Prayer can be hard. There are seasons of life where the last thing you want to do is stop and pray. Think about a season surrounding the death of a loved one; or a season of intense suffering; or a prayer that never seemed to get answered; or a time where you didn’t know what to pray; or a time when it seemed like God wasn’t listening to your prayers. Sometimes prayer can be hard.
Look at Luke 22:39 – 46…
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
In this passage, Luke records, the hardest season of prayer in Jesus’ life. All throughout Luke’s gospel we’ve seen Jesus pray. We’ve seen his teaching on prayer; we’ve seen some of the places he went to pray; we’ve seen the Father’s response to some of his prayers and we’ve seen his commitment to prayer. But now in these verses we see Jesus persevering through the hardest season of prayer in his life.
Prayer can be hard… But I believe that the Spirit of God wants to use this passage as an invitation for us to come and meet with him in prayer through every difficult season of our lives. The question is: How will you respond to this invitation?
1. The practice & instruction of prayer…
In verses 39 – 40 we see Jesus’ practice of prayer & his instruction to pray. Luke tells us that Jesus “came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’” Prayer was a regular part of Jesus’ daily rhythm and he often gave very specific instructions on how to pray and what to pray for.
It was Jesus’ custom or regular practice to come out of the busyness of the city and get away from the craziness of life and ministry so that he could meet with his Father in prayer. This regular practice of prayer was something the disciples routinely followed Jesus in doing. Every day Jesus routinely went to a specific place that was removed from the hustle and the bustle of life so that he could pray. And as he went to his routine place of prayer he gave specific instructions to his disciples so that they would know what to pray for. Jesus isn’t just our perfect example for prayer he is also our perfect teacher of how to pray and what to pray for. Jesus instructed his disciples to pray that they wouldn’t be overcome with temptation and I think he gives this instruction to them because he knows the difficulty of temptation.
What needs to happen in your life to better cultivate a regular rhythm & practice of prayer? In what ways do you need to hear Jesus’ instruction to pray against temptation?
2. The place & posture for prayer…
In verse 41 we see the place of Jesus’ prayer & his posture during prayer. Luke tells us that Jesus “withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed.” Jesus regularly withdrew from the presence of people so that he could get himself into the place & posture of prayer.
If anyone knew what it was like to carry a heavy load it was Jesus. He knew the heavy load of serving people. He knew the heavy load of constantly leading. He knew the heavy load of a busy schedule. And I think he knew the impossibility of carrying those heavy loads in the presence of people apart from withdrawing into the place and posture of prayer. And I don’t think this place & posture of prayer has as much to do with the physical place & posture as much as it has to do with the inner place & posture of submission and surrender. When Jesus withdrew from the presence of people to pray he withdrew so that he could get himself into the place & posture of surrendered submission.
What could it look like for you to withdraw into a place of secluded prayer? What needs to change in your prayer life so that you can be in a posture of surrender & submission?
3. The content & the response of prayer…
In verses 42 – 43 we see the content of Jesus’ prayer & the Father’s response. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to pray and even harder sometimes to cope with what God’s response to our prayers will be. This is why this portion of the text is so vital because in it we see the content of Jesus’ prayer and the Father’s response to his prayer.
When Jesus prays, he’s not just giving lip service to the practice of prayer he’s actually coming to God with some very legitimate and pressing issues. He knows he is going to die horrendously in just a few hours. He knows that one of his closest friends, Judas, is already off the reservation betraying him. He knows that another one of his closest friends, Peter, will deny ever knowing him and curse the fact that anyone would count him among Jesus’ followers. He knows that soon the rest of the disciples will run and hide in fear after he is arrested. He knows that the time of his brutal beating with a whip is right around the corner. He knows that his enemies will crush a crown of thorns on his head. He knows that the guards will pull his beard out. He knows that his tormentors will strip him naked to be humiliated in front of the entire watching world. He knows that he will physically carry his own electric chair up the mountain of death to his own execution. He knows that on the cross, every sin of every person who has ever lived will be placed upon him and he will face the fury of God’s wrath against sinful humanity. He knows the cup that is about to get poured out on him. So how does he pray in these moments? What’s the content of his prayer and what’s God’s response to Jesus’ prayer?
Luke tells us that once Jesus withdrew from the presence of people so that he could get into the posture of surrendered submission, he then prayed, “‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.’” If you examine the content of Jesus’ prayer you see him approaching God and calling him Father and asking him to take away the horror that he is facing if it is possible. Every human instinct inside of Jesus wants to preserve his human life while every divine instinct inside of Jesus wants to give his life as the payment for human sin. This is one of those powerful places in Scripture where we see both the human and the divine nature of Jesus splashing out onto the pages of our Bibles.
And in the midst of Jesus’ agonizing request we see again his posture of surrendered submission when he says, “not my will, but yours, be done”. He’s acknowledging that in his human nature he wants to preserve his life but he surrenders that human desire to the will of God and the response of our Father in heaven to Jesus’ prayer is telling because God doesn’t answer Jesus’ prayer the way we wish he would. He doesn’t remove the coming cup of death but instead sends an angel to strengthen Jesus in his most difficult hour of prayer.
What will the content of your prayer life look like moving forward? And can you see the hand of God at work in your prayer life even when he doesn’t respond the way you want him to?
4. The soul & the commitment of prayer…
In verse 44 we see the condition of Jesus’ soul during prayer & his commitment to prayer. The content of Jesus’ prayer gives us a sneak peak into what was happening in his soul that very moment and it helps us to understand that even Jesus had to wrestle with the truth that our Father in Heaven answers our prayers according to his will and not ours. What does that do deep within your soul as you think about this?
Luke tells us that Jesus, “being in agony… prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The condition of Jesus’ soul during this prayer in the garden of agony reveals a commitment to prayer that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Jesus’ soul was in deep agony. Deep depression. Deep distress. His soul was in such deep agony that his blood began to seep out of his pores like sweat. What does Jesus do when the condition of his own soul has reached the lowest point that a soul could possibly reach? Luke tells us that he prayed more earnestly. He prayed more passionately. He prayed more energetically. Jesus, in the midst of the most terrifying and agonizing season of his life, prayed with earnest, passion, strength & energy. This is the picture of Christ’s commitment to prayer. When the rest of us would have stormed out of that garden because God didn’t answer our prayer the way we wanted him to… Jesus continued to bare his bleeding soul before his Father in heaven with passionate commitment.
What is the condition of your soul right now in regards to prayer? And what does your commitment to prayer look like even in the most difficult of times?
5. The enemy & encouragement of prayer…
In verses 45 – 46 we see the enemy of prayer & Jesus’ encouragement to continue praying. Luke tells us that “when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.’” Jesus has no problem confronting the enemy of prayer while giving continued encouragement to pray. This is such a great picture of Jesus’ bold and fearless confrontation of anything that opposes him. It’s also a great picture of Jesus’ great patience and gentleness in the midst of great disappointment.
Jesus has just experienced the most agonizing dark night of prayer in his life. He left his disciples a stone’s throw away so that he could get away into the presence of his Father in Heaven. He bared his soul in the most agonizing way I can imagine. And then, Jesus returned to where he left his disciples and found them sleeping. He finds them surrendered to the great enemy of prayer… sleep walking through life’s troubles. And he doesn’t shame them. He doesn’t crush them. He doesn’t get angry and throw things. He simply continues to encourage them to pray that they won’t be ruled by their temptations.
Think about it… Weren’t the disciples sleeping primarily because they gave into the temptation of sleeping? The enemy of prayer is our temptation to sleepwalk through life’s greatest trials. The enemy of prayer is giving into the temptation to rely on our own strength. And Jesus’ response is to boldly confront the enemy of prayer in our lives and patiently remind us to wake up and get into the presence of our Father in heaven.
What’s the response of your soul in these moments as you see Jesus praying in agony in the middle of the garden? Is your soul awakening to the picture of Christ’s heart for you? Or is your soul blinded by the enemy of prayer?
Final Observation…
The hardest seasons of life can sometimes cause us to give up on the practice of prayer. When the going gets tougher than usual we can be tempted to ignore Jesus’ instruction to pray. We can be tempted to neglect our secret places of prayer when life throws us curve balls. It’s too easy for our posture in prayer to sometimes move from a humble dependence on Christ to a prideful gutting it out on our own when the wheels fall off the bus. Sometimes the content of our prayers can turn from trusting in God as our Father into demanding something from the tooth fairy when our world goes on tilt. Sometimes when the condition of our souls should drive us to the Father in dependent prayer we instead run after other things that don’t refresh us or bring strength, healing and wholeness to our souls. Sometimes it seems easier to give in to the temptation of giving up on prayer altogether instead of renewing our commitment to praying through the roughest of seasons.
What really is the enemy of prayer in your life right now? What do you think Jesus would say to you about your prayer life if he were standing here physically right now? Do you imagine Jesus expressing his disappointment in you? Or do you hear his encouragement to meet with your Father in Heaven and ask for the strength to withstand the temptation to give up?
Prayer can be hard… But I believe that the Spirit of God wants to use this passage as an invitation for us to come and meet with him in prayer through every difficult season of our lives. The question is: How will you respond to this invitation?