 |
With Jesus in the Garden Mark 14 The Burden Jesus Carried It was Julius Caesar who said "It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience." And Jesus Christ, the son of God knew that before the sun had set one more time that he would offer up the supreme sacrifice for the world, not just for the world, for you and me. Because before the day was done he would offer himself up to suffer and die. And with those thoughts racing through his mind he fell to his knees and began to pray. If that's true, then it means that what deeply troubles Jesus here isn't just the physical suffering, but his knowledge that he's about to take upon himself the full extent of God's wrath against sin. The physical suffering, the scourging, the nailing of hands and feet, the mocking... these things are nothing compared to the crushing weight of God's wrath against human sin. That's a cup that no other human being has ever tasted before, which explains Jesus' agony in the garden here. When Jesus returns, he finds Peter, James and John, anything but watchful. They're sleeping, and Jesus has to wake them up. Then in v. 38 he commands them to not only watch but now, also to pray. In other words, Jesus is instructing his three friends to do what Jesus himself has been doing. Only through watchfulness and prayer will they avoid falling because although inwardly they're willing, outwardly they're weak. Jesus goes back, prays some more, and then comes back to his disciples, only to find them sleeping again. They've failed to watch, failed to pray. The Example Jesus Gave Yet we also see in Jesus an example to follow. After all, Jesus was fully human as well as being fully God, and nowhere do we see his humanity more clearly than here in the garden. You see, as a true human being, Jesus is in that waiting mode none of us likes to be in. He's in that mode of life where he can see a light at the end of the tunnel, and he's pretty sure it's a train, not an exit. So Jesus' actions provide us with an example of what to do when bad things are coming. 1. WHEN JESUS KNOWS BAD THINGS ARE COMING, HE FINDS STRENGTH IN INTIMATE PRAYER. "Abba, Father." What a daring way to approach God, not as King, not as Ruler, not as Master, but as Father, even as Dad. How audacious, to approach God that way. Yet as followers of Jesus, that's exactly how we're invited to come. Romans 8:15 says, For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Jesus' prayer in the garden follows the pattern of an Old Testament prayer of lament. A lament is a cry of deep agony or grief. Yet the Psalms are full of prayers of lament. There are over fifty distinct prayers of lament found in the Old Testament book of Psalms. In fact, one book of the Old Testament is titled Lamentations. That's why Jesus will quote the 22nd Psalm on the cross, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" Jesus prays here in Mark 14 - and goes straight to the source. The first thing we discover in this prayer is: 1) He knew who he was praying to. To Jesus, the Father was not some abstract figure, he wasn't a vague benevolent something; out there somewhere. Instead, he was God the Father, who loves and cares about his children. The Disco group Abba was named after an Aramaic word that meant father but more then simply father, it was dada. Roy is my father, has been as long as I can remember but you know something - in 45 years, I don't think I have ever called him Father, ever. When I was younger, I called him Daddy, and now I call him Dad. For awhile, when I worked for him, I called him Sir, but I do not recall ever referring to him as Father. Abba means Daddy, it is a term of endearment, signifying a relationship. It's used only three times in the New Testament. This was the first. The other two times Paul uses it to describe the relationship we need to have with our heavenly Father. In Romans 8:15, it says "So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his familyÑcalling him 'Father, dear Father.'" Then, in Galatians 4:6, it says, "And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father". So, he prayed to His Father, believing that His Father had the power to answer his prayer and then... 2) He Prayed for Himself. He prayed, "Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me." Do you ever catch yourself praying for something for you - and feel guilty? It's like somewhere along the line we have been told that we should only pray for others. If we pray for ourselves then we are selfish. NO. When we pray the Lord's Prayer (that would be the one that Jesus gave the disciples), we pray that God would give us our daily bread, that God would forgive us, that God would keep us from temptation. Matthew 7:9-11 "Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" Oh, sometimes when we pray for ourselves we are praying for selfish things. You can't deny that, but for the most part it's not wrong to ask God to be with us and to take care of us and to provide for us. And He wants to do that, but you need to trust his judgement. It's easy to pray to God our Father, and it's easy to acknowledge his power, and it's easy to ask Him to take care of us. It's tough to surrender to His will. "Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine." 3) He Prayed For God's Will to be done. Poet Richard Cecil made this comment "The history of all the great characters of the Bible is summed up in this one sentence: They acquainted themselves with God, and accepted His will in all things." That is where Jesus was and where we must go. Think about it, the only thing anyone in the Bible ever got by insisting on doing their will instead of God's was pain. God is the creator of the universe and then, on the other hand we have us, most of whom can't program our vcrs. It's no contest, and yet time and time again we want to pray to God, Yet I want my will, not yours. He faced the reality of what was to come. What deeply troubles Jesus here isn't just the physical suffering, but his knowledge that he's about to take upon himself the full extent of God's wrath against sin. The holy righteous indignation of God against all of the unrighteous, sinfulness of human kind. It obvious took its toll as Jesus crys out. The only time He was ever separated from perfect fellowship with His Father was on the cross. He felt it most clearly, and in desperation crys out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" The physical suffering, the scourging, the nailing of hands and feed, the mocking... these things are nothing compared to the crushing weight of God's wrath against human sin. That's a cup that no other human being has ever tasted before which explains Jesus' agonizing cries and pleas in the Garden. He begins with a desperate plea to be free from the coming hour, to not have to drink the cup of God's wrath, followed by an affirmation that God has all power to do anything, and concluding with a prayer of submission - a surrender to God's will. Dr. David Garland describes it: "In Gethsemane, Jesus meets the dreadful silence of heaven. There is no reassuring voice from heaven... No dove descends... Jesus overcomes the silence, fights off the human temptation to do as he wills, and through prayer acquiesces to God's will". When we see bad things happening - coming down the pike in our lives, we would do well to follow that same pattern. Too often, instead of praying the kind of intimate, honest prayer that Jesus prays, we try to think happy thoughts and sing happy songs. We try to persuade ourselves that it's not really a train at the end of the tunnel, that God would never allow terrible tragedy; will never hit us. Yet if God the Father, allowed his beloved Son to experience suffering, why would we think we're exempt from such suffering? The prayer of lament we see in Jesus should be a normal part of our Christian experience. Jesus is our example, as he finds strength from this kind of intimate prayer. 2. WHEN JESUS KNOWS BAD THINGS ARE COMING, HE FINDS STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY. Peter, James and John have formed Jesus' closest inner circle. When Jesus raised a little girl from the dead earlier in Mark, these three men witnessed it (5:37). When Jesus shined with the brilliant glory of God on the mountain of transfiguration in the ninth chapter of Mark, these three men were there to see it (9:2). These three have, each in their own way, sworn to stay by Jesus' side no matter what, even if it meant suffering or death. Jesus yearned for their company on the most agonizing night of his life. Like friends who sit with us in a waiting room while we await news of a loved one in surgery, Jesus needed friends he could trust, who would just sit with him. They didn't need to say anything or do anything, but to just be with him. In his humanity, Jesus needed a sense of community with other people to find strength. And if Jesus needed it, how much more do we? How much more do we need men and women who share our faith in Jesus to strengthen us during painful times? Do we dare think that we're stronger than Jesus, that he needed something that we ourselves don't? This whole idea of needing community cuts against the grain of our highly individualistic culture. We're so used to idolizing the cowboy who rides out of town when he's no longer needed that we fail to see the great virtue of Jesus' need for community. For us needing community is a sign of weakness, but for Jesus it was a sign of strength. The primary place that Christians find this sense of community is in their local church. That's a big reason why Jesus created his Church, to create a place for community to flourish. For us to encourage and strengthen each other, to support and challenge each other, to love and forgive each other. You can't do that if you're not in community. It's interesting, too, that Jesus' community lets him down. You might say the church let Jesus down; it wasn't there when he needed it the most. Having a community is no guarantee that the community will be there when you need them and do what you need them to do. Relationships with people are simply too complex and messy to be that simple. Yet despite their failure to support Jesus, Jesus still loves his community, still invests his life in them, still cares for them. Being let down by those around us doesn't erase our need for them. I've seen many people greatly supported and strengthened in the midst of difficult circumstances by this church. - Yet as I look at Peter, James and John, I see that we're not alone in falling asleep when people need us. You and I are no stronger or better than they were. I'm just glad that this wasn't their only chance, that in the book of Acts these followers of Jesus do a much better job. Jesus models for us a need for community. 3. WHEN JESUS KNOWS BAD THINGS ARE COMING, HE FINDS STRENGTH IN SURRENDER TO GOD'S WILL. Jesus' prayer here echoes the prayer he taught us to pray. Remember how it goes? "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Jesus is praying the same when he says, "Not what I will, but what you will" (v. 36). Jesus prays to be delivered from death and all that his death will entail, but God's will is that Jesus be delivered through death. Jesus is to be exalted and lifted up by way of resurrection rather than by way of avoiding the cross (Garland). And Jesus finds the strength to face what lies ahead by surrendering himself anew and afresh to God's will. That's also where we'll find strength as well, as we face the hard things of life. Too often when people come to us with their problems and their hurts, we try to help them fix their problem and remove their pain. But perhaps the more important question to help them ask is, "What's God doing in your problem?" Maybe God doesn't want to fix it just yet, maybe the pain is serving a purpose, and to take away the pain too soon will short-circuit what God is doing. People don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. But true strength is found in surrender to the will of God. |
Back to Preachin' |