Seek TRUTH - Choose LIFE
THE GOSPEL
Prayer in Gethsemane
Judas Iscariot may have waited (Luke 22:6) at the supper long enough to know where Jesus was going after so he could deliver Jesus to the temple guards. After the last supper Jesus took the disciples to the garden of Gethsemane as he often did (John 18:2). He then took Peter, James an John and asked then to watch and pray with Him as He went a bit further and prayed by Himself (Matthew 26:36-38, Mark 14:33). Jesus prayed saying "“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22: 42). This was the moment Jesus was waiting for (John 12:17) so long for and at the moment He prayed to God the Father pleading if there was any other way for mankind to be redeemed (Matthew 26:39,42).
Gethsemane means - an oil Press. This garden was a place were the Jews would harvest the olives from the Mount of Olives to make olive oil. This oil would then be used in the temple service and for the lanterns. Large weights were used to press and crush the olives were for oil. This oil was to be an essential product in everyday life in that culture. It was used to cook food, make bread, anoint priests, kings, prophets, heal the wounds and embalm the dead bodies. Jesus was this olive tree who had the weight of the world on Him so that we could be free from sin. As Jesus prayed He was from in agony of the anticipation He was about to endure. This caused His capillaries to burst from high stress and as a result His sweat was as drops of blood (Luke 22:44).
"Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him." (Luke 22:43)
As Jesus was praying in agony an angel came to strengthen Him so He could endure: the betrayal by a close friend Judas (Matthew 26:50), the abandoning of His disciples (Matthew 26:56), the rejection of the priesthood who should have recognized Him as their savior (Luke 19:44), the condemnation of His chosen nation (John 18:40), the execution by a foreign government (John 19:11) in most inhumane way, be subject to the forces of darkness (Luke 22:53), the unloading of the sins all mankind upon Him (1-John 2:2), the taunting mockery (Mark 15:29), humiliation (Matthew 27:29) and finally the separation from His Father (Matthew 27:46). Separation from His Father even for a moment would bring the most agony and He would suffer death like no one else. (Isaiah 53:6)
