Mar 14:32-42 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord is nearing the end of His trial, a trial that only reveals His glory and perfection, and at the same time glorifies His Father. He is approaching the battle and suffering with a full knowledge of its contents, and not with the lightness of Peter who throws himself into it because he is unfamiliar with its meaning. The Lord grants His disciples rest as He prepares Himself for the fiercest battle of prayer ever fought. He takes Peter, James and John with Him because these three disciples will later do a special work. In order to prepare them for this, He wants to introduce them deeper into the work He is going to do. They have seen how He made the daughter of Jaïrus alive from the dead and they have also seen His glory on the mountain. Now they will see the foundation on which He was able to raise a dead one and show His glory. It was only possible because He Himself would die. Our service depends on the awareness we have of the work He accomplished on the cross and what that meant to Him. We will never be able to gauge the full depth of it, but we will increasingly admire Him. The Lord communicates His feelings to His disciples. Then He must go the last part alone. The disciples must stay where they are because they cannot follow Him to the end. What they can do is keep watch, stay awake until He returns from His severe prayer struggle. When a deep trial awaits, the effect of prayer is that the trial is felt even more intensely. The Lord is facing a suffering that of all people will affect only Him: being forsaken of God because of being made sin. He places Himself in the presence of His God and Father, where everything is weighed up and where the will of the One Who imposed this task on Him is clearly affirmed in His fellowship with Him. Precisely the intimate fellowship with His God will be broken in the hours of darkness on the cross by God Who will let loose the whole heat of His wrath over sin. This agony of soul was not found among people, as we see with Stephen ( ). Here we see what the death of the Lord Jesus meant: bearing our sins in His body on the cross ( ). The Lord prays that that cup may be removed from Him. He is not insensitive to what that cup means. On the contrary, it proves His perfection. The awareness of being made sin fills His soul with abhorrence. At the same time, He surrenders Himself in this as the perfect Servant to the will of His Father. He wants nothing more than to do His will; there is no opposite will with Him. He prays in full confidence that anything is possible for the Father. He speaks to Him as “Abba! Father!” This indicates the Son’s most intimate relationship with the Father. There is no distance here, no abandonment by God. ‘Abba’ is the expression of complete trust. The Lord has introduced us into that relationship. We may also say “Abba, Father” ( ; ). It is the childlike trust with which a son comes to his father. He asks: “Only if My wish is in agreement with Yours, remove this cup, otherwise not.” When the Lord goes back to the three disciples, He finds all three of them sleeping, even though all three of them had said they would never abandon Him. He speaks only to Peter. He speaks to him with his old name “Simon”. Peter has just sworn his complete loyalty to Him and now he is sleeping, while the Lord has asked him to keep watch. Faithfulness to the Lord is seen in the first place in keeping watch with Him. To keep watch is to have a watchful eye on events so that we are brought to prayer. When we are sleeping, we are eliminated and the enemy can do his work. Peter’s inability to keep watch for one hour heralds his fall. The Lord advises Peter to keep watching and praying, or else he will come into temptation. He knows the good intentions of Peter and His other disciples, but He also knows that the flesh is weak. All good intentions do not preserve from a fall. That only is done by keeping watch and praying. We never find that the Lord’s own suffering prevents Him from thinking of others. He thinks of His mother and John on the cross, and of the murderer who was crucified with Him. But His battle is not yet finished. He will battle again by praying what He has prayed before. This shows His perfection. It means that He takes on the task He has to accomplish completely out of God’s hand and puts it into God’s hand. Despite His warning words, the disciples have fallen asleep again. It also takes so long. The Lord’s prayer battle lasts another hour. That is too long for weary people to keep watch and stay awake. We can only do that if we’re completely seized by a certain matter. The disciples should have been aware of what awaited Him. He sought this sympathy and comfort, but did not find it ( ). He finds them sleeping again, they have lost the battle against sleep. How difficult it is to really sympathize with someone who is in need. They feel ashamed that they have been sleeping again. For the third time the Lord prays for an hour. His three times one hour of prayer corresponds to the three hours He will be made sin on the cross. In prayer He has lived through all that work in His soul in the presence of God in order to actually enter and endure those three hours without God. Because His battle is over, they don’t have to keep watch with Him any longer. They can now remain at rest spiritually. He announces that now what He has said three times before will happen. In perfect rest which is the result of His surrender in prayer, He commands His disciples to rise. The time of keeping watch and praying is over. What remains is to undergo all the actions that evil people will do to Him, and His work on the cross where God will deal with Him. Peter will fail because he has slept. The Lord has been waking and praying and can confidently go on in dependence on His God and will remain standing.

‏ Mark 14:32-42

Gethsemane

The Lord is nearing the end of His trial, a trial that only reveals His glory and perfection, and at the same time glorifies His Father. He is approaching the battle and suffering with a full knowledge of its contents, and not with the lightness of Peter who throws himself into it because he is unfamiliar with its meaning. The Lord grants His disciples rest as He prepares Himself for the fiercest battle of prayer ever fought.

He takes Peter, James and John with Him because these three disciples will later do a special work. In order to prepare them for this, He wants to introduce them deeper into the work He is going to do. They have seen how He made the daughter of Jaïrus alive from the dead and they have also seen His glory on the mountain. Now they will see the foundation on which He was able to raise a dead one and show His glory. It was only possible because He Himself would die. Our service depends on the awareness we have of the work He accomplished on the cross and what that meant to Him. We will never be able to gauge the full depth of it, but we will increasingly admire Him.

The Lord communicates His feelings to His disciples. Then He must go the last part alone. The disciples must stay where they are because they cannot follow Him to the end. What they can do is keep watch, stay awake until He returns from His severe prayer struggle. When a deep trial awaits, the effect of prayer is that the trial is felt even more intensely. The Lord is facing a suffering that of all people will affect only Him: being forsaken of God because of being made sin.

He places Himself in the presence of His God and Father, where everything is weighed up and where the will of the One Who imposed this task on Him is clearly affirmed in His fellowship with Him. Precisely the intimate fellowship with His God will be broken in the hours of darkness on the cross by God Who will let loose the whole heat of His wrath over sin. This agony of soul was not found among people, as we see with Stephen (Acts 7:55 ; 59). Here we see what the death of the Lord Jesus meant: bearing our sins in His body on the cross (1Pet 2:24a).

The Lord prays that that cup may be removed from Him. He is not insensitive to what that cup means. On the contrary, it proves His perfection. The awareness of being made sin fills His soul with abhorrence. At the same time, He surrenders Himself in this as the perfect Servant to the will of His Father. He wants nothing more than to do His will; there is no opposite will with Him.

He prays in full confidence that anything is possible for the Father. He speaks to Him as “Abba! Father!” This indicates the Son’s most intimate relationship with the Father. There is no distance here, no abandonment by God. ‘Abba’ is the expression of complete trust. The Lord has introduced us into that relationship. We may also say “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5-6). It is the childlike trust with which a son comes to his father. He asks: “Only if My wish is in agreement with Yours, remove this cup, otherwise not.”

When the Lord goes back to the three disciples, He finds all three of them sleeping, even though all three of them had said they would never abandon Him. He speaks only to Peter. He speaks to him with his old name “Simon”. Peter has just sworn his complete loyalty to Him and now he is sleeping, while the Lord has asked him to keep watch. Faithfulness to the Lord is seen in the first place in keeping watch with Him. To keep watch is to have a watchful eye on events so that we are brought to prayer. When we are sleeping, we are eliminated and the enemy can do his work. Peter’s inability to keep watch for one hour heralds his fall.

The Lord advises Peter to keep watching and praying, or else he will come into temptation. He knows the good intentions of Peter and His other disciples, but He also knows that the flesh is weak. All good intentions do not preserve from a fall. That only is done by keeping watch and praying. We never find that the Lord’s own suffering prevents Him from thinking of others. He thinks of His mother and John on the cross, and of the murderer who was crucified with Him.

But His battle is not yet finished. He will battle again by praying what He has prayed before. This shows His perfection. It means that He takes on the task He has to accomplish completely out of God’s hand and puts it into God’s hand.

Despite His warning words, the disciples have fallen asleep again. It also takes so long. The Lord’s prayer battle lasts another hour. That is too long for weary people to keep watch and stay awake. We can only do that if we’re completely seized by a certain matter. The disciples should have been aware of what awaited Him. He sought this sympathy and comfort, but did not find it (Psa 69:20b). He finds them sleeping again, they have lost the battle against sleep. How difficult it is to really sympathize with someone who is in need. They feel ashamed that they have been sleeping again.

For the third time the Lord prays for an hour. His three times one hour of prayer corresponds to the three hours He will be made sin on the cross. In prayer He has lived through all that work in His soul in the presence of God in order to actually enter and endure those three hours without God.

Because His battle is over, they don’t have to keep watch with Him any longer. They can now remain at rest spiritually. He announces that now what He has said three times before will happen. In perfect rest which is the result of His surrender in prayer, He commands His disciples to rise. The time of keeping watch and praying is over. What remains is to undergo all the actions that evil people will do to Him, and His work on the cross where God will deal with Him. Peter will fail because he has slept. The Lord has been waking and praying and can confidently go on in dependence on His God and will remain standing.