up andyou're suddenly tempted by sin
that you weren't ready for.
Be awake, be diligent, be doingHis business.
(26:54):
We want, when he comes back,for Him to find us awake and
diligent in doing the task thathe asked us to do.
So here's a question, steve howdo we keep from falling asleep
in the Christian life, SteveMcLaughlin, Just all by the ways
that we've been talking about.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
As I've said before, prayer is our conduit.
Also reading the Scripture,studying the Scripture that's
how we can know who God is andwhat His characteristics are and
how he operates, what he hasplanned in the future for us and
also, in general, how we cantake encouragement to live our
(27:31):
lives and have the assurancethat we have salvation.
And on and on and on StudyingGod's Word, meeting with fellow
believers and fellowshippingwith them, praying those are all
ways that we can stayspiritually awake.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Notice again here in verse 37,.
He came and found them sleepingand said to Peter when he
speaks to Peter, he calls him byhis old name, simon.
Are you asleep?
Could you not keep watch forone hour?
He calls Peter by the old name,simon.
Remember Jesus had changed hisname from Simon to Peter.
(28:10):
Peter was the new name, peterwas the rock.
Peter was the one who's goingto stand up in the temple in
Acts, chapter 2 and 3, and bebold, simon.
The old nature fell asleep.
So I think we can draw a lessonthere.
The old nature wants to be lazy.
The old nature wants to fallasleep in the Lord.
(28:31):
The old nature doesn't want todo the Lord's work Peter does.
Peter was passionate anddiligent.
I will never fall away.
Simon falls asleep.
I think the old nature is in usand the new nature if you're a
born-again Christian.
Because the new nature wants todo the will of God, because the
new nature wants to do the willof God.
The old nature wants to fallasleep, and I think that's what
(28:56):
we need to focus on is focus onthe new nature.
Feed the new nature, feed theSpirit, feed the regenerated you
and the regenerated me with theWord of God and it will tame
the old nature.
What did Jesus say?
What did Paul say?
He said I buffet my body, Ibeat it into submission because
(29:18):
I don't want it to fail me.
He prayed that, if possible,the cup would pass from him.
And he goes and finds hisdisciples asleep.
He says to them in verse 38,the spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.
Three times they fell asleepand disappointed the Lord.
(29:39):
And I think this is true forall of us in the Christian life.
We have a regenerated naturethat wants to please the Lord,
that wants to desire the high,spiritual, lofty things of
Christ and to do his will.
And we also have an old nature.
We have an old fleshly naturethat's weak and wants to sleep
(29:59):
All of us.
We need a movement of the HolySpirit power to our flesh to
help it submit to God.
That's what I think, steve, isone of the greatest things in
this passage.
Steve.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
McLaughlin.
I agree with you, Glenn, andonce again, there's a lot of
information that we can find inthese eight or ten verses that
we spent here Going throughslowly and deliberately.
You can pick out so many thingsthrough Scripture.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Glenn.
We'll pull it to the curb,therefore, today, but we got
still more to do.
There's so much wonderfulthings in the Word of God, so
we'll be back next time,reasoning through the Bible.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible, where we go
verse by verse and sometimesphrase by phrase, through the
Word of God.
My name's Glenn.
I'm here with Steve.
We are in the Gospel of Mark.
We've just seen Jesus leavingthe upper room and going out to
the Garden of Gethsemane.
It's a very dramatic time andJesus is under a great deal of
(00:41):
stress and pressure.
He knows what's coming and heknows what he's about to have to
do.
Disciples are a little sleepyand we're going to see how they
fail the Lord by not stayingawake, but nevertheless, let's
go ahead and jump right in.
Open your Bibles to Mark,chapter 14, starting in verse 32
.
Steve, can you read down toverse 42?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
They came to a place named Gethsemane and he said to
his disciples Sit here until Ihave prayed.
He took with him Peter andJames and John and began to be
very distressed and troubled andhe said to them my soul is
deeply grieved to the point ofdeath.
Remain here and keep watch.
He went a little bit beyondthem and fell to the ground and
(01:27):
began to pray that if it werepossible, the hour might pass
him by.
And he was saying Abba, father,all things are possible for you
.
Remove this cup from me.
Yet, not what I will, but youwill.
And he came and found themsleeping and said to Peter Simon
(01:47):
, are you asleep?
Could you not keep watch forone hour?
Keep watching and praying thatyou may not come into temptation
.
The spirit is willing, but theflesh is weak.
Again he went away and prayed,saying the same words, and again
he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy
(02:07):
and they did not know what toanswer him.
He came the third time and saidto them Are you still sleeping
and resting?
It is enough.
The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of man is beingbetrayed into the hands of
sinners.
Get up, let us be going.
Behold, the one who betrays meis at hand.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
With this, jesus has left the upper room, they sing a
hymn and they go out to theGarden of Gethsemane.
Jesus knows what's about tohappen.
He knows this is the finalmoments before he gets arrested
and he will be crucified in amatter of hours.
He was under tremendous stressand pressure because he
(02:50):
understood very well, more thananyone, what was going to happen
to him in the coming hours.
So much so that Dr Luke saysthat Jesus was under so much
stress and pressure that hestarted sweating.
Drops of blood Tells us that inLuke 22, 44.
Remember, jesus was human aswell as divine, so he was under
(03:13):
tremendous amount of pressurehere, more so than we will ever
know.
And it's quite interestingwhere they went?
They went to Gethsemane, andthe word Gethsemane means oil
press.
It was the place where theywould take the olives in the
olive grove, take them out, andnearby there they would have a
(03:33):
press where they squeezed theolives to get the olive oil.
So, right near where the oliveswould get squeezed to the
breaking point, jesus is beingspiritually squeezed up to his
limits.
He says I am to the point ofdeath.
He says so, steve, what comesto mind when you read this
(03:54):
section about Jesus in theGarden of Gethsemane when he's
under so much of the stress andpressure.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It shows his human side and it shows that he does
know what's going to happen tohim.
Crucifixion was a very crueldeath.
It was a cruel way for capitalpunishment.
The person really more or lessbled to death and also was
asphyxiated.
Because they had to raisethemselves up on the cross in
(04:25):
order to breathe Just throughsheer lack of strength they
would sink back down again andthen have to pull themselves
back up to catch a breath.
They would just really die intremendous agony.
It was a cruel, cruel way todie.
So everybody knew that Nobodywanted to be crucified.
Jesus knew what was going tohappen and what was going to
(04:49):
take place.
I do find it interesting,though, that, as he's asking for
this cup to be taken from him,we use that specific language in
the other Gospels that it'sreally not Jesus doubting, I
don't think, glenn on what he'sgoing to do, because he then
here says but not my will bedone, but your will be done.
(05:10):
So I think that part of theagony that he's experiencing is
not only the type of death thathe's going to have, but the
actual separation that he'sgoing to experience on the cross
as he takes on this bearing ofthe sin of the world to pay the
debt that we have and that thedebt that he paid for us.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
He brings his disciples, they go out to the
Garden of Gethsemane and he says, sit here until I have prayed.
Then he takes a smaller groupPeter James and John his inner
circle.
He goes a little further awayand asks them to stay while he
prays.
Now I submit this can give us abit of a support for a church
(05:52):
leadership model, in the sensethat Jesus had a group of
disciples Smaller than that.
He had a group of 12 that wouldultimately become his apostles,
the specific 12 that werechosen by him.
Then a smaller group of thosewas the three Peter James and
(06:12):
John.
If you remember, those were theones he took with him on
several occasions when he wanteda little more privacy With this
.
Our churches should take this toheart.
We need a group of leaders thatare wise, that are chosen.
We should also get smallergroups than that to help lead
the core of the core, so tospeak, and our pastors, our
(06:35):
church leaders, should have asmall group of men that can come
alongside them and look them inthe eye and tell them the truth
and can be there for supportwhen they need be.
Our pastors need that support.
So we should take this to heart, because Jesus no less than our
Lord had an inner circle, agroup that he used for his
(06:56):
personal support.
We should take that as well inour churches.
In verse 35, he falls on theground and prays.
If you want to see this prayer,just read John chapter 17.
The entire chapter is thisprayer that he prays right here
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
With this, jesus is being ledthrough difficult circumstances
(07:19):
and he says my soul is deeplygrieved, to the point of death.
Steve, will God lead us throughdifficult circumstances that
try us, sometimes even to thepoint of death?
Yeah, he does.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Part of it, I think, Glenn, is our bodies begin to
break down and we get differenttypes of maladies that our body
can't handle.
There's many of thosesituations that have to do with
the different types of diseasesand things that we contract.
But through all of that, weknow that Jesus is with us.
(07:55):
As Jesus says here in verse 36,all things are possible for you
.
We have a model here that Jesussays remove this cup if you can
, but if not, my will be done,but yours.
I think that that's kind of theattitude that we most often
need to have.
We want to be healed from thedifferent things that we have.
(08:17):
Many times Well, not many times,all the time but we should also
say but not our will, but yourwill.
God knows what's best for us,and many times what's best is to
take some of us over to theother side, where we're going to
have a new body there and ofcourse we're all going to have a
(08:37):
glorified body at some point intime that's not going to get
sick at anything else.
But there are times when itcomes to us that are very, very
stressful, that happen to us andhappen to loved ones, and it's
not pleasant, but it is a timethat we can get encouragement of
knowing that we are a believerand that, as it talks about in
(09:01):
Philippians worry about nothing,pray about everything, and God
will give us the peace beyondall understanding.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
What do you think was Jesus' emotional state?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
at this point, I think his state was that now
it's coming to fruition.
Everything that he has beenworking up to is now coming to
the point.
The sin debt is going to bepaid and he is the one that is
going to be the sacrifice, thepropitiation, the satisfactory
sacrifice for that sin debt.
All of his teaching, everythingthat he's done, it's all now
(09:36):
coming to the point of why he'sdone.
It's all now coming to thepoint of why he actually came.
And John 3.16 says For God soloved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son thatwhosoever believeth in him shall
not perish but have everlastinglife.
This is it, this is theculmination of that verse that
Jesus is fixing to go through.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
It must have been extremely stressful and none of
us can sit here and pretend toknow what was going through his
mind because it was unique tohim.
But we know he was verydistressed at this point, to the
point of death, it says.
I think that sometimes happensto us, sometimes happens to
(10:15):
people in churches, where Godleads us in a path where we
really can't see past where weare now, can't see getting
beyond that.
I wonder what practical thingswe can say to people, because
there's people that have hadjust one thing after another
hitting them from all sides.
(10:36):
There's so much emotional andspiritual stress that it does,
as you alluded, to start toaffect our physical bodies.
Sometimes we can't see a wayout.
What practical things can we doto realize, hey, our Lord went
through a time even greater thanus.
How can we take that and makeit real and get through these
(10:58):
really hard emotional times thatwe sometimes go through have?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
a close tie to Jesus, meaning have a relationship
with him.
That's what salvation is.
It's a relationship with JesusChrist, believing on him and
trusting on him.
That way, whenever we get tothese type of situations that
are stressful situations, we areprepared to handle them better.
(11:23):
I think Jesus obviously isprepared to handle this because
he says, not my will but yourwill, so he's obedient, even
unto death.
But that's for us to also model.
If we don't have that ongoingrelationship sometimes whenever
these stressful situations hitus, then we're taken off guard
(11:47):
and we then have to scramble toget back into a relationship
with Jesus Christ.
We should do that on a dailybasis so that whenever it does
hit us that we can just andalways go to church hang around
(12:21):
other Christians.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
The issues of life will get to the point where you
won't feel like doing any ofthose things.
But I submit that going off byyourself and just living in
misery is not a way to improvethings.
The only hope in this life isthe path of following Jesus
Christ.
Sometimes we may not feel likegetting up and reading our Bible
(12:44):
or listening to a sermon, orgoing to a pastor and speaking
with them, or just going andfinding a good Christian friend
and sitting around the tablewith them, but those things are
really what's needed because ourLord table with them.
But those things are reallywhat's needed because our Lord
example.
He took friends with him.
Now they fell asleep, but hetook them with him because he
needed people at that time andwe need people.
(13:07):
Going off by ourself in a timeof stress is really a very
unhealthy thing.
It's unhealthy physically, it'sunhealthy spiritually.
That's what pastors are for isto be a friend, find a good
local church, plug into a Biblestudy and be regular with your
Bible study and your prayer,even if you don't really feel
like them.
(13:27):
Then, in verse 36, we see a verytender personal thing.
He refers to the father as Abba, abba, father.
Now, abba is a term ofendearment.
It's something that a childwould say to their father, like
Daddy.
It's this common term within aloving relationship you would
have.
This is really the only placein the Scripture where Jesus
(13:50):
says this word, and he says itat a time where he most needs
the Father to comfort him.
He is in great distress.
Such a phrase is showing usthat even Jesus needed this very
tender, loving relationship.
This is very close, verypersonal.
We almost feel like we'rereading somebody else's mail
(14:14):
here, listening to somebodyelse's private prayer, when we
shouldn't have.
But Jesus is in a veryemotional state and he's saying
things here that he wouldn'tnormally pray.
I just find this to be a verytender, loving moment.
Then, in verse 36, he also saysall things are possible for the
(14:36):
Father and asks the Father toremove this, remove this cup.
He's saying remove the cross.
That's what he's asking for.
But then he submits.
He submits to the Father's will.
So we have to struggle withthis because, on one hand, we
have a divine person here.
Jesus is God.
We've shown that several placesand we're told that the cross
(14:58):
was predetermined from eternity.
It tells us that in Acts 2.23.
The cross was not plan B, thecross was plan A.
Jesus came here to die and heknew it would happen.
He's been telling his disciplesthat for quite a while now.
His purpose was to come forthis.
But now we have this prayerLord, father, abba, take this
(15:20):
cup from me.
It means, if you can take thiscross from me.
How do we explain this?
Well, I don't know if we everreally could, because, again, we
don't know his relationship orhow it relates with the Father.
But we know this he is humanand he's fully human and his
human will.
Christianity has always taught,from day one, that he had a
(15:41):
fully human nature that wasdistinct but unified with his
divine nature.
So he had two natures.
They were not commingled into athird thing.
He had two natures, one thatwas fully God and one that was
fully and entirely human.
Two natures, one that was fullyGod and one that was fully and
entirely human.
(16:01):
So he would feel everything ahuman would feel and he would as
a human will.
He would be stretched to thepoint of death.
His human will always is inaccord with the divine will.
The human Jesus would struggleand say, lord, is there another
way?
But he would always submitbecause of the divine will.
Steve, I don't know if there'sany way to add more to it than
(16:23):
that, but what's your thoughtson this idea of take this from
me?
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I think that we can take encouragement from it.
I know I say that quite often inthis session, but what was it
that Jesus told Peter and thedisciples in our last session?
He said when I'm raised upagain, go to Galilee and meet me
there.
Jesus knows, yes, that he'sgoing to die, but he also knows
(16:50):
that he's going to raise himselfup.
We can take encouragement fromthat.
On our side, whenever we facedeath, we know also that we are
going to have life on the otherside.
Just like Jesus here is sayingall things are possible.
If it's possible, remove it,but not my will, but yours.
(17:10):
It's an encouragement to usthat we know that we will have a
life after this physical lifehere and then later we will have
a glorified body and havethings to do in that kingdom.
That is going to be established.
That is going to be established.
(17:32):
While it's a very diresituation, jesus does know that
he's going to be resurrectedagain when it gets to us.
And those dire, dire situationswhen we face death, we can
still take pleasure in knowingthat we have life on the other
side.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Again.
He says in verse 46, Abba,Father, all things are possible
for you.
Remove this cup from me.
Yet, not what I will, but whatyou will, At a minimum.
This is Jesus to his death,giving himself as an example for
us.
What should we do when we arestretched to our limits in
(18:05):
trials or temptations?
We should do the same, Lord, Iwant out of this, but not what I
will, but what you will.
To the very end, Jesus did hisrole as the Son.
He submitted to the Father.
He submitted to the cross.
He voluntarily gave himself forme and for you.
(18:27):
Jesus' human will is always inaccord with his divine will, and
we need to be the same way.
Our human will needs to be inaccord with the divine spirit
that's been given in us in theHoly Spirit.
We should take his example.
He was stretched to the limits,but he submitted to the
Father's will.
(18:47):
We can too.
At a minimum, it's his example.
Also, what's going on here?
Jesus' question when he askedthis reflects number one his
confidence in the Father.
To the very end, he hadconfidence in the Father your
will, not mine.
And two, the pain of arighteous Messiah taking on the
(19:09):
sin of the world.
We can describe the physicalpain of a raw, open, bleeding
back, rubbing against a roughcross and being whipped and
having nails driven through yourhands and your feet.
We can come to some idea of thelevel of pain of all of that.
(19:29):
But on top of that, Jesus hadthe pain of a perfectly
righteous, heavenly being takingon the sin of the world.
That's a pain that we reallyhave trouble fathoming.
He was perfectly holy andperfectly good and he's feeling
the weight of the sin of you andof me.
(19:49):
That's one of the reasons he'sscreaming out here in agony.
This verse is an example tosubmit to the Lord, even when
we're in pain and agony.
It's not a question of doubt,Steve.
Then, in verse 38, he asked hisfriends to stay awake and pray.
Why would he ask his friends tostay awake and pray?
(20:10):
Why would he want peoplepraying for him at this time?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Well, as we've been talking about.
I believe that this is a modelfor us all, the activity that's
taking place here with him andhe's giving us an example.
Gather our fellow believersaround us, ask them to pray for
us as we go through thesedifficult times.
I think that's why the morepeople that you have praying for
(20:37):
you and interceding for you, Ithink the better.
It also gives them something todo.
They're not just wanderingaround wondering what to do or
what's going on Now.
Of course, they fall asleepbecause it's been a long day for
them, but he's giving themsomething to do so that they
could help and participate inthis situation that he's about
(21:00):
to go through.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And all that's true, but there's a very interesting
little teaching hidden in thisverse.
Not hidden, it's right here.
Look at verse 38 again.
He tells to Peter and James andJohn keep watching and praying
that you may not come intotemptation.
The spirit is willing, but theflesh is weak.
(21:21):
He's telling them stay awakeand pray so that you don't fall
into temptation.
I find this interesting One,even to the very end.
He's about to be arrested, he'sstill giving spiritual advice
to his disciples and the adviceis keep praying so you're not
(21:43):
tempted.
Well, tempted to what?
Well, tempted to sin.
The sin was coming.
The temptation to fall away,the temptation to curse and deny
Christ, the temptation to goback to fishing instead of
following Jesus All those thingswere there and Jesus knew they
were coming.
What happens when we get to thepoint where we're alone and
(22:10):
we're not praying?
Well, we get tempted.
We get tempted to sin, we gettempted to fall away, we get
tempted to fall off track.
Steve, don't you think that'strue?
Whenever we get to the pointwhere we're spiritually weak,
then what happens to our walk inChrist?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Prayer is that conduit of that relationship
that we have with Jesus Christand God the Father.
Yeah, we should make sure thatwe are constantly praying, as he
just said here, because thespirit's willing, but the flesh
is weak.
It is sometimes a battle.
I find myself sometimes, glenn,forgetting to pray.
(22:47):
I want to pray and it falls outof my routine, and then I have
to get back into the routine ofit doing it as well, not because
I don't want to do it, but theflesh is weak.
Prayer is our conduit of therelationship that we have with
Jesus Christ and if we abandonit then we don't have that
(23:10):
relationship on a daily basisthat we need through prayer.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Notice here what Jesus does.
He is at the point of greatstress and pressure and he asked
his friends to go with him andpray with him.
What should we do when we getinto a low spot in our life?
We should do the same.
We should go to our friends andask them to pray for us.
One thing we should not do,that's very unhealthy to do, is
(23:36):
go off by ourselves.
If you're in a low point in life, then going off by yourself is
really unhealthy.
It's unhealthy spiritually,it's unhealthy physically,
simply because that's when thetemptation comes.
The temptation is to fall awayto sin, to be discouraged.
We really need our friendsaround us.
We need friends that we can goto and say I'm at a really low
(24:01):
point, Can you just come and sitwith me and have a silent
prayer or whatever?
Right, let's just go have lunchor take a walk and Christian
friends around you is really theway to keep from falling into
temptation, Really helpful.
There's very little else onthis earth that can comfort the
way a good Christian friend can.
(24:21):
We need to be aware of that andnot go off by ourselves.
So in the passage obviouslywe've talked about this Jesus
asked his friends to be therewith him and pray.
What are they doing?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
They're falling asleep, which really kind of
leads to that they don't, Ithink, know the gravity of the
situation, even though Jesus hasbeen telling them and been
preparing them that he's goingto be betrayed and that he's
going to be turned over and bebeaten by the Gentiles and then
(24:54):
he's going to die.
Actually, he's told him he'sgoing to be crucified and then
also raised on the third day.
But they still don't realizethat because if I think if they
did realize it, they would bevery vigilant to stay awake.
Jesus is aware that Judas hasgone out and plotted with the
leadership and secured guards tocome and arrest him.
(25:16):
He knows that that's coming,but his disciples don't and
they're falling asleep.
That's an indication of that.
They don't know what's going tohappen, so it's going to be a
surprise to them whenever itcomes.
But sometimes it's like us,glenn, maybe we don't know
what's going to happen in thefuture, but Jesus does.
(25:37):
We can learn from this.
We need to be always watchfuland we need to always be praying
, especially for those friends,like you say, that have asked us
to pray for them.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Remember the parable that he told not long ago in the
timeline here.
He talked about a landownerthat went away and was going to
come back and he said theservants were supposed to be
watchful.
It might come at midnight,might come at dawn, might come
anytime, but the job of theservants was to be awake, be
(26:11):
sober, be diligent, be watchful.
So what did Peter do here?
He fell asleep and the rest ofthe disciples fell asleep as
well.
The message that Jesus gives usis be awake, be sober, be
watchful.
Don't fall asleep in yourChristian life and then wake up
one day and you've missed anful.
Don't fall asleep in yourChristian life and then wake up
(26:31):
one day and you've missed anopportunity.
Don't fall asleep in theChristian life and then let good
Christian service opportunitiespass you by.
Don't fall asleep in theChristian life and then wake up
and you're dead, or wake up andyou're suddenly tempted by sin
that you weren't ready for.
Be awake, be diligent, be doingHis business.
(26:54):
We want, when he comes back,for Him to find us awake and
diligent in doing the task thathe asked us to do.
So here's a question, steve howdo we keep from falling asleep
in the Christian life, SteveMcLaughlin, Just all by the ways
that we've been talking about.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
As I've said before, prayer is our conduit.
Also reading the Scripture,studying the Scripture that's
how we can know who God is andwhat His characteristics are and
how he operates, what he hasplanned in the future for us and
also, in general, how we cantake encouragement to live our
(27:31):
lives and have the assurancethat we have salvation.
And on and on and on StudyingGod's Word, meeting with fellow
believers and fellowshippingwith them, praying those are all
ways that we can stayspiritually awake.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Notice again here in verse 37,.
He came and found them sleepingand said to Peter when he
speaks to Peter, he calls him byhis old name, simon.
Are you asleep?
Could you not keep watch forone hour?
He calls Peter by the old name,simon.
Remember Jesus had changed hisname from Simon to Peter.
(28:10):
Peter was the new name, peterwas the rock.
Peter was the one who's goingto stand up in the temple in
Acts, chapter 2 and 3, and bebold, simon.
The old nature fell asleep.
So I think we can draw a lessonthere.
The old nature wants to be lazy.
The old nature wants to fallasleep in the Lord.
(28:31):
The old nature doesn't want todo the Lord's work Peter does.
Peter was passionate anddiligent.
I will never fall away.
Simon falls asleep.
I think the old nature is in usand the new nature if you're a
born-again Christian.
Because the new nature wants todo the will of God, because the
new nature wants to do the willof God.
The old nature wants to fallasleep, and I think that's what
(28:56):
we need to focus on is focus onthe new nature.
Feed the new nature, feed theSpirit, feed the regenerated you
and the regenerated me with theWord of God and it will tame
the old nature.
What did Jesus say?
What did Paul say?
He said I buffet my body, Ibeat it into submission because
(29:18):
I don't want it to fail me.
He prayed that, if possible,the cup would pass from him.
And he goes and finds hisdisciples asleep.
He says to them in verse 38,the spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.
Three times they fell asleepand disappointed the Lord.
(29:39):
And I think this is true forall of us in the Christian life.
We have a regenerated naturethat wants to please the Lord,
that wants to desire the high,spiritual, lofty things of
Christ and to do his will.
And we also have an old nature.
We have an old fleshly naturethat's weak and wants to sleep
(29:59):
All of us.
We need a movement of the HolySpirit power to our flesh to
help it submit to God.
That's what I think, steve, isone of the greatest things in
this passage.
Steve.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
McLaughlin.
I agree with you, Glenn, andonce again, there's a lot of
information that we can find inthese eight or ten verses that
we spent here Going throughslowly and deliberately.
You can pick out so many thingsthrough Scripture.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Glenn.
We'll pull it to the curb,therefore, today, but we got
still more to do.
There's so much wonderfulthings in the Word of God, so
we'll be back next time,reasoning through the Bible.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.