Today we look at one of the most powerful examples of prayer in the Bible. It is the prayer that Jesus offered in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that he was arrested. This was one of the darkest hours of Jesus’ life, second only to the hours of darkness when he hung on the cross. As we see Jesus praying in the garden we see how a godly man prays while in the midst of physical and emotional crisis. So Jesus here is a model for how we can pray in the midst of the most difficult situations of our lives. Let’s look at the characteristics of this prayer in the garden.

1. First it is EMOTIONAL prayer. Mark 14:33-34 says,“And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” He says he is so sad and troubled that he feels like he is going to die right then and there! This is intense emotion. In Luke’s gospel we have even stronger language used to describe what Jesus was going through. Luke 22:44 “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The language the gospel writers use here to describe Jesus’ prayer is that this is “troubled and deeply distressed” prayer. This is “exceedingly sorrowful” prayer. This is agonizing prayer. He was under so much physical strain and stress that it says, “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” This is a known physical condition where the person is under such severe emotional & physical stress that the capillaries actually burst and blood mixes with the sweat. 

How different from most Christian prayers! Our problem is that not that our prayers are too emotionally intense. Most people’s main problem with prayer is boredom. They just get bored of speaking into thin air. They get tired of reading through their prayer list yet once again. They get distracted during prayer and their mind wanders, and they start thinking of other things. Yet when we have a great need, we can pray, can’t we? There is nothing that focuses your mind like a a painful crisis – physical or emotional. C. S. Lewis says, “pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  The full quote from his book “The Problem of Pain” is this: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." There is nothing that gets our attention and aids our concentration like pain. 

In the midst of emotional pain and crisis, Jesus prayed. And he stands as an example of how we pray in our time of crisis. Jesus was completely open and honest and transparent with God when it came to what he was struggling with. Jesus was wrestling with the will of God. Prayer is sometimes a struggle. When you are going through a difficult time, take it to God in prayer. Don’t just worry and fret about it. Don’t just complain to your friends and family about it. Don’t just whine and cry about it. Take it to God in prayer. Work through it in prayer with God. This is what the Book of Job is all about. Job is not just arguing with his friends; he is wrestling with life and death issues in prayer. If this Gethsemane prayer of Jesus shows us anything, it shows us that we do not need to be afraid of laying it all out there before God in prayer.

2. Second, it is PRIVATE prayer. There are two desires going on in Jesus’ heart when it comes to this garden prayer. On the one hand Jesus wants his friends nearby, and yet he feels he needs to also do this on his own. Verses 32-35 say, “Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.” He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed….” Jesus wants his friends close by. Yet he also knows this is something between him and God alone. He has to work this out on his own.

There are dynamics like this going on in our prayer lives. When we are going through tough times, we need our friends close by. That is wonderful thing about Job’s friends in the Book of Job. When they hear of what happened to him – the death of his children and the loss of his possessions and the loss of his health - they come and sit with him for seven days. They don’t say anything. They just sit and watch with him, just like Jesus asked his friends to do. The problem comes when they open their mouths and give their opinions; then they really mess things up. But while they just silently sat and watched with him, they were a comfort. Jesus needed his friends nearby in his hour of crisis, and we need our family and friends nearby. But in the final analysis, the presence of friends and family is not enough. We need the presence of God experienced in personal prayer.

Ultimately it is about us and God. We have to withdraw by ourselves and pray. We have to do what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount: go into our secret place and pray to our Father who is in secret. Cry it out, Yell it out, Shout it out in prayer if necessary. I think it is interesting that Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus had withdrawn from his disciples a stones throw. Luke 22:41 “He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed.” A stone’s throw is a good distance. And yet his words are recorded for us in the gospels. That means that the disciples could hear him at a stone’s throw away. Which means he wasn’t whispering under his breath in soft murmurs. He was crying it out, yelling it out and shouting it out in prayer. He went toe to toe with God in that garden, just like Job did with God on that ash heap outside his town.

3. Third, this was SURRENDERED prayer. Verse 35-36 gives us some of the words Jesus used. “He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” These are not the only words he spoke. He prayed long enough to take three breaks from prayer, and long enough for his disciples to fall asleep three times. So is praying for a significant period of time. We do not know how long, but after the first session of prayer Jesus referred to them not being able to stay away “one hour.” And he them went back to pray two more times. Therefore Jesus prayed for two or three hours. Yet these are the only words that the gospel writers record Jesus saying. Maybe because they were the only words spoken loud enough for them to hear, or maybe because these were the most important words and summarized the theme of his prayer in the garden. Jesus attitude was one of surrender to the will of God. 

 Look exactly at what Jesus says. First, he addresses God as “Abba, Father.” “Abba” is a Hebrew and Aramaic term of intimacy, meaning Dad or Daddy. Jesus has history with God.  This is not the first time he has prayed to his Abba. He often conversed with his Heavenly Father. Luke’s gospel says about Gethsemane, “Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.” Gethsemane was his accustomed place, his secret place, his prayer closet - the place he frequented whenever he was in Jerusalem and wanted to be alone with God in prayer. The power of prayer in time of crisis is dependent on spending time with God in prayer during normal times. Some people only pray when they are in trouble and want something from God. That is like a kid only talking to his parents when he wants some money. That is not a good relationship. Jesus had a good relationship with his heavenly dad. 

Then he says, ““Abba, Father, all things are possible for You.” These next words express faith and trust in God. Do you believe that when you pray all things are possible? Listen to Jesus’ teaching on prayer that he gave to his disciples the morning after Palm Sunday. It is found in Mark 11:22-24. Jesus said, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” I am going to preach on this on Palm Sunday morning, but for now just notice that Jesus is saying that we are to have faith that all things are possible with God.  

Then Jesus proceeds in the garden to present his request to God. He says, “Take this cup away from Me.” The cup Jesus was talking about is the cup of suffering. He had just come from the Last Supper where it says, “He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28) By the cup Jesus is clearly talking about his death on the cross. Jesus is asking his Father if it were possible for him not to have to be crucified. Jesus was a man like us. He was neither exempt from fear nor immune to pain. He did not want to suffer and die a horrible death if there were some other way to accomplish his mission. So he “prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.” 

But then in the same breath he says, “nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” This is a prayer of surrender to the will of God. It shows us how to pray in time of trials and crisis. In time of illness we pray for healing, and usually are healed; but sometimes it is not God’s will. We need to be able to say even while we ask for healing, “not what I will, but what You will.” When we are facing death like Jesus faced death and we pray for recovery, and we usually recover. But we need to be able to say, “not what I will, but what You will.” We need to pray both in faith that God can answer our prayer for a miracle, yet not try to force our will upon God. Prayer is ultimately about bending our will to God’s will. Prayer is about getting God’s will done in our lives and not the other way around. Ultimately all prayer is prayer of surrender to the sovereign will of God.

4. Fourth, this prayer in the garden is about TEMPTATION. When we read the story of Gethsemane the theme of temptation is repeated, mostly in reference to the disciples. In Luke’s Gospel it is the first thing he says to his disciples upon their arrival on the Mount of Olives. “When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:40) In Mark’s gospel, after Jesus has been praying by himself for a while it says in verse 37 “Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The prayer in Gethsemane is set in a context of temptation. 

Jesus is being tempted. Part of him is tempted to get out of going to the cross. That is Satan tempting him. Remember when Jesus told his disciples that he had to suffer and die, the apostle Peter replied, “This will never happen to you!” Jesus replied back to Peter, “Get behind me Satan!” Back in the beginning of his ministry Jesus was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness, and Jesus came through victorious. It says, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13) This is that opportune time. Satan was very active the last week of Jesus’ life, especially in the life of Judas Iscariot, but also in Peter whom Satan wanted to “sift like wheat,” and in the lives of the other disciples. The devil was in the garden of Gethsemane as certainly as he was in the Garden of Eden. He was tempting Jesus one last time to forsake his mission, and he was tempting the disciples to forsake Jesus.

The disciples needed to stay strong during these next hours and days. They needed to pray as much as Jesus needed to pray. That is why Jesus brought them to the garden. He instructed them to watch and pray with him. But they didn’t watch and pray; they slept. Many Christians sleepwalk through their spiritual lives. They treat the spiritual life as if it were a hobby or pastime rather than as their spiritual vocation. Think about our American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan today. You can bet they are watching and praying, because they know their lives depend on it. Their families are watching and praying. The Bible says that the spiritual life is a spiritual battle against spiritual forces of evil that make Osama bin Laden look like Mother Teresa. We fight against principalities and powers in the heavenly realms. 

It is a war with many battles. That is why Jesus’ prayer in the garden is a repeated prayer. Jesus battles on the spiritual battlefront for a while and then takes a break to see how his disciples are doing. He finds them sleeping, and encourages them to wake up and fight, then he returns to the front to pray again. Verse 39 says, “Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words.” This is not the “vain repetitions” Jesus warns us against in the Sermon on the Mount.  This is the persistent prayer that Jesus teaches us to do in his parables we studied like the persistent widow and the friend at midnight. We are tempted not to persist in prayer. We are tempted to “faint and not pray.” We are tempted to sleep and not watch. We are tempted to take prayer lightly, to consider it as unimportant, to press the spiritual snooze alarm while the devil prowls around seeking someone to devour. We like the disciples need to “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

5. Finally, this prayer in the garden is RESOLVED prayer. Jesus’ Gethsemane prayer comes to an end. Verses 41-42 “Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” Seasons of prayer come to an end. Paul says that he prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh be taken from him, but finally he was convinced that God was saying no. “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9) Paul was supposed to live with that thorn so that God’s strength would be glorified in his weakness. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (v. 10) Jesus prayed that if it were possible that he could bypass the cross. God said “no.” There is no other way by which men can be saved except by that atoning sacrifice. He had to bear that cross. So Jesus said, “OK.” The time for prayer was over. The hour had come. The issue that Jesus prayed about in the Garden had been resolved. 

The issues we pray about get resolved. When Jesus tells us to arise and get going, let us not stay pouting in the garden arguing with God. Even Job got the point when God answered him and resolved the issues he had with Him; then Job he moved on. Prayer is seeking the will of God. When we have an understanding of what that will is, then we need to arise. The hour is at hand. Get on with it. Let us not complain that God does not answer our prayer when the truth is he answered it years ago, but we just don’t like the answer. 

Prayer in the Garden is emotional prayer, private prayer, surrendered prayer, temptation prayer, and resolved prayer. Let us watch and pray like Jesus.