On the Mount of Olives

 Hello everyone.

Today, we will continue our journey through Luke 22, this time verses 39-45, as Jesus prays and his disciples sleep on the Mount of Olives.  Here is my translation: 

39 As was his custom, Jesus then went out to the Mount of Olives.  His disciples followed him.  40 When they got to the place, Jesus said to his disciples, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”  
41 Then Jesus went about a stone’s throw away and got on his knees and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, but not what I want, let what you want be done. 
[43 An angel from Heaven came to him and strengthened him. 44 Jesus was in agony, and prayed with great intensity. His sweat began to fall like drops of blood.]  
45 Then he got up from his prayer and went back to his disciples.  He found them sleeping from their sorrow.  46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.   

Jesus had apparently established a pattern of going out to the Mount of Olives.  Judas could not alert the Jewish leadership of the location of Jesus’ Passover meal, but he likely knew that Jesus would be here at some point in the evening.  It seems that Jesus orchestrated this whole thing, even to the place of his arrest. The other eleven disciples come along to the Mount of Olives with Jesus, and he leaves them to pray, while he goes a little further to pray in solitude.  They were to pray that they would not fall into temptation.  

In light of the recent conversation about Satan asking to sift them like wheat, this sifting would be coming very soon, and Jesus is asking them to pray that they will not fail.  Satan is not just after these men abandoning Jesus in this desperate hour,  His goal is to get them to defect and leave Jesus entirely.  Satan does have a temporary victory here.  The apostles do abandon Jesus in the Garden, but ultimately, only Judas is lost to Jesus here. All of the others flee at this moment, but remain faithful to Jesus.  

How much of this prayer to not fall into temptation did the apostles actually pray? We don’t know.  When Jesus returns from his time of prayer, they have fallen asleep.  

Jesus’ prayer is one of submission to God's will.  He does not want to do what must be done, nevertheless, he submits to the will of his Father. Jesus asks that ‘the cup’ be taken away from him.  What is this ‘cup?’ Jesus is about to suffer horrible persecution and death at the hands of his enemies, as he takes on the sins of the world before God, his Father.  In that moment, he will be forsaken by his Father.  Jesus dies, savagely beaten and alone.  I would assume that this is ‘cup’ that he refers to, because what could possibly be worse than what he is about to suffer? 

Jesus has already stated several times that this upcoming time of betrayal, suffering and death is necessary, but we can see here that Jesus does not want to do  this.  Jesus’ decision to face the Cross is the ultimate act of service and sacrifice.  In Luke 22:27 Jesus has stated that he was among them as one who serves.  Now he is proving it, as Jesus becomes the 'suffering servant' of Isaiah 53. 

I would think that this is the moment that the Hebrew writer tells us about in Hebrews 5:7-10:

“7 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. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”  (NIV)

There is a lot to unpack here.  Jesus may have offered up prayers like before, but certainly we see that he is offering it now.  We can see the kind of prayer that Jesus is offering.  It has fervent cries and tears.  Ultimately we see that Jesus obeys in reverent submission to his Father.  God could have saved him from this grueling death, but chose not to.  It is here in the Garden that Jesus learns obedience.  We see Jesus’ submission in the words, “Not my will, but yours be done.”  The Hebrew writer tells us that Jesus was heard by his Father, but that didn’t change the outcome.  Instead, it was Jesus’ submission to this that made him the perfect sacrifice. 

There is a parenthetical statement in verse 43, that an angel came and attended to Jesus, to strengthen him in this time of need.  While the Father is not taking this cup away, He is not unfeeling.  Jesus still has to do what must be done, but God sends an angel for this moment to strengthen Jesus.  The statement that the angel comes to strengthen would indicate to us how incredibly difficult this all was.  Jesus is being strengthened to complete the task. Even after the angel appears, Jesus is still struggling with this.  He continues to pray and it appears, with even greater intensity. 

Also, within that parenthetical statement we see that Jesus was in agony over this, even reaching a place in his suffering that he began to sweat like drops of blood.  We see Jesus' humanity clearly here.  If he were not human, just deity, would any of this be difficult for him? 

When Jesus returns to his disciples he finds them sleeping.  Luke tells us that they were sleeping from their sorrow.  The sadness has worn them out.  Jesus challenges them to wake up and pray.  They were to pray that they would not fall into temptation.  Jesus has already been praying about this for them.  

Matthew and Mark tell that Jesus goes away multiple times to pray and returns to find his disciples sleeping each time.  Luke is a little kinder to the disciples, mentioning it only once, rather than three times.

At this point in our story, we have a very human Jesus, struggling in anguish over what must be done, but ready and willing to submit to God's will, as he does his part in our redemption story.