Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives
39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.[c]
45When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46"Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."
Jesus Arrested
47While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
49When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" 50And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
52Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns."
Dig Deeper
One of the most beloved of all American children’s fairytales is the classic story “The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.” This story has become so popular that there have been endless versions in TV, movies, cartoons, and children’s books. At the heart of the story we have three little pigs who are sent off by their mother to go out and get themselves jobs and their own homes and begin to provide for themselves. Two of the pigs simply don’t take this challenge to heart. Rather than working hard and preparing themselves for life in the real world, they spend their playing and having fun. They don’t use their time well and they don’t put in the necessary work to build proper houses. Instead they build houses that are just good enough in their own eyes. One of the little pigs builds a house that is made of nothing but straw. The story informs us that it wasn’t a very good or strong house but the pig was sure that it was good enough and it took very little time to build so he can now go play. The other little pig puts in just a little more work but not much more. He builds his house out of sticks and runs off to play. Again we are told that his house isn’t very strong or good but it’s good enough for the pig. But the third little pig is determined to put in the necessary preparation and work. He takes the time to build his house out of bricks. This house, we are told, is a good and strong house. He has prepared properly and so he is prepared.
That’s when the story takes a bit of a dark turn. A big, bad wolf arrives on the scene with the intent of eating the little pigs. He goes to the first house where the pig quickly locks himself in, and the wolf demands that the pig open the door or he’ll blow the flimsy house in. The little pig refuses and the wolf does indeed blow the straw house in. The pig escapes to the house of the second brother in the stick house where the scene is repeated, the stick house is blown down, and the two pigs escape to the brick house of their brother. Try as he might, the wolf simply cannot blow down the brick house so he tries to climb down the chimney, but the brothers have prepared by putting a pot of boiling water on the fire. The wolf drops into the boiling pot of water, scatters back up the chimney badly injured and is defeated by the third brother’s hard work and preparation.
For Jesus and his disciples, the big bad wolf is coming. Jesus has already tried to tell his followers that they are living in straw houses that are not prepared for the coming attack. What we have in this scene, more than anything else, is a vivid picture of the reality of Jesus preparing well for what was to come while his disciples still were not properly preparing. And when the time came, the difference between Jesus who prepared well and the disciples who did not would be painfully evident.
Jesus knew well what he was facing. It was deeply beyond the simple fact of going to his own death. That was bad enough but Jesus was about to do more than just suffer a death of crucifixion on a Roman cross. He was about to take on the full brunt of the forces of evil. He was willingly preparing to walk directly into the teeth of all that the darkness of this fallen world could muster and to let it have its way with him. But even more than that was that Jesus was about to take the iniquities of the entire world on to himself. He was going to take up the role of God’s faithful servant in Isaiah 53 who would take up the infirmities and sorrows of all of Israel and the world as a whole and act as a representative for humankind. He would be, as Isaiah prophesied, “pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). As terrifying as it would be to take upon himself the sin of the world and the very worst that evil could dish out, it was even more so for Jesus because he knew that he was about to drink of the cup of God’s wrath (see Ps. 11:6; 75:7-8; Isa. 51:17, 19, 22: Jer. 25:15-16; 49:12; 51:57; Zech. 12:12).
But even with all of that swirling about him, Jesus did not cease to care for his disciples, his family. He did not want them to fall into the terrible time of testing that was to come. Surely they would fail and abandon him, but he didn’t want them to completely betray Jesus the way that Judas would and he certainly didn’t want them winding up dead the way followers of the leader of a movement often were in those days.
At the heart of all of this, was the commitment to do God’s will. From the Garden of Eden, humans had fallen into temptation and exalted their own will over that of God’s. That was Adam and Eve’s failing in Eden and it has continued right down to this day. The very act of sin is the simple decision to do our own will rather than God’s. So now Jesus would act as humankind’s representative and turn all that around. He would do God’s will whatever it may be. He prepared himself through fervent prayer. First, though, he would ask the Father if there was another way (see Ex. 32:10-14; 2 Sam. 15:25-26; 2 Ki. 20:1-6). Perhaps this would be a moment similar to Abraham’s experience when he put his only son on the altar and prepared to sacrifice him, only to receive a last-minute reprieve. But what God spared Abraham he would not spare himself. His son would take on the punishment for sin so that the whole world might experience reconciliation with the Father.
This was no easy task, to submit his flesh to God’s will, but we needn’t think that Jesus ever wavered in his loyalty to the Father’s will. Jesus understood the deep anguish of what was ahead but we never are given an indication that there was any thought on his part to do anything other than obey. Jesus’ prayer here was all about finding and committing himself to the Father’s will; the obedience would follow the commitment as it always does. Jesus had repeatedly declared that his new family that would be created around his decisive actions in Jerusalem on the cross would consist of people who were committed to Gods’ will (Lk. 11:28; Mk. 3:31-35; Lk. 8:21). This was the defining act in creating that community that would be those who did God’s will. Jesus was obedient to the Father’s will even to his own death. Just as Jesus defined this family committed to doing God’s will by going to his death, his followers must die to themselves to enter into his life (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 2:20; Jn. 12:24-26).
But while he was preparing himself in prayer, the others were sleeping and giving into the weakness of their flesh. As Jesus returned to find them sleeping again, the moment arrived. One of his own, Judas, had betrayed him with a sign of affection and loyalty (see also Gen. 27:26-27; 2 Sam. 15:5; 20:9; Prov. 7:13; 27:6). He had literally given Jesus a kiss of death. Yet, this was no surprise to Jesus. This was not a case of things getting out of hand. Jesus was as resolute as he had been when he turned his face to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51). Jesus deeply understood that following God’s will meant to calmly and intentionally walk into his own death. All the while that Jesus prepared for this incredible temptation by praying so fervently that he either broke into a sweat that was so intense it looked like blood or he was actually sweating drops of blood (either case is possible based on Luke’s sentence construction and experts do confirm that it is possible to struggle mentally with something to the point of sweating blood), Jesus’ disciples were sleeping. They were simply not prepared when the wolf came. So while Jesus could face this threat with dignity and calmness and a firm resolve to submit to God’s way of peace, Peter (Jn. 18:10) and the others responded to the threat by pulling out the their swords and striking the servant of the high priest. Rather than praying and having the strength to face this ordeal with the resolve to carry out God’s will, they slept and faced the torrent in the stupor of violence and miscomprehension.
The way of violence might have been the instinct of Peter and the others but that was not Jesus’ way. It was certainly not the Father’s will. Luke doesn’t tell us of the response to Jesus’ picking up the ear of this man that John tells us was named Malchus but it was a clear demonstration that he was not going down the road of violence. He had repeatedly denounced any thought of being that kind of Messiah. No, he would not be the kind of Messiah that brought violence to the people of the world. He would be the kind of Messiah that would bring the violence of the world onto himself not vice-versa.
Every day, Jesus pointed out, he was in the Temple. He was teaching and revealing God’s word. He was carrying out the purpose of the Temple and of God’s will. But the religious leaders, on the other hand, showed by their actions that they were not people committed to God’s will. If they were, they would have arrested him right out in the daylight regardless of what the crowds thought. The contrast between Jesus’ actions and theirs could not be more stark. They had heard him teach day after day and well knew that he was not leading a violent revolution. He had denounced that way and their commitment to going down that path. But they came in the middle of the night, armed to the teeth, and ready to lead a peaceful man to his own death. They had cowered during the day, but become rather bold at night. Surely the darkness was reigning not just that night but in their hearts. The darkest hour of the entire human race was about to fall.
Devotional Thought
Jesus was perfectly committed to doing God’s will and he did so perfectly. Yet, we should not ever forget that following God’s will led Jesus directly into his own death. We want to follow God’s will for our lives but we generally want that will to be pleasant things that work out really well for us. What is God calling you to do right now that might be unpleasant or cause you to die to yourself that you would rather avoid? What can you learn from Jesus’ preparation for the Cross that can help you prepare for the challenge of following God’s will?
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