Mark 14:32-42 * March 12, 2003 * Midweek Lent II * Pastor Pagels

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

I guess the best way to describe the way I was feeling at the time was disappointed. About a month before I came to St. John’s I participated in an archaeological dig in the Holy Land. Our group worked during the week and traveled on the weekends. We spent our first weekend visiting the sites in and around Jerusalem.

I can still remember getting up early in the morning, boarding the bus, slowing making our way down the Kidron Valley and slowly climbing up to the Mount of Olives. I was excited because our first stop that day was the Garden of Gethsemane. I had read Mark’s account of what had happened there many times before. I was familiar with the famous painting of Jesus kneeling with his hands folded in prayer. But now I was about to see Gethsemane with my own eyes.

When I got off the bus, I can remember thinking to myself: “Okay, where is it?” Maybe it was because they are both called Gardens in the Bible, but in my mind I pictured Gethsemane looking much like Eden: lush greenery, quiet streams, plants and flowers and trees as far as the eye could see. But the Garden of Gethsemane doesn’t look like an oasis. It doesn’t even look like a garden.

The rows of olive trees and stone sidewalks give it the look and feel of a park, and not a very scenic park at that. The Gethsemane I saw was not nearly as impressive as the Gethsemane I had imagined. At first I was disappointed because the garden didn’t live up to my expectations.

If anyone had a right to feel disappointed in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was Jesus. His Father had denied his request to find another way to save the world. His closest friends had fallen asleep not once, not twice, but three times when he needed them the most. If anyone had a right to feel disappointed in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was Jesus.

In Gethsemane (which means “oil press” in Hebrew) Jesus was pressed between heaven’s eternal expectations and hell’s terrible temptations. In Gethsemane Jesus pressed the cup of God’s wrath to his lips and began drinking its bitter sorrow in our place.

In the midst of the greatest pressure this garden (and the world) has ever known Jesus triumphed over temptation. So let’s go to that quiet hillside just outside of Jerusalem. Let’s go to…

GETHSEMANE: A PLACE OF TEMPTATION

I. A place where Jesus kept an active watch

II. A place where Jesus submitted to his Father’s will

The theme for this year’s midweek Lenten series is “Places of the Passion.” The word “passion” comes from the Greek word for suffering. The places of the passion are the places where Jesus suffered and ultimately died for the sins of the world. Using that definition, Gethsemane definitely deserves to be listed among the places of Jesus’ passion.

When Jesus prayed in the Garden, it wasn’t the first time he thought about his mission. He had discussed it with Moses and Elijah at his transfiguration. He had prepared the disciples for it as they marched toward Jerusalem. But now that period of preparation was over. Thousands of years prophecies and promises had come together in this place at this time on this one person.

It is not an understatement to say that the fate of the world rested on Jesus’ shoulders. Maybe that explains why he was deeply distressed. Maybe that explains why he was troubled. Maybe that explains why he told his disciples: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (34).

Jesus was overwhelmed with sorrow because he knew what had to be done. Jesus was overwhelmed with sorrow because he knew that he was the only one who could do it. But he wasn’t the only one who understood the gravity of the situation. The devil understood what was at stake in the Garden. If Jesus succeeded, he would be defeated. If Good Friday became a reality, that day would be anything but good for him.

Perhaps you have heard about the MOAB bomb (Massive ordnance air burst, also nicknamed the Mother Of All Bombs) that was tested in Florida yesterday. At 21,000 pounds, it is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the world and can kill a person a half a mile away. If the initial testing goes well, the MOAB could be used in a possible war with Iraq.

As devastating as that bomb is, it is nothing compared to Satan’s assault on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The devil had tempted Jesus many times before, but this was different. His time was running out. He needed Jesus to break down. He needed Jesus to give up. He needed something to give before it was too late.

The reason the devil so desperately needed Jesus to fail is the same reason Jesus needed to keep an active watch. Jesus needed to keep an active watch to ward off Satan’s attacks. Jesus needed to keep an active watch to triumph over temptation. And that is exactly what he did.

Jesus kept an active watch by taking refuge in a familiar place. When Jesus prayed in the Garden, one gets the impression that this was nothing new for him. He had gone there before. He had done this before. And with the most important day in the history of the world on the horizon, he didn’t change his routine. Jesus took refuge in these familiar surroundings to prepare fore the challenge ahead.

Jesus also kept an active watch by taking his disciples along. “Stay here and keep watch” (34), Jesus told Peter, James and John. The disciples who had witnessed his glory would also see his humiliation. As the Son of God, Jesus offered what these men needed. As the Son of Man, Jesus needed what they could offer him—companionship.

Finally, Jesus kept an active watch by taking his problems to the Lord in prayer. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the one who lay facedown in prayer the sinless Son of God. But he was also a real human being, with human feelings and human emotions. He knew that he couldn’t go it alone. He knew that he needed his Father’s help and he wasn’t afraid to ask for it.

Jesus not only told his disciples: “Stay here and keep watch” (34). He practiced what he preached. He kept an active watch. The disciples, on the other hand, must have been asleep during that part of his sermon. Three times Jesus returned to these men, the same men who claimed that they were ready to die with him. Three times he had to wake them up from their slumber.

How could they sleep at a time like this? Didn’t they see the anguish on Jesus’ face? Didn’t they want to help him? If the Lord had asked me to keep watch with him, I would have stayed up all night. We don’t have to say “If God asked me…” because he does. He does ask us to do these things in his Word. And in this case, it is not a compliment to be called one of Jesus’ disciples.

The Lord tells us to flee temptation, but we think we can move closer and closer to the fire without getting burned. And he finds us sleeping. The Lord asks us to pray to him in all circumstances, but there are only so many hours in a day. We just don’t have the time. And he finds us sleeping. The Lord encourages us to serve him by serving others, but so many important things are competing for our time (including sleep). And he finds us sleeping.

We are disciples of Jesus in every sense of the term. We claim to be his followers, but we don’t always keep an active watch against temptation. That is why it is so important for us that Jesus did. He defeated sin. He defeated Satan. Not even death on a wooden cross and burial in a sealed tomb could keep him down. The living Lord who burst from the tomb on Easter morning teaches us how to deal with temptation today.

You might have a personal place of prayer like Jesus did, but even if you don’t the Lord is still your refuge and strength. When you are tempted, go to him. Talk to God in prayer. Listen to God he speaks to you in his Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what he says and how it applies to your life.

Jesus triumphed over temptation by keeping an active watch in Gethsemane, and now he helps us overcome temptation by keeping an active watch over us. At the same time, Jesus took a passive approach to his passion by submitting to his Father’s will.

Jesus prayed to his Father: Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (36). Jesus wasn’t afraid to lay it all out on the table. Jesus wasn’t afraid to make his feelings known. Looking ahead to the agony he would have to endure, Jesus wasn’t afraid to admit that he didn’t want to go through with it.

As the Son of God, Jesus was prepared to do whatever God asked him. As the son of Joseph and Mary, Jesus was struggling. He wasn’t struggling with the fear of the unknown. He was struggling because he knew exactly what was going to happen.

He could anticipate every time the whip lashed against his bare back. He could anticipate every time the spikes were pounded deeper into his hands and feet. He could anticipate the weight of the world’s sin crashing down on his weak frame. And so Jesus prayed in the Garden. He prayed long and hard. He prayed: “Father, please let there be another way.”

But this was the plan. This was God’s plan. This was God’s plan from eternity. This was God’s plan to rescue the world from sin. And when the Father put the bitter cup of suffering and pain and death to Jesus’ lips, he didn’t pull away.

That’s the key to understanding Jesus’ prayer in the Garden. He sought his own will conditionally. He sought his Father’s will unconditionally. If what he wanted and what God wanted were different, then his Father’s will came first.

And so Jesus drank the cup of suffering willingly. He drank the most vile and disgusting the drink the world has ever known, poisoned by our immoral thoughts and vicious words and hateful actions. He drained that cup of suffering to the dregs so that we would never have to take even a taste.

Soon the mental anguish of the Garden would give way to the physical pain of the cross. But it didn’t matter. Strengthened by God’s angels and assured of God’s presence, our Savior had already resolved to finish the work he had begun. And Jesus himself the set wheels of God’s plan in motion when he said: “Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer” (42).

As we continue on our journey through the places of the Passion, please remember Gethsemane as a place of temptation. But more importantly, remember Gethsemane as a place where Jesus triumphed over temptation. Amen.