"THROUGH DEEP STRUGGLES OF PRAYER JESUS RECEIVED STRENGTH TO DO THE WILL OF GOD."

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Hymn 21:1,2,3
Hymn 22
Psalm 27:4
Psalm 142:1-6
Psalm 66:7,8

Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ!

We are all familiar with those moments of great adversity, pressure, temptation; such moments are part of the lives we live. Specifically: we know the will of God, but the pressures of the moment are just too strong; every fibre of our beings tells us that in this particular crisis God’s revealed will for us just is not the right and proper thing.

The question we need to grapple with this morning is this: what are we to do in the face of such pressures? How are we to respond?

Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us an example. In the face of enormous pressure, of diabolic temptation, He gave Himself to fervent prayer as He wrestled to carry out what He knew was God’s will for Him. But the Lord Jesus gave us more than an example. He also gave to us the gospel of His victory over temptation, pressure. As we in our weaknesses strive to follow the Lord’s example –but daily fail- it’s this triumph of the Lord that gives incentive to keep striving to do God’s will in our circumstances.

I summarise the sermon with this theme:

The text I have chosen as window to look into the entire passage before us is vs 44, where Luke records that Jesus "prayed more earnestly." The implication of this word is that Jesus had given Himself earlier to prayer, but now saw need to give Himself to prayer with greater earnestness. To appreciate why Jesus saw need to give Himself more earnestly to prayer, we need first of all to consider why Jesus prayed in the first place, need to consider also why the initial prayer was not sufficient.

We read first of Jesus praying in vs 41. There we read these words: Jesus "knelt down and prayed." This prayer on Jesus’ part came directly on the heals of Jesus’ instruction to His disciples in vs 40, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." With these words, then, Jesus laid a direct connection for His disciples between temptation and praying. That’s to say: temptations were ‘in the air’ at the Mount of Olives, and Jesus would have His disciples respond to these temptations by praying. In fact, in the face of the temptations ‘in the air’ at the Mount of Olives, Jesus set the example by giving Himself to prayer.

What temptations were ‘in the air’ at the Mt of Olives? In the days preceding the events on the Mount, Jesus had said various times that He would be delivered to the Gentiles, would be mocked, insulted, spit upon, scourged, killed (cf Lu 18:31ff). The first part of chap 22 tells us how this prophecy was in the process of being fulfilled.

• Vs 2: "the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him." Jesus, we need to know, (true God that He was) knew what the chief priests and scribes were now planning.
• Vs 3: "Satan entered Judas" so that he went out to confer with the chief priests and strike up a deal to betray his Master. Again, Jesus knew that, and He even made it His business –vs 21- to tell His disciples. Said Jesus: "behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table."
• Vs 31: Jesus tells Peter that "Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as the wheat." Though the Lord promised to preserve His disciple, Peter was nevertheless told that "the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me" (vs 34).
• In vs 36, the Lord advised the disciples that "he has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." And why? "For the things concerning Me have an end."

Altogether, congregation, Jesus made clear to His disciples that the "hour of darkness" (vs 53) was about to break loose on Him and the disciples. It’s in that context that Jesus left the privacy of the Upper Room, went to the Mt of Olives, and told His disciples to pray. Pray, He told them, "that you may not enter temptation." That’s to say: Satan wants to sift you (vs 31), this is the hour of the power of darkness (vs 53), and the devil will do what he can to tear you away from your God and from your Master; yes, the devil will do what he can to bring the Son of Man to His knees before his diabolic throne. Jesus knew: He and His disciples were "not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph 6:12). And what’s the defence against Satan’s attacks? It’s not a physical sword, it’s not muscle and brains either. But the defence against Satan’s attacks is prayer. For the prayer of a righteous man has great power to get things done (cf James 5:16).

The disciples’ response? They didn’t pray…. In the exhaustion of sorrow, they fell asleep…, and so could offer no resistance to Satan’s attacks….

And Jesus? A stone’s throw away He knelt on the ground to pray. We need to know: the Jews did not commonly pray on their knees, but standing. This is also the only time we read that Jesus dropped to His knees to pray. And why would He do it? Here, congregation, we are given to taste something of the urgency and the humility of Jesus in prayer. For the pressure around Him is enormous, the temptation to flee from the coming suffering is great. He knows that Judas is on his way with the chief priests and elders to arrest Him. He knows that He’ll be mocked, insulted, spit upon, scourged, killed. More, He knows that the wrath of holy God –a wrath that makes mountains quake and causes rocks to break (Nah 1)- will shortly fall upon Him.

In fact, Jesus Himself gives expression to something of the intensity of the pressures upon Him. Note that little word ‘cup’. "Father," he says in His prayer of vs 42, "if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me."

‘Cup’. That little word, brothers and sisters, contains very graphic Old Testament imagery. I think of Ps 11:

Ezekiel has to say this to evil Jerusalem:

The message is clear: the cup was the symbol of God’s wrath. Whoever had to drink that cup had to confront the wrath of the Most High. But that wrath of God was nothing to blink at, and therefore the cup was no small thing either. In Ezekiel’s words: it’s "the cup of horror and desolation." Hence Jesus’ earnest plea: "take this cup from Me!" On His knees He pleas with the God of gods, reminds His Father of the horrors of the coming hours, and in humility and urgency implores the Father Who loves Him so to please let that "cup of horror and desolation" go past.

As we listen to Jesus’ prayer, congregation, we get a sense of the anguish that tormented His righteous soul. To face a wrath intense enough to break mountains: it was so very much more than Jesus had stomach for! To face wrath from the Father He loved, and in that wrath from God to be handed over to the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places: Jesus cringed at the thought, wanted so desperately much to escape such a heavy punishment. Make no mistake, congregation: how tempting it was for Jesus to run, to run like Jonah in an effort to get away from the holy wrath of God Most High. Here is pressure beyond what we can understand…. And how Satan goads to convince Jesus that in the pressures running is OK….

But see: what does Jesus do? The pains of death surrounded Him, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of Him; He found trouble and sorrow…. But Jesus in His anguish –like David of long ago- called upon the name of the Lord (Ps 116:3f). He didn’t run away, He didn’t give in to the temptation to flee; rather, He told His God His sorrow, His anguish. More: He sought from God the will of God. "Not My will," He said, "but Yours, be done."

And see: immediately heaven answered. Vs 43: "Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him." We say: how rich! God in heaven sees His Son on earth in anguish and torment, and so He sends His heavenly messenger to strengthen…;

But really, congregation: how poor. In Paradise God Himself came regularly to converse with Adam and Eve (Gen 3:8). God Himself spoke to Noah, God Himself appeared to Abraham, God Himself came to Moses, God Himself displayed His majesty to Israel on Mt Sinai. God Himself had repeatedly encouraged and strengthened Jesus in the course of His ministry. At His baptism there was a voice from heaven: "This is My beloved Son" (Lu 3:21f). On the Mt of Transfiguration that same voice came from the cloud, saying again those encouraging words, "This is My beloved Son! Hear Him!" (Lu 9: 35). Just three days ago, after Jesus had entered Jerusalem astride that donkey’s colt, there was again that voice from heaven encouraging Him (Jn 12:28ff). But now, in His hour of need, there is no word from the Father…. There’s only an angel, a servant, "a ministering spirit" (Heb 1:14) bidden by God to speak on His behalf.

You see what’s happening, congregation? Jesus prays that the cup of horror and desolation be allowed to pass. In answer to His prayer, the Father responds – no, not by granting what the Son desires, for it is God’s will that Jesus drink that cup of suffering. In fact, immediately God hands Jesus that cup of horror and desolation, and straightaway Jesus must taste its bitter contents. For in His hour of greatest need, the Father does not come to support His Son, nor does He utter His voice from heaven in order to encourage. The Father stays away! Make no mistake: for the Father’s beloved Son, this is suffering, this is pressure, this is temptation to turn His back on the Father Who is turning His back on Him!

But –this must be added- in the temptation, God (through His servant the angel) gave the strength to continue along the path decided upon by the Father. And that’s a challenge the Son fully and completely takes upon Himself – and that’s why "He prayed more earnestly."

What, then, was the more earnest prayer of our text about? Luke says: "And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly." We read that, and see in our minds a picture of Jesus torn apart by anguish at the thought of the struggles before Him, overwhelmed at the horrors of the coming suffering on Calvary. So we say: that’s why He prayed more earnestly; He was in deepest anguish.

But with this understanding, congregation, we’re missing the point of the text. As it turns, the translation ‘agony’ is misleading. It’s true: Luke actually uses the word ‘agony’ here; ‘agony’ is a Greek word. But in Greek it has a different meaning than in English. In Greek the term brings to mind a sports field. Specifically, the athlete is on the starting block, and he’s all tensed up as he awaits the starter’s gun. That’s the meaning of the Greek word ‘agony’; the athlete is tensed up, totally focused, concentrated on the battle ahead. That tension, that concentration as the countdown is on for the starter’s signal: that’s ‘agony’ in the Greek sense of the word.

That’s the word Luke uses of Jesus in our text. Luke presents Jesus as all tensed up as He focuses His energies on the battle that’s ahead. And –maybe we’ve experienced it ourselves- the tension with which the athlete awaits the starter’s signal can itself cause sweat already to break out on the athlete’s body; that will depend on the intensity of the tension. So it is here. Such is the intensity of Jesus’ concentration on the battle ahead that Jesus breaks out into a heavy sweat, so heavy that the sweat does not run down Jesus’ body like sweat normally does, but falls like blood-drops to the ground.

Now, in the midst of such concentration, what’s Jesus doing? Says Luke: "He prayed more earnestly." Now I need, congregation, to change the picture a bit. For Jesus is not waiting at the starting block for the starter’s signal; Satan allows no such luxury as holding off with the battle till the gun has sounded. That Jesus "prays more earnestly", that, beloved, is the battle! Satan would dearly love to see Jesus run, flee away from the coming suffering. Satan would dearly love to drive a wedge between the Father and the Son, and Satan has already heard Jesus ask the Father whether that cup of horror and desolation could maybe be taken away. Well now, the hosts of hell battle to destroy altogether Jesus’ resolve to go to the cross. But Jesus’ response is not to run away; Jesus’ response is instead to commit Himself to the battle –how?- by giving Himself to prayer. Then Yes, that prayer must be intense; already the Father has given indication that He distances Himself from His Son. So intense is the temptation to run, so intense is the battle against the devil, that Jesus gives Himself with all He has to prayer, to seeking the face of the God who was even now beginning to pour out His divine wrath upon Him. Hence the concentration captured in the word translated for us as ‘agony’. And hence too the extra-ordinary sweat. Here is struggle, congregation, here is battle against the powers of darkness, and in that battle Jesus has every fibre of His being, every muscle and sinew strained in the tension of that battle.

But why, we wonder, why is prayer the way to fight this battle? Simply, beloved, because the way to fight any spiritual battle is by acting according to the revealed will of God. Obedience: that is always, always the only way to succeed. And from where shall one obtain strength to obey the will of God? Not from Satan; he won’t give the strength to do God’s will. Nor from oneself; we haven’t got the strength to do God’s will. Only from God shall anyone obtain the strength that’s needed to obey the will of God. And God has said: "ask, and it shall be given to you." So Jesus asked, He sought from God the strength to do the will of God. No, that asking didn’t come easily; it required intense prayer, prayer so intense that in His praying Jesus broke out into an awful sweat. But here, my brothers and sisters, Jesus is working with the promises of God in the same way as you and I are to work with those same promises: ask, ask again, ask with every fibre of your being concentrated on the need of the moment, ask for strength to do the will of God in your circumstances and God will give the strength!

Now we can move on to our last point. Jesus "prayed more earnestly", yes. But Jesus did not keep on praying with great earnestness. There came the moment when Jesus "rose up from prayer" (vs 45). Why did Jesus not continue in prayer indefinitely? Why did He cease His praying? No, congregation, not because He had given up, nor because Satan had overcome Jesus in the battle to do God’s will. Jesus "rose up from prayer" because He had received from the Father what He sought in His prayer. He sought from God the strength to do the will of God in the circumstance in which He found Himself, and God answered, granted that strength. I read in the letter to the Hebrews that Jesus

He ceased His earnest prayer, He rose up from His prayer, and in so doing He proclaimed His triumph over Satan. In the midst of all the temptations on the Mt of Olives –and Yes, the temptations were enormous; witness the concentration and the sweat of vs 43- Jesus did not succumb to the devil’s attacks. He stood up from prayer, and so signalled that He was the Victor! He returned to His disciples, found them sleeping, and even while He was admonishing them for their negligence (vs 47), the multitude arrived with swords and clubs to seize Him, mock Him, insult Him, spit upon Him, scourge Him, kill Him. But tell me, congregation: in the events after our text, do you sense fear, anxiety on Jesus’ part? Do you see Him running from the trials before Him? On the contrary: in the strength of the Lord He went as a lamb to the slaughter, offering no resistance because He knew that this was the will of God for Him.

And this, congregation, is our salvation! For: Satan attacks not just Jesus so long ago; God has warned "the inhabitants of the earth and the sea" that ever since Jesus’ triumph "the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time" (Rev 12:12). In whatever circumstance the Lord in wisdom is pleased to place us, Satan comes along with his urgings that we set aside God’s will for us as revealed in His word, and give ourselves instead to what we think is a right and fitting response to our situation. In other words: Satan confronts us with temptation. Now: how ought we to reply to those temptations? Like Jesus did: pray! Pray for strength to do the will of God in our circumstance.

But we know what happens. Devote ourselves to earnest prayer imploring God for strength to deny our own will and instead do God’s will – daily we fail to do precisely that. And because we fail to pray, we become easy prey for the devil – and at his prompting we do what is contrary to God’s revealed will for us.

How glorious, then, congregation, is the gospel of Jesus Christ! Though on that Good Friday of so long ago He was placed under enormous temptation to flee from God’s will for Him, He gave Himself to "prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death." He prayed as we should pray. He prayed and He was heard for our salvation. He prayed, was heard, and so defeated the evil one. And in defeating the evil one Jesus ransomed from Satan’s power people who did not have and still don’t have the where-with-all to resist the devil themselves. Today we’re still so weak, and time and time again we fall to Satan’s temptations. But because Christ Jesus prayed so earnestly there is forgiveness for all our shortcomings in prayer. Because Christ Jesus prayed so earnestly there is forgiveness for the countless times we collapse before Satan’s temptations and do what is distinctly not the will of God in our circumstances. Truly, my Lord, Your victory is my salvation!

How shall we respond to the adversities, pressures, temptations we face? Like this: God would have us in prayer seek His will for us, and then do that will; only obedience will get us out of our troubles. Strength to obey: for that God would have us pray, earnestly.

How shall we respond to the failures we see in ourselves in the face of the adversities and pressures that be? No, beloved of the Lord, we shall not despair. Rather, we shall cling to the good news of Christ’s triumph on Good Friday. Amen