PRAY: Jesus prayed that God would “let this cup pass” from him; however, he concluded each prayer with, “not what I want but what you want.” This is a model for our prayer lives – don’t hesitate to ask God for anything … even to ask God to change his mind! However, remember to end your prayers with “not what I want but what you want,” and leave your requests in God’s most capable hands.
DO: Jesus went to the garden to be alone to pray. What places are peaceful for you? This week, intentionally go to a place where you can feel at peace and alone and spend time in prayer – conversation with God.
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Describe a time/place when you’ve been in prayer and felt close to Jesus.
How does your prayer life relate to the experience of the disciples in this story? How is it different?
How does your prayer life relate to the experience of Jesus in this story? How is it different?
The words “threw himself on the ground” literally mean that Jesus was praying “prostrate” or flat on his face. What does this posture of prayer indicate to you about Jesus? About the content of his prayer? His emotions? (See also other examples of Biblical persons lying prostrate in prayer – Gen 17:3, 17; Num 14:5; 2 Sam 9:6; 1 Kgs 18:39; Matthew 17:3).
What postures do you use for prayer? Do you use different prayer postures for different prayers? Circumstances? Feelings? What do these postures mean for you?
What does his prayer(s) reveal about Jesus?
Garden of Gethsemane
Matthew 26:30b-56; Mark 14:32-52; Luke 22:39-53; John 18:1-13
The Location
The name “Gethsemane” means “olive press” and is named by Mark and Matthew. Mark mentions just this location. Matthew has Jesus and the disciples move from the Mount of Olives (named in Luke) to Gethsemane. Only John refers to a garden, which remains unnamed, located in the Kidron Valley (at the base of the Mount of Olives). Thus, the term “Garden of Gethsemane” cannot be found anywhere in Scripture -- it is a harmonizing of the various Gospel accounts.
However, in all accounts, Jesus and his disciples are on the east side of Jerusalem (on the outskirts, but still within the city limits in accordance with Passover tradition) and it is possible that Gethsemane could have been a garden located in the Kidron Valley. The frequency with which Jesus and his disciples are known to have met at this location varies in each Gospel account in connection with how often and how long each account knows Jesus to have been in Jerusalem.
The Person
When he comes to Gethsemane, Jesus is described as “distressed and agitated” (Mark 14:33). Also in Matthew’s account, this describes a strong emotional state, causing Jesus to throw himself prostrate to the ground in prayer. In Greek, the expression used in Mark describes an extreme emotion, verging on a breakdown. In both accounts, we experience here the full extreme of Jesus’ human weakness, and yet, his equally extreme trust in God.
In Luke’s account (and more so in John) these emotions are toned down. For example, Jesus simply kneels to pray. However, at least some of the ancient manuscripts* of Luke offer a vivid physical picture of Jesus strengthened by an angel and praying “more earnestly” (vv. 43-44). Here, Jesus is described as sweating so profusely that “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.” This not meant to be a literal image, but instead to describe in vivid language the way the quantity of sweat dripping from Jesus as he struggled in prayer.
• Have you ever prayed “earnestly”? What was it like? How is this different from “typical” prayers?
• Imagine prayer as a physical activity. Is this different from your default image of prayer? Is the content of such prayer different? Are the results of such prayers different? Why or why not?
• Jesus prayed in his grief and in his agitation. These are both strong emotions. How do these (or other strong emotions) affect your prayers? When you experience these emotions, do you pray? Why or why not? How does prayer interact with such emotions?
• It isn’t always easy to pray. What hurdles do you have to overcome to pray to God about everything that is on your heart/mind?
*The oldest and best manuscripts omit these verses. Because this description disrupts the calm image of Jesus otherwise presented, as well as the otherwise ordered flow of the scene, it’s likely that they are not original to the text. A few ancient manuscripts omit these verses from Luke and add them to Matthew’s account where they fit the depiction of Jesus better. Although these verses were probably not a part of either Gospel account, there is evidence that they trace back to an early tradition about Jesus (possibly an extra-canonical gospel or oral account), and so they are retained (with brackets) in the Scriptures.
The Prayer
On the evening of his arrest, in preparation for his death, Jesus presents for his disciples (and us) a model of prayer. “The Synoptics portray the truly human Jesus who shuttered before death and asked to be delivered from it; the Fourth Gospel presents Jesus as a representative of God, who is sovereign over all, in control even of his own death” (Boring & Craddock, People’s New Testament Commentary, p. 347).
As a result, in John’s gospel account Jesus’ prayer is the calm and collected high-priestly prayer (John 17:1-26) that precedes the garden scene. In Luke’s account, Jesus is still portrayed as relatively calm (kneeling instead of falling prostrate, vv. 41-42), demonstrating his devotion to God and modeling prayer as a tool that strengthens one to do God’s will. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus’ prayer represents his struggle between his human weakness and his trust in God’s divine will. This can be especially seen in light of his transition from singing with his disciple’s on the Mount of Olives – the Passover Hallel (hymn) Psalm 115-118 (esp. Ps 118:17-18) – to this anguished prayer in Gethsemane. In any case, “Jesus’ prayer is the model for all authentic human prayer, which does not try to bend God’s will to ours, but ours to God’s” (Boring & Craddock, p. 163).
• How does knowing the content of the hymn (Psalm 118) inform your understanding of Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane?
• How does Jesus wrestle through the ways in which this Scripture (Psalm 118) both connects and disconnects from his situation?
• Have you ever had an experience of worship, Scripture, and/or sacred music moving you to prayer? How did this happen? What was it like?
• What is Jesus’ primary concern in the high priestly prayer (John 17:1-26)? How does this reflect a different aspect of the same Jesus who prays at Gethsemane in the Synoptics?
• Do you prefer one account to another? Why?
Boring & Craddock suggest that “the reader should resist harmonizing the Synoptic portrayal of Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane with the cool sovereignty of the Johannine Jesus, for these cannot be biographically combined without blurring the sharpness of each account. Neither should the reader ask how it ‘really was,’ as though one must choose between the two accounts. Each has its own essential theological point to make” (p. 347).
• Do you agree or disagree with this assessment? In what ways are these accounts more powerful when held on their own? Can they also be more troubling?
• We can’t really know which account is historically true. What does this mean for how we read and understand each account as Holy Scripture? For how we understand Jesus?
In this moment, Jesus also connects his own prayer and instructions for prayer with the prayer that he taught his disciples (Matthew 6:9-15; Luke 11:2-4) as a model prayer.
• What connections can you identify with the Lord’s Prayer Hint: look also at what Jesus says to his disciples at Gethsemane about prayer.
• What would “temptation” or “time of trial” have meant to Jesus and his disciples in that moment? To the early Christians who wrote the gospels? What does it mean to us today?
The book of Psalms is the most often quoted book in the New Testament. Because it was the hymnal of the Jewish people, it was the most familiar to them. For Jesus and his disciples, following his words at the Last Supper, this is a time of grief. Look at the Psalms of Lamentation (esp. Pss. 31:10-11; 42:5, 11; 55:5).
• What connections can you see between Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane and the Psalms?
• What do these connections say about Jesus’ relationship with Scripture? How are we / can we be influenced by Jesus’ model?
• How can Scripture heighten the emotions and/or deepen the meaning of our prayers?
• How can Scripture help us to pray?
The Arrest
Jesus was not hiding from the authorities at Gethsemane (or anywhere else). He made no secret of where he would be going (according to some accounts, even frequented this spot), and spent his days teaching at the Temple in plain view of the authorities. Being able to find Jesus to arrest him was not the question. However, because of the crowds that supported him, the chief priests and Pharisees didn’t want to make a big scene in broad daylight (or possibly start a riot). And so, they sought Jesus out in the dark, when he and his disciples were alone, on the outskirts of the city.
Jesus accuses his arresters of coming for him “as if I were a bandit” (Matthew 26:55; Mark 14:48; Luke 22:52). Although this English term refers generally to anyone who is outside of the law (something which in itself Jesus was not), a bandit was not a simple thief or criminal. This was the term that the Roman government and historians used for those involved in armed resistance against Rome, i.e. terrorists (or, from the perspective of the people, freedom fighters). Jesus distinguishes himself from this group by his nonviolent behavior exhibited by his reaction when a sword is drawn in each of the gospel accounts (see also Matthew 5:38-39, 43-48).
• In a world that knows much about “terrorists” and “freedom fighters”, how does this description of Jesus affect your image of Jesus’ arrest?
• Why would the authorities have identified Jesus in this way? Do you think there were those in the crowds (or among his disciples) who had similar thoughts? What about Jesus fit with this image? How does this affect your image of terrorists?
• Contrast this description with Jesus’ description of the temple as a “den of bandits” (Luke 19:45-46) and the same term used of Barrabas, as well as the two criminals cruficied with Jesus. What is being said about Jesus? About the crowds? About the established authority?
• Jesus maintained that acts against the government, even in fighting for the freedom of his people were wrong. Why? What alternative did he offer? How might this inform our response to current tensions today?
The group that comes to arrest Jesus is described as “a crowd” in the Synoptic accounts. It’s unlikely that these people represented the same crowds that greeted Jesus when he entered Jerusalem and came to hear his teachings in the temple. However, the use of the same word marks a symbolic turn of the crowd’s allegiance, as Jesus prepares to be denied by everyone, even his closest followers. In John’s account, Roman soldiers and the Jewish temple police make the arrest. The military term “detachment” refers to 600 men in a Roman army, and so, the image here also is of an enormous crowd. This is in contrast to Matthew 26:53 in whcih Jesus mentions God’s power to send twelve legions of angels (a military term for 5,000-6,000 soldiers). There would have been only four Roman legions stationed in the closest base to Jerusalem – Antioch.
• Does it matter who arrested Jesus? Ultimately, who is responsible for Jesus’ death?
• Who is in control of this scene? (see especially John’s account)
• Why does Jesus allow himself to be arrested?
• What is the disciples’ response?
• What is our response when we face “time[s] of trial”?
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