It’s Time

It’s Time

Mark 14:41-42, NIV

Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Luke 22:39-46, NIV

Jesus 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. 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.”

Setting the Scene

Luke’s account summarizes the event by picturing the disciples basically sleeping through those moments, but he adds a couple of significant notes. An angel was with Jesus at least part of the time and “strengthened” him. The detail that Jesus sweat drops of blood in his anguish is mentioned only by Luke.

Mark’s version includes a definite conclusion to the sequence of prayer and sleep; he shifts into the arrival of Judas with those who would arrest Jesus. The sleeping and resting by the disciples was shattered by real temptation. The time for praying (or sleeping) was over; the hour appointed by God’s will had come.

Jesus had just spent a third span of time in prayer, repeating what he had previously said to his Father. The tone of the prayers had fully shifted by this point from being about the inevitability of the cup to the necessity of being conformed to God’s will. Jesus was ready to face the “hour” in which he would drink all that was in the cup. He willingly and deliberately stepped into the way of suffering.

Getting Personal

In what ways do you think the victory of the Cross was won in the shadows of the garden of Gethsemane?

Based on Jesus’ experience in the garden, how would you say a Christian can best develop confidence to face whatever happens in life?

One of the key principles of handling temptations and trials in life is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (NIV). When we apply this principle to Jesus’ suffering, we may wonder where the “way out” was. But God was faithful and provided a way through, which was his will. God got his Son through the trial; and he will do the same for us.

Talking to God

It’s natural to feel reluctance at drinking a “cup” of suffering or trial that God may have for you. Bring all your anxiety and fear to the Lord, and ask him to provide a way out or great grace and strength for the way through. Thank him for being faithful in keeping his promises to sustain you.