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Day 289

Luke 22 : 39-46 "IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE"

Day 289 – Luke 22

Text: Luke 22 : 39-46

IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE

The Passover Meal was long over. The evening had been full and rich with deep and spiritual conversations. Though the Disciples did not fully understand all that Jesus had taught, nevertheless they would remember what they had experienced that night. They would recall and the understanding would come later.

Jesus continued to be the One who steered the conversations. He was still the One who led His band of eleven faithful disciples, for Judas had left them sometime during the Passover Feast. He must have felt and realized that his game was up. Jesus obviously knew him as the traitor. There was no more place for him among this group of disciples. He might have thought that it would be positively dangerous to stay on with the Twelve, after Jesus confirmed that He knew that he was the betrayer.

What was the very best thing to do, after tying up all the loose ends? Jesus did what He had always been doing. He entered into prayer. This was His daily routine. He began each morning in prayer. He ended each evening in prayer too.

He had begun His ministry in prayer. It was right and natural to end His ministry on earth in prayer. Nothing could be more important and precious than to spend the last portion of time in communion with His Father.

Luke recorded this in simple but powerfully graphic language,

“Coming out (of the Upper Room),
He went to the Mount of Olives,
As He was accustomed,
And His Disciples also followed Him.”
Luke 22:39

Matthew added a poignant touch when he wrote,

“And when they had sung a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
Matthew 26:30

Imagine being able to sing at such a time. “But we see Jesus…” and we are deeply impressed and touched at His composure, His faith, and His absolute trust in His Father’s plans. He was going to be numbered with transgressors.

Isaiah’s prophecy must have been clearly imprinted in Jesus heart. The suffering would be very real and deeply intense. Singing… praying… these were His chosen ways. Even now He was preparing Himself for the ordeal ahead.

Jesus was accustomed to enter into prayer, as Luke noted. His Disciples only followed Him. Luke did not say that they too were accustomed to prayer. They were not. Jesus was going to try and teach them further lessons on how to pray. Yes, they had once asked Him to teach them how to pray. However, that was just one lesson. There were many more lessons on prayer that they had not yet learned. Jesus would exemplify what He had been teaching them concerning the place of prayer in life.

THE PRAYER MINISTRY OF JESUS

It is noteworthy to consider a passage in the Book of Hebrews commenting on the prayer ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
Who in the days of His flesh,
When He had offered up prayers and supplications,
With vehement cries and tears to Him
Who was able to save Him from death,
And was heard because of His godly fear…”
Hebrews 5:6-7

Luke was right when He said that Jesus was “accustomed” to enter into prayer. The Author Hebrews described how Jesus would enter into prayer. He never prayed mechanically. He did not just say “The Lord’s Prayer”.

The description of how Jesus “offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears…” would well describe the kind of intercession that Jesus offered as He knelt in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

AN EXHORTATION TO PRAY

Just before Jesus entered into another season of prayer, He urged His Disciples to engage in prayer as well. He said,

“Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Luke 22:40

Jesus well knew that His Disciples were not accustomed to praying as He was. They had not yet learned how to devote themselves to communing with God in prayer. Nevertheless, this was as good a time as any to be challenged to pray with the greatest sense of urgency and need.

The time for testing would come, Jesus had warned His Disciples earlier. Satan had already asked permission to sift them as farmers would sift wheat. Jesus had warned them that they would be stumbled. Surely these words of warning would drive them to pray?

Who knows if the Lord might just spare them from being tested. Who knows if they might find even greater strength to cope with the distress that would soon befall them?

But the Disciples must learn to pray! It is through prayer that one obtains mercy and grace. The words of the Author of Hebrews come to mind once again.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace,
that we might obtain mercy and find grace
in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16

Are you prayerful? Are you accustomed to prayer? Cultivate your prayer life.