The Jesus Prayer (Luke 22:39-46)
About 15 years ago, Dad went into Afib around Thanksgiving. Medication didn’t work, and cardioversion only worked for about a week or two. So, Dad had an ablation. During Dad’s procedure, the cardiologist used a catheter that was way too large for his artery, nicked a bunch of stuff, and caused internal bleeding. No one realized that Dad was bleeding, so after they wheeled him to recovery, they wanted Mom to take him home. Dad was far too weak for Mom to take him home, and she told someone she wasn’t taking him home. Another surgeon looked at Dad and rushed him to surgery to try to stabilize his blood pressure and save his life.
I knew Dad had an ablation, but that’s all I knew until I got a text from Mom that simply said: “Pray hard.” I called Mom and got the scoop, and pray hard we did. Tammy and I prayed as hard as we could. I was teaching at a Christian university at the time, and I don’t mind telling you I sent an email to every single faculty and staff member asking them to pray for Dad that night. Dad pulled through the surgery (although it was touch and go for several days), and he is doing well today.
How many times have you needed to “Pray hard?” Maybe you prayed hard when you lost a loved one. Perhaps you prayed hard when you lost your job. You might have prayed hard after a phone call from your physician. Maybe you prayed hard because your children were suffering in their marriage or with their children or with their jobs. Perhaps you prayed hard for forgiveness from a specific sin.
In this morning’s text, Jesus prayed hard. He was about to die a horribly excruciating death for your sins and for my sins. And, the Lord was in great emotional turmoil; therefore, he turned to the Father in prayer. As he prayed, “Jesus prayed to avoid the cross.”
Scripture (Luke 22:39-46)
verses 39-40:
Luke used an ancient literary device known as inclusio in this paragraph. With an inclusio, the author brackets material at the beginning and end of a text to make a point. “Pray that you may not enter into temptation” begins and ends the paragraph. Thus, Jesus really wanted the disciples to pray that they might not enter temptation.
Temptation here should be understood as a period of testing or trial, for the same Greek term can be translated either “temptation” or “testing.” What period of testing do you think Jesus had in mind? His crucifixion. He asked the disciples to join him in prayer that he might avoid the cross.
verses 41-42:
Jesus withdrew from the disciples “about a stone’s throw.” In other words, he was close enough to them that they could hear him, but he was far enough to have some privacy.
Jesus “knelt down and prayed.” It was customary to stand and pray; however, Jesus was overcome with such emotion and humility that he knelt to pray.
Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” Old Testament prophets often spoke about the “cup” of God’s wrath about to be poured out in judgment. God’s wrath was about to be poured out on Jesus, and the Lord prayed that he might avoid the Father’s wrath.
Jesus, in great humility, prayed that the Father’s will, not his own, be done.
verses 43-44:
As an angel strengthened him, Jesus prayed more earnestly because he was in agony. His agony was so great that Jesus’s “sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke didn’t say that Jesus was sweating blood. Instead, he said that he was sweating so heavily it was like Jesus had severed an artery. Sweat was falling and falling and falling.
verse 45:
Jesus “rose from prayer.” He was suffering great emotional distress, but he was still able to get up without help, an image of Jesus’s stamina.
He found the disciples “sleeping for sorrow.” The disciples have been emotionally exhausted from the turmoil they’ve witnessed thus far, and they fell asleep.
verse 46:
Jesus asked the disciples, “Why are you sleeping?” This would have probably been somewhere between 10 and 11 at night; that’s extremely late for an agrarian society—you worked when the sun was up and you slept when the sun was down.
However, Jews often stayed up extremely late at Passover. The family gathered and stayed up late into the night retelling the story of the Israelite redemption from Egypt. The disciples had probably stayed up late every other Passover of their lives, but they couldn’t find it in themselves to stay up late with Jesus when he needed them.
Application
“Jesus prayed to avoid the cross.” Jesus knew what was required of him; throughout his ministry, Jesus had said he would go to Jerusalem, be crucified, and then raised again (cf. Matt 16:21). Jesus willingly went to the cross for you; after all, he could have appealed to the Father for more than twelve legions of angels to rescue him (Matt 26:53). However, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to bearing your sins in a painful death, and he implored his Father for another way.
This morning, see the Savior kneeling in prayer in the Gethsemane. As you see the Savior praying, notice he is:
One: Alone
Jesus prayed Alone in Gethsemane. He did go about a stone’s throw away from the disciples to pray, but he asked the disciples to keep a spiritual union with him—he asked them to pray that they might not enter into a period of testing (he was asking them to pray that he might avoid the cross). Instead of joining the Lord in prayer, the disciples slept.
Will you leave Jesus all Alone? Instead of leaving him alone, Jesus wishes for you to follow him; after all, “Christ . . . suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Pet 2:21). Are you following in his steps? Are you right behind him?
Two: Agony
Jesus suffered deep Agony in Gethsemane: “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Lk 22:44). There is no way for you or me to fathom the depth of Jesus’s Agony in the Garden. Sure, we could think about dreading a horribly painful death, but we have no frame of reference for bearing all of mankind’s sins—we can’t even comprehend that. And that’s surely why Jesus is in such deep Agony.
Since Jesus suffered such deep Agony for you, can’t you suffer a little for him? The Lord calls on you to suffer for him: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26-27). When the Lord said you’re to hate your family, your own life, and carry your cross to the place of execution, that sounds like Agony.
Are you willing to endure Agony for Jesus? Will you endure the Agony of temptation, or will you give in to the fleeting pleasures of sin? Will you endure the Agony of denying self or will you do whatever your heart desires? What will you endure for Jesus?
Three: Accepting
Jesus was Accepting of God’s will: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Lk 22:42). Jesus didn’t insist on his own way, but he was Accepting of the Father’s will.
How Accepting are you of the Father’s will? James wrote, “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (Js 4:15). If you should say, “If the Lord wills” about the everyday occurrences of life, how much more should you say, “If the Lord wills” when you pray! It’s not enough simply to say, “If the Lord wills.” You must mean it and submit to the will of the Lord as you pray.
In fact, you must submit to the will of the Lord in every facet of your life. How much do you submit to the Lord’s will?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.