Luke 22:39-46 Two Gardens
Good morning! We are headed back to the Gospel of Luke this morning, chapter 22, verses 39-46, and that’s on page 88 in the pew Bibles.
We are rejoining Jesus and His eleven remaining disciples just after the Last Supper on Thursday night in Jerusalem. They had finished eating the last Passover of the Old Covenant and were taking the last walk up the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane. A place that Jesus and His disciples had often gone to get out of the city and away from the crowds. A quiet place, especially at night, in a grove of olive trees with an olive press.
In this Garden we will see the Second Adam succeed where, in a different garden, the first Adam failed.
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Let’s pray.
In Luke’s Gospel we are given a very succinct picture of the events in the Garden of Gethsemane where Matthew and Mark give much more detail. We are, however, going to avoid going back to Matthew and Mark’s accounts to fill in the gaps we might imagine. The Holy Spirit, through Luke, gave us what we need for today, at least as far as the historical account is concerned. We’ll need a little help from the rest of Scripture to understand some of the spiritual implications of what was happening.
There is something very important for us to remember as we look into this passage, and that is that Jesus knew what was coming, He knew what was about to happen.
For most of us, in our limited imagination, if we were being honest, would admit that we think that it would make things easier for us if we knew what was going to happen next, right?
Well, that certainly wasn’t the case with Jesus. He knew what was about to happen but that certainly didn’t make it any easier for Him.
Back in verse 31 of this chapter Jesus told Peter and the disciples that Satan was going to sift them like wheat, and here in our text the sifting starts.
Do you remember what Jesus told Peter after telling them that? That He had prayed for Peter, that his faith would not fail.
Here in our text this morning Jesus instructs His disciples twice what they ought to pray for in the face of this great sifting: That they would not enter into temptation.
As it turns out prayer is a disciple’s best defense against temptation. When we pray according to God’s will what are we doing other than admitting our powerlessness and submitting to the Father’s powerfulness?
In the Lord’s Prayer, didn’t Jesus instruct us to ask the Father to, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?” Seems like Jesus is being pretty consistent in this instruction!
Jesus knew what was coming, both for Him and for them. He knew the temptation that they would face, to lose faith, to deny Him, to desert Him, to run back to Galilee and return to their old lives. He knew that the enemy would strike the Shepherd and the sheep would scatter.
But still He told them to pray.
And then, because He knew prayer was the best defense against temptation, He prayed Himself.
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
In Jewish tradition you prayed standing up, even with your face toward heaven, but here Jesus knelt down, with His face to the ground.
I’m sure you’ve seen paintings of this event, with Jesus in His white robes peacefully leaning on a rock with His hands neatly folded and His face wistfully and peacefully lifted to heaven… I don’t think that is even close to the reality of this night.
To imagine Jesus that way to is to remove any sense of reality of the personhood of Jesus. This was a night of grief and anguish for Jesus and His disciples, we can’t forget that.
Jesus knew what was coming, He knew what was in store for Him. And though He truly desired another way, He desired the Father’s will be done even more. This is when the Second Adam succeeded where the first Adam failed.
In the Garden of Eden the first Adam accepted the fruit from the scaly hand of the devil and so doomed us all. But in the Garden of Gethsemane the Second Adam, Jesus, accepted the cup of God’s wrath from the Father and so purchased salvation for all who believe in Him.
Romans 5:15-17 says,
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
And this victory in the Garden was a hard fought victory, we can’t and shouldn’t imagine away Jesus’ humanity in this moment. Though Jesus is fully God, He is also fully human.
Jesus was in anguish when He prayed this prayer of submission. This moment is truly best described as true suffering of the soul.
41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luke is the only Gospel writer that includes these two powerful details, the appearance of an angel and Jesus’ sweat becoming like great drops of blood.
What’s interesting to me is that the appearance of the angel did not make it any better for Jesus.
My mind went straight to Elijah’s encounter with an angel after defeating the 400 prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 19. Elijah had given up on God’s mission for him and asked God that he might die, but an angel appeared to him twice and gave him some cake and a drink of water and strengthened him for what was ahead. And Elijah arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights traveling to Mount Sinai from the wilderness of Beersheba.
But that’s not how it went with Jesus. After the angel appeared from heaven to strengthen Him, in His agony He prayed more earnestly.
I’m sure that the angel, a messenger from the Father, gave Jesus a message from the Father reminding Him of the mission and its purpose and benefits, but this only proved to cause Jesus to pray all the more earnestly in His agony.
And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.
This has always been a curious statement to me, and there are two ways that you could take it. Luke could be speaking figuratively with simile, that Jesus’ anguish was so great that He was sweating profusely, or, Doctor Luke could be describing a very rare but very real condition called Hematohidrosis.
Hematohidrosis, also called Blood-sweat, is the literal excretion of bloody discharge from non-injured skin. The most common causes of this condition are acute fear and intense mental strain. 96% of patients are affected in the face and the condition is usually treated with antidepressants and antipsychotics.
Jesus, more than any person before or since was experiencing true suffering of the soul, the intensity of which we cannot possibly imagine, and truly sweat great drops of blood.
Hebrews 5:7 says, In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
It’s easy for us to limit our thinking to what Jesus was going to experience physically: Betrayal, denial, abandonment, humiliation, torture, and death. I’m sure that this was a great source of anguish for our Savior, but even more so was the spiritual reality of the pain that was to come.
Jesus was about to experience the full power and penalty for the sins of the world, He was about to experience the exercise of God’s justice, the cup was the cup of God’s wrath.
The first Adam, in disobedience, took the fruit, the Second Adam, in obedience, willingly took the cup.
Romans 5:18-19 says, 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Back to Luke in verse 45.
45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Jesus reminds His disciples again that their best defense against temptation was prayer. Luke was compassionate enough to remind us that the disciples too were experiencing anguish and sorrow though they did not fully understand what was happening and in their sorrow they drifted off to sleep while praying.
I’m sure that never happens to any of you. I’m sure that isn’t happening to any of you right now…
Though this night was filled with anguish and sorrow for our Lord, in the face of His suffering He still had joy, not happiness necessarily which is based on circumstances, but joy because He knew what the outcome of His suffering would be, He knew what His anguish would accomplish for us.
As it says in Hebrews 12:2-3, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
And finally, Romans 5,
8 …God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Jesus’ obedience, His act of righteousness, accepting the cup of God’s wrath for us, leads to justification and life for us by faith in Him.
Thanks be to God for His amazing gift!
Amen.
