Having grown up in a Christian home, I can’t remember not knowing how to pray – memorized, recited prayers at mealtimes and at bedtimes to begin with. And anyone who grew up in a Christian church learned the Lord’s Prayer – maybe as young as in the nursery. There are times when I think I am really communicating with God in prayer. And there are times, especially when I am tired, that even my ‘spontaneous’ prayers begin to sound memorized saying pretty much the same thing over and over, and not sure if God might be yawning with boredom. When I’m really tired, I may even fall asleep mid-sentence in my prayers. This appears to be the state the disciples were in this particular evening.
“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed. ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ‘Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.’” Luke 22:39-46
Going to the Mount of Olives was an ordinary occurrence in Jesus’ schedule since he had come to Jerusalem. “Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.” Luke 21:37-38 The Mount of Olives is where Jesus went to get away from the crowds, to pray, and to be alone with his disciples.
I wonder how the disciples could fall asleep while Jesus was praying earnestly. Apparently, this wasn’t so unusual to them. Jesus had been coming to the Mount of Olives to pray regularly. The disciples were too tired to notice the emotion in his prayers this time. And dealing with their own sorrow at all his talk about leaving them, they fell asleep.
While coming to the Mount of Olives and praying was a usual pattern for Jesus, this was about to become a most unusual night. If ever Jesus wanted to turn back from the plan, this was it. His physical body was in anguish. He asked the Father if he could be relieved of this burden – this task he was about to accomplish. Yet in the end, he was willing to do as the Father willed. It is comforting to me to know that an angel came and strengthened him. I wonder if the angel pushed the hair back from Jesus’ face wet with tears and while gently stroking his head began to repeat all the reasons the decision had been made for Jesus to come as a sacrifice for the sins of many. I wonder if the angel whispered of the Father’s love for his Son. I wonder if he told Jesus, “Hang in there just a little longer and you will soon be back with the Father forever.”
And I wonder if Jesus was disappointed when he found the disciples sleeping. In his hour of deepest need, his closest friends could not stick with him, praying for him and for themselves. It seems that Jesus alone knew how much they needed to be praying. They did not understand.
“While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them.” Luke 22:47 How was Judas able to lead them straight to Jesus? Jesus was doing the usual – praying at the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane. There he would be away from the people who the religious authorities feared. It would eliminate the possibility a crowd could turn on them and an uprising would be real, not imagined.
“He [Judas] approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” Luke 22:47-48 Did Judas really think Jesus didn’t know what he was doing? Jesus had already told him that he would betray him at the Passover meal. If Jesus had wanted to escape, he could have gone somewhere else that evening. He knew what was about to happen. Poor Judas – so deceived by Satan. But Jesus was not ignorant to what was happening.
I’m quite certain at this point, the disciples were awake. They were ready to strike with their two swords and defend Jesus. Well, maybe they were still dreaming – that they were more in number and had more weapons. One of them even got off a good swing of the sword and cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest. John tells us it was Peter – not too surprising. But Jesus intervened. “’No more of this!’ And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.” Luke 22:51
“Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him. ‘Am I leading a rebellion that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour – when darkness reigns.’” Luke 22:52-53
Oh Jesus, you could have avoided the cross so easily. Yet, you went through with the plan that was in place even as the world was created in order to save us. I so much wish there could have been another way. Thank you for loving me so much that you would do this for me. I love you.
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