Luk 22:41 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord leaves the guest room where He and His disciples celebrated the Passover and He instituted the Supper. He also taught them there about their feelings toward each other and the change of their position in the world. As usual, He proceeds for the Mount of Olives. He doesn’t let the threatening arrest and all that will follow, stop Him from going to that place. He does not go there because of the special situation that presents itself, but because He was always used to do that. It is not enough for us to pray only when there is a great need, but we must always pray. It is His custom to go to that place of prayer. The disciples also go with Him. They do not stay behind in the guest room, but go out too and follow Him to the Mount of Olives. He wants to teach them to pray. He also tells them to pray, otherwise they will not be able to stand when the temptation comes. We can only be kept by watching and praying. Through prayer we come into the presence of God and only there do we get an eye for the evil that would otherwise lure us into the trap. When we are in God’s presence, we will experience the grace to remain standing, for in ourselves we are not able to withstand satan. We need the strength and grace of the Lord. Without the power of His strength we only dishonor our Master. When we rely on Him, the weakest believer is more than victor. Only in that way the devil can be resisted and he will flee from us. Luke does not speak of the three disciples whom the Lord takes further in the garden. What He has said is an important word for all disciples. He does not ask to pray with Him either, but as the perfect Man He is their example. He tells them to pray. Then He withdraws from them about a stone’s throw, as far as human strength reaches, not further. It emphasizes His truly being Man. There He kneels down and prays. He speaks to His Father about what awaits Him. The way He will endure the coming events determines the whole history of the world and all God’s plans. He is perfectly aware of this. Of the three evangelists who describe the Lord’s struggle of prayer in Gethsemane, Luke gives the shortest description. While the Lord Jesus prays, the cup of suffering is presented to Him. He knows that it is the cup full of God’s wrath over sin. He knows that this cup means that He will be made sin. His holy soul can only think of this in horror and therefore He expresses the wish that this cup will be removed from Him. At the same time, His complete surrender to the Father’s will appears when He says that not His will, but that of the Father may be done. He is willing to drink that cup. The burden presented to Him demands so much of his physical powers that an angel comes from heaven to strengthen Him. This does not mean to encourage Him, but to support Him physically. Never will an angel understand what it has been like for the Lord Jesus to spiritually enter into the suffering that is before Him here. Christ receives this support because He is the dependent Man on earth. We can also count on this support when we are in a severe struggle. The struggle of His soul is getting greater and greater, and so He prays all the more fervently. That is the only way for us to stand in the greatest temptations and, finally, to overcome them. How fierce the struggle is, is shown by the fact that His sweat appears on His face as drops of blood falling down upon the ground. It has been said that here in Gethsemane satan returns after he had departed from Him for a time after his earlier defeat in the wilderness ( ). Satan would then return here to present to the Lord the cup of suffering, so that He might, if possible, be turned away from the path of obedience. If he could not bring the Lord Jesus away from the way of obedience by presenting him with all that was attractive, he would now try to bring the Lord away from his way of obedience by presenting to him the horrors of suffering. The presentation of the suffering by satan could of course be no more and no different than the suffering that will be inflicted on Him by people who are in the power of darkness. It is clear that satan does not present the cup of suffering to the Lord. How could satan present to Him anything of the suffering that God will inflict on Him when He will be made sin ? That is, of course, impossible. It is precisely that suffering of which the Lord feels the full weight, and of which He asks with horror not to have to drink that cup. Suppose that the Lord here would be afraid of the suffering that will be inflicted upon Him by men led by satan. If the prospect of that suffering gave Him sweat drops as blood, He would be less than the many martyrs who have died while singing for His Name. That is impossible. No, what causes His agony, is the full knowledge that He will be made sin, by which God will reveal Himself to Him as an Avenger. He Who has always been the Associate of God will meet God as an Adversary ( ). He Who has always walked in fellowship with God will be forsaken by His God. That is what He is dreading and that is why He seeks His God in prayer to go through everything in His spirit in fellowship with Him, so that when that time comes, He can accept everything out of His hand. After the Lord has prayed, He rises from His knees and comes to His disciples whom He finds sleeping. Luke aptly mentions that they have fallen asleep from sorrow. Their sorrow is more the result of a certain feeling than a direct sympathy with the Lord. They love Him and are aware of the seriousness of what is about to happen, without being able to say what exactly is going to happen. The Lord’s question “why are you sleeping?”, should awaken them, not only physically, but especially spiritually. He says they have to get up and pray. This means that they must be in a prayer position in view of the events to come, otherwise they will be tempted to abandon Him or defend Him in a wrong way. They have not taken to heart His words which He has spoken to them with such care. It must be a warning example to us.

‏ Luke 22:41

Gethsemane

The Lord leaves the guest room where He and His disciples celebrated the Passover and He instituted the Supper. He also taught them there about their feelings toward each other and the change of their position in the world. As usual, He proceeds for the Mount of Olives. He doesn’t let the threatening arrest and all that will follow, stop Him from going to that place. He does not go there because of the special situation that presents itself, but because He was always used to do that. It is not enough for us to pray only when there is a great need, but we must always pray. It is His custom to go to that place of prayer.

The disciples also go with Him. They do not stay behind in the guest room, but go out too and follow Him to the Mount of Olives. He wants to teach them to pray. He also tells them to pray, otherwise they will not be able to stand when the temptation comes.

We can only be kept by watching and praying. Through prayer we come into the presence of God and only there do we get an eye for the evil that would otherwise lure us into the trap. When we are in God’s presence, we will experience the grace to remain standing, for in ourselves we are not able to withstand satan. We need the strength and grace of the Lord. Without the power of His strength we only dishonor our Master. When we rely on Him, the weakest believer is more than victor. Only in that way the devil can be resisted and he will flee from us.

Luke does not speak of the three disciples whom the Lord takes further in the garden. What He has said is an important word for all disciples. He does not ask to pray with Him either, but as the perfect Man He is their example. He tells them to pray. Then He withdraws from them about a stone’s throw, as far as human strength reaches, not further. It emphasizes His truly being Man. There He kneels down and prays. He speaks to His Father about what awaits Him. The way He will endure the coming events determines the whole history of the world and all God’s plans. He is perfectly aware of this.

Of the three evangelists who describe the Lord’s struggle of prayer in Gethsemane, Luke gives the shortest description. While the Lord Jesus prays, the cup of suffering is presented to Him. He knows that it is the cup full of God’s wrath over sin. He knows that this cup means that He will be made sin. His holy soul can only think of this in horror and therefore He expresses the wish that this cup will be removed from Him. At the same time, His complete surrender to the Father’s will appears when He says that not His will, but that of the Father may be done. He is willing to drink that cup.

The burden presented to Him demands so much of his physical powers that an angel comes from heaven to strengthen Him. This does not mean to encourage Him, but to support Him physically. Never will an angel understand what it has been like for the Lord Jesus to spiritually enter into the suffering that is before Him here. Christ receives this support because He is the dependent Man on earth. We can also count on this support when we are in a severe struggle.

The struggle of His soul is getting greater and greater, and so He prays all the more fervently. That is the only way for us to stand in the greatest temptations and, finally, to overcome them. How fierce the struggle is, is shown by the fact that His sweat appears on His face as drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

It has been said that here in Gethsemane satan returns after he had departed from Him for a time after his earlier defeat in the wilderness (Lk 4:13). Satan would then return here to present to the Lord the cup of suffering, so that He might, if possible, be turned away from the path of obedience. If he could not bring the Lord Jesus away from the way of obedience by presenting him with all that was attractive, he would now try to bring the Lord away from his way of obedience by presenting to him the horrors of suffering.

The presentation of the suffering by satan could of course be no more and no different than the suffering that will be inflicted on Him by people who are in the power of darkness. It is clear that satan does not present the cup of suffering to the Lord. How could satan present to Him anything of the suffering that God will inflict on Him when He will be made sin? That is, of course, impossible. It is precisely that suffering of which the Lord feels the full weight, and of which He asks with horror not to have to drink that cup.

Suppose that the Lord here would be afraid of the suffering that will be inflicted upon Him by men led by satan. If the prospect of that suffering gave Him sweat drops as blood, He would be less than the many martyrs who have died while singing for His Name. That is impossible.

No, what causes His agony, is the full knowledge that He will be made sin, by which God will reveal Himself to Him as an Avenger. He Who has always been the Associate of God will meet God as an Adversary (Zec 13:7). He Who has always walked in fellowship with God will be forsaken by His God. That is what He is dreading and that is why He seeks His God in prayer to go through everything in His spirit in fellowship with Him, so that when that time comes, He can accept everything out of His hand.

After the Lord has prayed, He rises from His knees and comes to His disciples whom He finds sleeping. Luke aptly mentions that they have fallen asleep from sorrow. Their sorrow is more the result of a certain feeling than a direct sympathy with the Lord. They love Him and are aware of the seriousness of what is about to happen, without being able to say what exactly is going to happen.

The Lord’s question “why are you sleeping?”, should awaken them, not only physically, but especially spiritually. He says they have to get up and pray. This means that they must be in a prayer position in view of the events to come, otherwise they will be tempted to abandon Him or defend Him in a wrong way. They have not taken to heart His words which He has spoken to them with such care. It must be a warning example to us.