ULDAH MINISTRY

No,67　　May. 2001

【JESUS' PRAYER IN GETHSEMANE】

　 People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' A certain ruler asked him, 'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' …… he (Jesus) said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' …… Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' Those who heard this asked, 'Who then can be saved?' Jesus replied, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.' …… Jesus took the twelve aside and told them, 'We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be turned over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.' The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. After the Lord's Supper on the 14th of Nisan, the preparation day for the Sabbath and also the day when the sacrificial lambs were to be slaughtered, Jesus went out to a place called Gethsemane with his eleven disciples, singing a hymn. It was a day of the full moon. Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, 'Pray that you will not fall into temtation.' He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.' An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 'Why are you sleeping?' he asked them. 'Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.'
Luke 18:15-18, 22, 24-27, 31-34, 22:39-46. 　

It was spring and just before the Feast of Passover that Jesus took his last trip to Jerusalem from Galilee along the Jordan valley through Jericho, the lowest city in the world. Led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus knew that God's time to redeem the world had come, in other words, His entry into Jerusalem meant His impending death on the cross as a humiliated criminal to save human beings from the bondage of sin. During His ministry, many had asked Jesus how they could be saved, or how to 'inherit eternal life' or how to 'receive the kingdom of God'. His answer was simple; that unless he or she put their complete trust in God and obey His commandments, just as a little child completely trusts and obeys his parent, they would not be saved. The sinless Son of Man, Jesus (fully God and fully human), through his firsthand experiences of humanity was aware of the great depth of human sin more than anybody else. Jesus knew of man's self-centredness, lack of love, greed, pride, complacency and rebellion to God and said 'it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the knigdom of God', even if the man were outwardly pious by punctitiously observing religious formulae. Apostle Paul depicted human's sinfulness and also the progressive nature of sin in his epistle to Romans, 'The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness …… For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen …… They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil, they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.' (Romans 1:18-32)
Thus as even Jesus' disciples despaired at the difficulty of sinful man receiving salvation, it is clearly utterly impossible for man to be saved by his own efforts and his own righteousness. Salvation was God's initiative, a gracious gift from Him. In other words, only God can turn impossibility into a possibility. It was only Jesus that was able to understand God's great plan of salvation and that could play a part in achieving it. Despite His teachings about God's plan and the Son's role, Jesus' disciples could not understand what He was talking about at all until much later, when He rose from the dead and appeared before them in His resurrection body.

On His way to Jerusalem Jesus may have pondered over how He could faithfully participate in the Father's great plan to save such helpless and sinful human beings through His own once and for all sacrificial death. Jesus, who must have been overwhelmed by man's infinite sinfulness during His ministry on earth, it is beyond our imagination to infer how much he must have suffered and became anguished because of such a heavy responsibility. This culminated in Gethsemane, where He, bearing the heavy burden on His shoulders, had to pray for God's will being done without any disturbance. The burden was such that His last earnest prayers produced drops of sweat mingled with blood. Even for Jesus, the God-anointed one, the Messiah, it might have seemed totally impossible to save such sinners within human's scope. This is why He had to earnestly seek God and plead with Him to do His will. Today, forensic scientists testify that it is possible for blood to be mixed with sweat in circumstances of extreme anguish. Likewise, the phenomenon of 'a sudden flow of blood and water' (John 19:34) from Jesus' side when the soldier pierced it with a spear after His death can be caused by a ruptured pericardium, ie, Jesus probably died of a broken heart due to great sorrow rather than of suffocation due to the crucifixion.
Here in Gethsemane, both Jesus' extreme anguish and His disciples' rather incomprehensible helplessness contrast sharply. Although Luke records their exhaustion from sorrow as the reason for the disciples' failure in keeping awake and praying, the other Gospels do not offer any reason but rather they stress their three-fold failure to support Jesus in prayer. What caused them, especially Jesus' closest disciples, Peter, John and James, to be so sleepy although they should have deeply shared their master's sorrow at such a significant moment? Was it caused solely by fatigue out of sorrow? The first thought that came into my mind was that due to their inability to understand the significance of Jesus' death, they simply could not share Jesus' seriousness in their prayers and eventually they had been tempted by sleepiness. It is indeed difficult for self-centred man to identify with and bear other's burdens and plead with God for them in prayer. However, after contemplating the urgent situation, this time, another thought, a rather extraordinary thought, has come into my mind. It may have been God Himself who had caused the disciples to fall to helplessness, being irresistibly overcome with drowsiness. At this time, Jesus was facing the most imprtant hours of His mission, which would decide whether or not salvation would be brought to human kind. Accordingly, it is conceivable that behind the scenes, Satan was waiting for a chance to overturn God's plan. It was therefore vital that Jesus' sincere prayer was not to be hindered by anything, especially by Satan, the dark prince of this world. With this in mind, it is not inconceivable that given the chance, the disciples, none of whom had comprehended what was to happen, and thus not able to pray with Jesus in agreement at the time, would have raised voices of prayer against that of Jesus (His willingness to submit to the Father's plan, even to death on the cross). Therefore to prevent such disagreement in prayer, it is possible that God sent a spirit of stupor over the disciples so that they would not be able to pray against His will.
This may sound like an extraordinary inference but there are other accounts in the Bible of Jesus rebuking Satan for interfering with God's plan. When Jesus first started to explain to His disciples about what must befall Him, it says 'Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, 'Never, Lord!' He said. 'This shall never happen to you!' Jesus turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.'' (Matt 16:21-23).
Luke also records that there were considerable confusion and disruption overwhelming apostle Paul's followers in Caesarea. They knew through a prophecy that Paul going to Jerusalem meant that he was going to be handed over to the Gentiles so they tried to persuade Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. This was in vain, however, and eventually, they reluctantly consented and said 'The Lord's will be done.' At that time, Paul had to explain to them, 'What are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.' (Acts 21:10-14)
Accordingly, as even Jesus' disciples were spritually blinded as quoted above, 'Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.', owing to the unfathomable nature of God's plan for salvation of mankind, there was nobody on earth who could earnestly pray with Jesus in agreement. Prophet Isaiah depicted Jesus' isolation at that last moment and also the correct meaning of His suffering and anguish; 'He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.' (Isiah 53:3-6 Lines added)

The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane was the most important prayer, on which all other events of arrest, trial and crucifixion that followed in unusually quick succession (within half a day) completely hinged. In other words, the whole course of God's plan of salvation hinged on the last surrendering prayer of Jesus to God. Jesus chose the way of the suffering servant. It was a way to voluntarily lay down His own life as an atonement for me and for you. In response to His Son's obedience, God the Father, who was always in control over Satan, finally rose Jesus from the dead. Thus, indeed, Jesus' earthly body dies but His life lives for all eternity and through Jesus' victory over Satan, the only way of salvation for human beings has been opened! This means that God has enabled all who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour to live forever after their earthly bodies perish. We can therefore proclaim with conviction, 'I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done….. The stone the builders have rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day tht LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.' (Psalm 118:17,22-24)

Thought of the Month……….

Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him, "My father! My father!" he cried. "The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel when he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. "Open the east window," he said and he opened it, "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek." Then he said, "Take the arrows"' and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But you will defeat it only three times." Elisha died and was buried. (2 Kings13:14-20a)
The prophet Elisha, who had been approved to be embodying the true strength of the nation, along with his predecessor Elijah, was dying because of old age. On the verge of losing a great hero of Israel, whom even the ungodly king Jehoash believed to be true as the nation's best defence to protect his kingdom from the surrounding nations, the king visited the prophet in his deathbed. Elisha, who had devotedly lived a life of an obedient servant to the will of God with a heart of love and compassion for the needy and with great concern for the welfare of the nation, instructed the king to do symbolic actions. Elisha first of all anointed Jehoash by the laying on of his hands and then encouraged the king to be victorious over God's enemies, with the words, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha then commanded the king to strike the ground, as if to symbolise a mock battle. The prophet had expected the king to take this seriously in anticipation of the real battle but instead, the king half heartedly struck the ground only three times. Such lukewarm attitude was severely reprimanded by Elisha. This short narrative seems to teach us the importance of being serious to invisible forces behind the scene where the real enemy lies. 'For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms indeed.' (Eph6:13) Here, the spiritual gap between the prophet and the king proved fatal. Elisha overflowed with faith in the Lord even unto death and believed in a complete victory over Aram when stepped forward in confidence whereas Jehoash could not identify with Elisha's simple minded enthusiasm, probably thinking it to be absurd, and thereby failed to see things from a divine perspective. Jesus' wholehearted prayer of faith in Gethsemane brought Him through the train of trials unto death which ultimately led to His victory over Satan. With this great example in mind, we should also persistently and earnestly pray in faith so that we may see a breakthrough! We should not give up after two or three times!