Luke 22:40-42 - Are We Praying or Are We Sleeping

When Jesus gets to the garden, He takes three of the inner circledisciples—Peter, James, and John—and goes a little further. Jesusleft eight of the other disciples somewhere else in the garden, and He takesthese three a little further. What's interesting is that this is the third timethat Jesus has shared a special occasion with these three men. The first waswhen Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead in Luke 8:41-56. The secondis when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration and was transfigured beforethem in Luke 9:28-36. Youunderstand that even on this third occasion in the garden, there's somethingconnected spiritually with all three of these occasions, and that is death.Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead when James, John, and Peter werein the room with Him on that occasion. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, a great Biblepreacher, a British expositor, pointed out that each of these occasions hadsomething to do with death. In Jairus's house, Jesus proved Himself to bevictorious over death. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was glorifiedthrough death. There, He, Moses, and Elijah were talking about His decease, Hisdeath in Jerusalem, and, of course, His resurrection. Now here in the garden,Jesus is surrendering His life to death. Youremember also that James was the first apostle to die in Acts 12:1-2. John wasthe last to die, probably on the Isle of Patmos or maybe after He got out ofexile and came back to Ephesus. Peter experienced great persecution andeventually was crucified, they tell us, upside down in Rome. These threelessons were no doubt practical for them as they themselves prepared for deathand faced death as they did later. Sowe see Jesus is with these three disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. I wouldreally encourage you to read Matthew 26:36-46. Matthew's gospel, on thisoccasion in verse 37, tells us that He took with Him Peter and the two sons ofZebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. He said to them,"My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch withMe." Then it says He went a little further. Here in chapter 22 of Luke'sgospel, in verse 41, He withdrew from them about a stone's throw. Ifyou think about that, a stone's throw was basically saying as far as it wouldtake to throw a stone. When the Jewish people were about to kill someone,Jewish execution always took place with a stoning. Luke giving us the distance,“a stone's throw”, was his way of telling us that Jesus was preparing for thatstone's throw, but it wouldn't be a stone's throw; it would be a crucifixionbecause Old Testament scripture prophesied that Jesus would be crucified. Hewould be hung on a cross; He would die in a cruel way; His blood would be shedthat way. SoJesus went about a stone's throw and He knelt down and prayed. Very interesting,Jesus had said to the disciples, "Watch and pray. I need your help; I needyour support during this hour. Watch and pray; be alert; be on the watch. Satanis out to destroy you; Satan is out to hinder us and keep us even from going tothe cross."  Jesusbegan to be very sorrowful. So Jesus asked them to watch and pray. In Matthew'sgospel, He actually did this two times, came back the third time, and said, "ThenHe came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping andresting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed intothe hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."(Matthew 26:45-46) Soyou see this whole picture unfolds, Jesus is in Gethsemane, pouring out His heartin prayer. Tomorrow we'll talk about what He prayed concerning that cup, thatcup that He prayed, "Take this cup away from Me, nevertheless not My will,but Yours, be done." Today,I trust that instead of being asleep spiritually we are alert, watching andpraying during our trial of temptation! God bless!