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.”
Original Meaning
LUKE 22:39–23:56 DETAILS the final road of Jesus to his death. From his prayer in Gethsemane, where his trust in God is affirmed, to the burial in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, this section details how an innocent man came to die for others. What the Jewish leadership could not do was to get testimony to convict Jesus. So Jesus supplies the words that bring about his death. Ironically, he dies for speaking the truth.
At trials before Pilate and Herod, Jesus is declared to have done nothing worthy of death, yet they send him to the cross. Some actively seek his death, while others stand by and let it occur. In his place a criminal is released in an exercise of ironic logic that pictures what Jesus’ death is about: an innocent person dying in place of someone who has sinned. On the cross, Jesus is mocked with taunts to save himself and others. Ironically, he does just that with the criminal who asks to be in his kingdom. His death, unjust as it is, appears on the surface to be a defeat. But because of who he is, Jesus turns it into victory, not just for himself but for all who embrace what he achieved on a lone piece of wood one Palestinian afternoon.
In 22:39–46 Jesus turns from addressing his disciples to praying to the Father.1 His honesty in his prayer shows the depth and quality of his relationship with the Father. This is a significant moment, for he turns to God just before his arrest. In the prayer itself we see both Jesus’ agony and his desire to follow God’s will, even if it means his life. The disciples underestimate the severity of this moment, for they fall asleep. What they need is not rest but a renewed turning to God, lest they plunge into failure.
Jesus takes his customary evening trip to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples accompany him (22:37). Before he himself prays, he tells them to pray so as to not fall into temptation. One almost has the sense that he is exemplifying what he calls for from them. As the moment of his sacrifice approaches, all his emotional distress will be laid before the Father on an altar of prayer. If the discourse here is any indication, the temptation the disciples will have is the possibility of denying him (cf. 22:31–32). Prayer is important, since it brings us into communion with God and allows us to draw on his presence with us. Jesus’ command to “pray,” written in a Greek present imperative, in this context may suggest an ongoing commitment to pray as opposed to a single moment of prayer. Temptation is avoided only by continued dependence on God (11:4).
Jesus prays “about a stone’s throw” from the disciples, a distance of several yards (Gen. 21:16). The text literally says he “pulled away” from his disciples, a remark that adds a touch of emotion to the story. He kneels down and intercedes, asking if there might be some other way to accomplish what lies ahead. The request is couched in the fundamental commitment Jesus has to doing God’s will, “Father, if you are willing.…” The thought in Greek is abbreviated at this point, another indication of intense emotion.2 Jesus’ main request is, “Take this cup from me.” Such a request for a change in God’s will is not unprecedented (Ex. 32:10–14; 2 Sam. 15:25–26; 2 Kings 20:1–6). Jesus wants the cup of wrath to be passed from him, but only if there is another way.3 So he adds, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus has bracketed his request on each end to a commitment to do God’s will.
An angel appears to strengthen him (cf. Matt. 4:11, which makes a similar statement about the aftermath of the temptation account). The importance of the angelic appearance is that the strengthening from above shows heaven’s willingness to stand beside Jesus as he faces his calling.
The intensity of the emotion increases as Jesus prays more fervently and sweats drops like blood (the text uses the Greek term agonia to describe Jesus’ intense “anguish”). Jesus is laying his burdens before God as he faces the prospect of rejection and death. Here is a very human portrait of Jesus, facing his death with a range of emotions. Luke’s portrait of Jesus does not hide behind his deity. He presents a Jesus who can identify with our weaknesses and traumas (Heb. 4:15).
Finally, Jesus gets up and returns to his disciples, finding them “exhausted from sorrow” and asleep. They have begun to understand that rejection for Jesus lies just ahead, and it has wiped them out emotionally. Jesus asks them why they are sleeping at this crucial moment and again calls them to pray that they will not fall into temptation. The only way they will be ready for what is ahead is if they prepare for it as he has. Faithfulness is grounded in being in touch with God.
Bridging Contexts
THIS TEXT BOTH reveals something about Jesus’ character and provides an example for how we can face the great trials of life God sends our way. In these verses we see a man dependent on God and committed to doing his will. We see an individual who faces trial by turning to God. We see a person who reveals his intense emotions to God in prayer. In contrast, the disciples have only their exhaustion and emotional pain. Even as Jesus exhorts them to pray, all they can do is sleep. Everything about Jesus’ approach models how one should face the tension of trial.
Jesus is not spared the trial, but what is supplied is the strength to face it. Though he does not hesitate to ask if another way can be found, he affirms his resolve to go the way God wants. Heaven responds not by granting Jesus his request for another way, but by giving him the strength to face what God has called him to do. This union of submission to divine call and divine strength supplied is at the heart of the passage.
Contemporary Significance
THIS PASSAGE REVEALS at least two exemplary points about the character of Jesus as he faces the trial of the cross. (1) Jesus takes both his pain and his need to God in prayer. His custom of communing with God is not altered by the unique events that descend on him. Often when we are the busiest, we neglect to take the time to go to God with our needs. Trials often force us to our knees, but frequently the hectic pace of life keeps us on the run and inhibits us from praying. That is not the case for Jesus. His pattern reminds us that prayer is important, even in the most frantic of times. And his prayer is not a matter of merely checking in; it is full of honesty, emotion, and pain. Real prayer takes work. Too often we bow our head, close our eyes, and let our minds wander, rather then laboring in prayer.
(2) Jesus manifests honesty and humility in prayer. He sincerely desires that God will not make him go through what lies ahead and honestly shares that, yet he is even more committed to being in God’s will. The prayer, though different from the laments in Psalms, is similar in that those petitioners also took their innermost feelings and pain to God. The private confrontation that takes place in prayer often produces the solace we need to take our next steps holding God’s hand. Moreover, prayer is not a haphazard exercise. Jesus prays with his entire being as he seeks God out in the midst of his situation. He even sweats drops like blood. Jesus can walk with God because he regularly seeks God.
The disciples are a stunning lesson in contrast, for they sleep rather than pray, as Jesus asked them to do. We often take a Scarlett O’Hara approach to our problems—“I’ll think about that tomorrow.” This type of procrastination argues that time or fate itself will settle such matters. Maybe it reflects a view that prayer really accomplishes little. But in moments of tension and strain, there are issues to get out on the table before God, as Jesus does here. We as his disciples must not regard prayer time at our meetings and functions as a formal preamble to the event, but part of the work of ministry itself, where a genuine transaction of relationship takes place between us and God.
As committed to God as Jesus is, heaven is just as committed to him. The remark about angelic strength should reassure us that as we turn to him, he will strengthen us. Other texts are clear about how God provides “the way out” for us if, as we face temptation, we recognize our need for him (1 Cor. 10:12–13).