In Gethsemane

"He withdrew from them about a stone's throw and He knelt down and began to pray" (Luke 22:41 ).

What impresses me here is that Jesus needed prayer to face the cross. He would tell His disciples, "Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation" (Luke 22:46 ). He realized that temptation would soon surround His disciples as it would surround Him, and prayer was a major weapon in being prepared to face temptation. "No Christian can successfully fight and win the battle against temptations of the world and the weakness of his own flesh without his Gethsemane, that place where he fights and wins his battles on his knees" (Hailey p. 15). Notice the contrast between sleep and prayer. It is tempting to want to hide from our problems by lying in our beds with the covers over our heads, yet the true place of safety is in prayer.

"Jesus Himself attacked His problems, not by anxious pondering or human reasoning, but on His knees. What a revelation of their overconfidence: they can sleep, prayerlessly oblivious to the danger" (Fowler p. 716). Notice how Jesus takes the offensive and attacks temptation with concentrated prayer. We also need to be encouraged that Jesus defeated temptation with the same tools are that available to every Christian (1 Peter 5:7-8 ).

"Saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will but Yours be done'" (Luke 22:42 ).

Even though Jesus was God in the flesh, He still approached the Father with humility, reverence and a complete dependence upon His will. This is a prayer of total and absolute submission to the Father. "This alone is true faith. He trusts God's wisdom alone to know what is best for the race and for Himself. One believes very little about God, if he believes himself most qualified to know what is most needed in every circumstance...When the Father said ‘no', He accepted it. Prayer is not a motor for twisting God's arm to overcome His unwillingness. His ability to pray this mighty prayer was not the result of a last-minute heroic emotion suddenly blossoming there in the garden, but the set purpose of His whole life (John 5:30 ; 6:38)" (Fowler p. 721). Jesus is giving us an example (1 Corinthians 11:1 ) in this prayer. One does not have to enjoy a trial in order to serve God. One can honestly pray that a trial be ended (2 Corinthians 12), yet when it is not, then we need to have confidence that God knows what He is doing and that this is a trial that we can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13).

"He was praying very fervently" (Luke 22:44 ).

Spiritual strength does not just come or happen naturally. Even Jesus had to prepare Himself and exert a tremendous amount of effort to be victorious. Do we ever pray fervently and do we take our relationship with God this seriously? Do we want to overcome temptation so badly and do we want to please the Father so earnestly that we are willing to exert our entire selves? As Fowler notes, "constant vigilance is the price of liberty" (p. 723). Note, prayer does not eliminate temptation, rather prayer reinforces a person to withstand the temptation. It is the plea for strength to overcome what cannot be avoided. Entering into temptation is the idea that "you not walk into unexpected trials unprepared".

"In an age where even religious activities are geared to stroking our feelings and coddling our sentiments in order to make us feel good in our sins, we must look to Jesus! In a day when we are instructed to find a life-style that feels good, we must remember that He could say ‘No!' to His impulses in order to save us from our certain destiny. When, in order to assuage our sense of guilt, sentimental songs of self-congratulation take the place of God-centered hymns, when chummy pep talks feebly supplant life-changing messages that exalt the living God and stir us to responsible action, we must look to Jesus! He did not feel like going to the cross for anyone. It is to this role model that we are called (Romans 8:29 ; 1 Peter 2:21 ; 1 John 2:6 ; John 13:15 ).

On the Cross

"But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing'" (Luke 23:34 ).

Here is a prayer that His enemies and the people who were so cruelly mistreating Him would be given a chance to be saved. One of our biggest challenges at times is to desire the salvation of our enemies, and to exit this life without being bitter.

"Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!" And he bowed His head and gave up His spirit" (John 19:30 ).

Hailey observes, "John's word, ‘He bowed His head', is impressive: it indicates that throughout the hours of suffering, of ridicule from the Jews, and of humiliation, He had kept His head erect; He was able to look His enemies in the face, boldly and courageously, till the end" (p. 10).

Hebrews 5:7 "He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears": He felt a deep dependence upon the Father for help, and He also experienced extreme bodily suffering. Jesus is also fully qualified to serve as our high priest, because He can sympathize with what it means to obey God as a human being. The term "loud" means boisterous, powerful, supplications that are forcibly uttered. "Expressing the intensity of the prayers and the keenness of the suffering" (Gr. Ex. N.T. pg. 288). "It describes the loud outcries of one deeply disturbed" (Kent p. 98). In the gospels we have examples of such strong crying and tears (John 11:35 ; Luke 19:41), especially in Jesus' prayer to God in the Garden (Luke 22:39-44 ).

Closing Observations

• Pray before major decisions.
• Being God did not eliminate Jesus' need for prayer.
• He prayed even though there was, at times, no immediate answer.
• The Father often did not talk back to Him.
• Jesus prayed for others even though certain factors could hinder the fulfillment of such prayers (John 17).
• He prayed even though He could not pray people into heaven.
• Prayer did not remove the obstacles.
• There was no secret prayer formula for a problem-free life or financial gain.
• He was grateful even then not everything was positive.
• The key was the relationship. Prayer will not be meaningful or intense if we have no feelings for God.
• Be grateful when you are reduced to tears and prayer.
• Prayer kept Jesus ahead of trial and prepared.
• He did not try to handle everything and carry every burden all by Himself.