Gethsemane Prayer (7)
[Luke 22:39-46]
Jesus prayed fervently in Gethsemane. When Jesus came to this earth and did His ministry, He did everything with zeal. He prayed to Heavenly Father with zeal. Jesus was zealous at the beginning of His public life. In John 2:13-16, when the Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business.” In this way, Jesus cleansed the temple, and at that time, Jesus' disciples remembered the word that is written in Psalms 69:9, which says, “Zeal for your house will consume me” (Jn.2:17). In other words, the Lord cleansed the inside of the temple with zeal for the Lord's house. Here, the word “will consume me’ means 'will be killed', which previewed that “the temple of His body” (v. 21) would die on the cross to cleanse us from all sins and make us “the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16).
Jesus was zealous even at the end of his public life. In Luke 22:44, on the night before Jesus died on the cross in bearing all our sins, He prayed more earnestly in Gethsemane. How fervently Jesus had prayed that His sweat had become like drops of blood falling to the ground? (v. 44). Here, when Jesus prayed “very fervently” (v. 44), there are three meanings:
- The first meaning is, Jesus prayed 'with all'.
Look at Mark 12:30 – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Jesus prayed with all His heart in Gethsemane. However, we are unable to pray to God with all our heart. The reason is that something else has come into our hearts and hindered our prayers. In other words, we often pray to God with ‘double mindedness’ (Jam. 1:8, 4:8). Jesus prayed with all His soul in Gethsemane. However, we are not able to pray to God with all our soul. The reason is because we want to save our lives out of fear of dying rather than lose them for Jesus and the gospel (Mk. 8:35). Jesus prayed with all His mind. However, we are unable to pray to God with all our mind. The reason is because we want to do our will rather than God's will (Ref.: Lk. 22:42). Jesus prayed with all His strength. But we are not praying to God with all our strength. The reason is because we rely on (Deut. 8:17) our own strength rather than relying on God who is our strength (Ps. 18:1, Jere. 16:19).
- The second meaning is that Jesus prayed while pouring out all His sap.
- When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, He prayed to Heavenly Father while pouring out tears. Look at Hebrews 5:7 – “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.”
- When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, he prayed to Heavenly Father in sweat. Look at Luke 22:44 – “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” When Jesus prayed while sweating, the temperature was never hot, but rather cold [(Jn. 18:18) “Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself”]. When Jesus prayed while sweating, the temperature was never hot, but rather cold [(Jn.18:18) “Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself”]. When it was so cold that people lit a fire and warmed themselves, Jesus earnestly prayed to Heavenly Father until He sweated.
- When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, He prayed fervently to Heavenly Father as He shed His blood. Look at Luke 22:44 – “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” Jesus did not pray to Heavenly Father only with tears and sweat, but He prayed so fervently that His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. Our skin does not have pores, but when it is hot, sweat comes out of the pores. When Jesus prayed, despite the cold weather, the word that His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground means that the sweat and blood mixed and the drops fell to the ground.
- The third meaning is that Jesus prayed to Heavenly Father as if He were pouring oil into an oil press.
The Gospels of Matthew and Mark say “Gethsemane” (Mt. 26:36; Mk. 14:32), but Luke says, “the Mount of Olives” (Lk. 22:39). There was the Garden of Gethsemane within the Mount of Olives, and the reason why Luke said, “the Mount of Olives” was because Jesus prayed to Heavenly Father while pouring out His sap (tears, sweat, blood) like many olive trees on the Mount of Olives that bear a lot of fruit and there were an oil press where the oil was extracted. The reason why Jesus prayed so much is because He earnestly desired that God's will to save sinners be fulfilled.
Jesus prayed with patience in Gethsemane. Look at Matthew 26:42, 44: “He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ … And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.” In Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, Jesus shed tears, sweat, and blood while praying to Heavenly Father and praying with patience until He received an answer to His prayers. When Jesus prayed “a second time,” there was no answer from God. But when He prayed “a third time,” He received an answer to His prayer. That was why the Bible does not say that Jesus went “again a fourth time” and “again a fifth time” and prayed. Jesus told a parable in Luke 18:1-8 about praying and not losing heart (Lk. 18:1). A widow in a certain city often went to an unrighteous judge who did not fear God and did not respect man, and begged, “Give me legal protection from my opponent” (vv. 2-3). At that time, the judge listened to her pleas and granted her resentment, because if he did not resolve her resentment, she would always come and wear him out (vv. 4-5). Now, “will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly” (vv. 7-8). Look at Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” If we look at these words, Jesus promised to answer prayer. We must hold on to this word of promise of answering prayer and continue to ask, seek, and knock on the door with patience until we receive answers to our prayers from God. However, if we look at the Bible, there are people who receive prayer answers immediately without praying with patience. An example is Nehemiah. In Nehemiah 2:4-8, King Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:1) asked Nehemiah what his request was (v. 4). Then Nehemiah prayed to the God of heaven for a while (v. 4) and answered the king (v. 5). And the king allowed it because the good hand of God was on Nehemiah (v. 8) [Thanks to God's help, Nehemiah and the people of Judah completed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days despite the persecution of their enemies (6:15-16)]. However, in the case of Elijah, the prayer was answered after he prayed 7 times (1 Kgs. 18:42-45). And Pastor George Muller, who said that he received 50,000 answered prayers, prayed for 25 years but did not receive an answer to two of his friends' prayers for the salvation of their souls until he passed away. God answers our prayers in God's time (in God's way) when we pray fervently.
We, too, must imitate Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane and pray to God with fervor and perseverance. Like Jesus, we must fervently ask God not only at the beginning of our ministry, but also until it is finished. Like Jesus, we must pray while pouring out all our sap. Even if we cannot shed blood, we must fervently pray to God even with tears and sweat. Also, we must ask God with patience until we receive answers to our prayers from God. God will hear our fervent prayer with patience and will answer our prayers in His time (in His way).