In the Garden

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. (Matthew 26:36-44, NIV)


SETTING THE SCENE:
Jesus and the disciples have just finished their Passover meal we know as the Last Supper. As is the Jewish custom after celebrating Passover, they were singing the Hallel from Psalms 116-118. This Hallel is of the great and joyous kind, praising the Lord. Jesus then leads His disciples eastward—out from the supper place and down the hill from the Temple Mount into the ravine and across the Brook Kidron (which is more than likely flowing with the blood from the Passover sacrifice given in the temple). We know it is a full moon so they can see as they are walking in the darkness after sundown. They come to the Mount of Olives and barely ascend the hill among the olive trees to a place called Gethsemane; a garden where Jesus and the disciples often gathered. Gethsemane means “oil press” where the people pressed the olives. 

Jesus has been telling his disciples of the things to come, that they will no longer behold Him, He will leave and then He will return as the risen One. I cannot imagine the confusion the disciples might have had.

Jesus instructs the disciples to remain in the garden and pray while He goes a little farther into the garden to pray to His Father. Jesus was asking His Father, “Could You please pass Me over on this thing You have for me to do?”  You know the thing that someone you respect and honor has asked of you and it is way more than you think you are capable of fulfilling, much less to even begin to do it right? He is in such deep spiritual agony over being crucified and sacrificed for the sins of all others, that in Luke 22, Dr. Luke describes Jesus’ sweat as droplets of blood falling upon the ground. 

In His distress, Jesus said to the disciples to remain the garden and to keep watch and pray. Luke tells us that God even sends an angel to strengthen His Son, yet the disciples fell asleep.  In Matthew and Mark, Jesus gave the disciples instructions a second time, “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus prayed to His Holy father three times at Gethsemane and the disciples kept sleeping until the time of Judas’ betrayal of Christ. 


REFLECTIONS:
When there is a really hard difficult thing to do, particularly when I feel I have submitted to the authority of another out of honor and respect for them, it always helps to have a core group of family and friends “back me up” in prayer or provide encouragement. Even if I am well prepared and studied up on whatever the thing may be, it helps to know others are keeping watch and praying. 

Some might say the disciples fell down on their job. They didn’t do what Jesus said for them to do. Jesus was on His own in the garden. On His own He prayed and on His own He submitted to His Father.

This amazing Man, the divine, miracle working Jesus gave the most priceless miracle of all. He remained in His humanness and submitted to His Father… our God. Jesus took on every ounce of agonizing physical pain of the crucifixion and then He agreed to take on the even more weighty and everlasting agony of our sins.  

The prophet Isaiah writes:

“… He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7, NKJV)

In Christ’s submission to His Father's will, He gave you and me freedom and forgiveness from our sins—a gift of His complete humanness to our humanness. “During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (Hebrews 5:7).

 

It gives me great comfort that Jesus prayed three times to God about the same thing. Too many times it seems well meaning folk admonish those who pray about the same thing as not having enough faith. Christ shows us that in earnest faith we can bring up the same thing in prayer. I’m being honest here—sometimes it takes me a few attempts to really get to the root of the prayer. Just like conversations with good friends, I don’t rehearse my words to perfect them. There’s honesty in saying what’s on my mind.  For me verbal processing with Jesus is a good thing.

 

Our current devotional focus is on submission. The word submission in the scriptures above refers to the Greek word “Eulabeia,” which means: properly, a taking hold of what God calls good; holy caution; inducing circumspect behavior; having reverence; fear of God; piety (Strong’s 2124).

 

This submission that Jesus is teaching us in the garden is complete and the whole of oneself to the direction of the Lord. It seems that in submitting to God we learn that God believes in us. And something many of us have experienced through the years is that the Lord will give all of what we need to be His instrument at a moment in time even when we may not believe in ourselves.

 

 

PRAYER:

Jesus, could I be so bold to ask You to lead me in Your song, to sing the Hallel and praise God together? While You are leading me across the ravine and back up the hill, I need Your gentleness while I move into the place of submission to You. Thank You, Lord, for gracing us with the great desire You have for each one of us and for Your humble humanness.

 

 

WHO AM I?

While writing this devotional and reading multiple passages about this scripture I was reminded of a friend that worked with David.  His name was Edd Whittington. Edd was in the final months of his life and we were sharing and laughing about how amazing God interventions are when he piped up and proclaimed, “God… has all kinds of stuff going on.” Our God never stops. He keeps on gracing us.

 

This is a photo of us in the Garden of Gethsemane. <3 Gayle Norris