The Challenge of Gethsemane

The Challenge of Gethsemane

Come with me in company of Peter, James and John into the Garden of Gethsemane. Come that we might see Jesus in the Garden, that we might see the disciples in relation to Gethsemane and that we might see ourselves in relation to the Gethsemane experience. As you come “take off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest is Holy ground.”

This garden into which we come has a significant name – Gethsemane. So many Scriptural names are significant. Genesis, the first book of the Bible means, “beginnings.” There we find the story of all beginnings – the beginning of nature and man, of tribes and nations, of sin and redemption. Bethel where Jacob had his vision of God means “house of God.” Bethesda where Jesus healed the paralytic means “house of mercy.” Golgotha where our Lord was crucified means “place of a skull”. Gethsemane means “winepress.” Here is the place where the oil is crushed from the olive, where the juice was crushed from the grape. Winepress signifies the place of agony and suffering. It was in Gethsemane that Jesus experienced great suffering and agony.

“It was alone the Savior prayed in dark Gethsemane;

Alone He drained the bitter cup and suffered there for me.”

Jesus came to the garden with eleven disciples. Judas alone was missing, but he would come later bringing the authorities who would arrest the Savior. As they came to the entrance of the garden, Jesus said unto His disciples, “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” Then He took Peter, James and John into the garden with Him. They had been with Him on the Mountain of Transfiguration and had beheld the deity of Christ in all its splendor. Now they were to behold the humility of Christ made manifest.

After going a short way with the three into the garden, Jesus halted and said to them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; abide ye here and watch with me.” Jesus went forward a little and in agony of soul and spirit prayed, “O, my Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me, never the less not as I will but as Thou will.” Three times Jesus prayed this prayer and so great was His agony that “sweet was as if it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground.”

“Ah, never, never can we know

The depth of that mysterious woe.”

In the garden, we see Christ drawing back from the cross. Why? Here we see Him shrinking from drinking this cup of bitter agony. Why? What was there in this cup that was so bitter?

The cup was bitter because it was a cup of physical pain. It was only natural for a young and vigorous man to shrink for such an agonizing death as crucifixion. As Jesus knelt there in the garden, there came before His eyes the events of the next hours – an unjust trial, mockery by the crowds, scourging by the soldiers, nails driven into His hands, long hours of slow death on a cross. The fear of pain is worse than the actual experience. We dread the thought of having dental work done more than the actual experience itself. As Jesus thought of the actual pain involved, He shrank from the cross as any normal man would. Thus He prayed, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”

The cup was especially bitter because it was a cup of spiritual pain. That which causes spiritual pain is a consciousness of sin. Out of the consciousness of sin, Isaiah cried, “Woe is me.” In anguish of soul, the Prodigal said, “I am no more worthy to be called thy son.” In deep conviction of sin, Peter cried out to the one he love more than all the world, “Depart from me.” Sin brings crushing pain to the soul of man. Jesus knew no sin. His spiritual pain came not from His sin but from the sin of others. Christ was one with man in blood, “He was born of a woman.” He was one with us in life, “He was tempted like as we are.” He was one with us in experience; He prayed, He wept, He thirsted, He hungered. Now He is to be brought the sin bearer of man. He who knew no sin is to be made sin for us. He, His own self is to bear our sins in His body on the tree. This verse defies exegesis and exposition. We cannot plumb the depths of there meaning. In some manner unexplainable to man “the Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” As the Son of God prayed in Gethsemane, He beheld the burden of man’s sin falling upon Him. The whole being of Christ dew back from being “made sin.” He would endure the physical pain and the metal anguishes of loneliness but to be made sin, No, not that. The purer, the more righteous a person is the more contact with sin hurts. The sinless character, the purity of Christ’s nature shrank from the thought of sin. The spotless Lamb of God prayed, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”

Three times, Jesus prayed this prayer and three times He prayed, “not my will but Thine be done.” In the hour of prayer, He found courage to surrender Himself completely unto the will of God. The Good Shepherd has come into this world to seek and to save the lost sheep and to give His life for them. If it meant drinking the cup of physical, mental and spiritual anguish, He was willing.

His heart craved sympathy, but He was alone.

He was fighting the battle for all the race, and He was alone.

He was pitted against all the powers of Hell, and He was alone.

He was lonely – desperately lonely, and He was alone.

He was alone in that hour of extreme agony because His disciples fell asleep. They missed one of the high privileges of life. What a privilege it is to be asked to share a friend’s sorrow, to give aid and comfort in the hour of spiritual turmoil! It is a higher privilege to be asked in the accomplishment of a high and noble purpose. But in the hour when Jesus needed most the support of and the presence of His disciples, “they took their ease in Zion” and slept.

Let us be slow to judge these men and even slower to condemn them. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. How often are we guilty of failing to watch with Him? We are quick to speak to our friends of the drama we witnessed last night on television, but our tongues are tied when it comes to speak of the of drama of Calvary. We are quick to speak of the lessons learned by reading the newest book to gain the best seller list, but slow to speak of the truths of God’s Word. We spend hours in fellowship with human friends but only seconds in fellowship with our Divine Friend. We become so enamored with the temporal things that we seldom think of the eternal values. We become too involved with making a living that we fail to live a life of praise and honor and glory unto Him. If the cause of Christ is to be advanced, if the world is ever to choose His way, it will be because His friends watch and pray with Him. If Gethsemane says anything to us, it says, “Watch and pray with me.”

But there is a deeper meaning here for us. The Gethsemane experience teaches us that there is victory in surrender, conquest in commitment. Jesus cautioned Peter: “Watch and pray, least ye enter into temptation.” Peter disregarded our Lord’s exhortation and command and went to the defeat of denial. Jesus committed Himself to the will and purpose of God and left the garden with new courage to win a complete victory over the power of evil. It is in losing our self to the high purpose of Christian witness and service that we truly find our true selves.

The challenge of Gethsemane is:

Have thine on way Lord, have thine own way,

Thou art the potter, I am the clay,

Mold and make me after thy will,

While I am waiting yielded and still.

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

Oakwood Presbyterian Church, Lenoir, N.C. April, 1983