"The Passion of the Christ:
The Passion of the Garden of Gethsemane"
Maundy Thursday 2006
(Mk. 14:32-52)
April 13, 2006
Dr. Peter Barnes
First Presbyterian Church

Introduction
      Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ opens with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I have been to that garden, and I have seen the olive trees there that are now over 2,000 years old. Being in that place and reflecting on the agony of Jesus’ decision the night before His crucifixion has given me a greater appreciation for all He went through for your sake and mine. This night, as we remember these events and as we prepare our hearts to come to the Table of our Lord, I want us to think deeply about Christ’s passion.  
      In the text before us this evening, the Last Supper is over, and Jesus has finished His instruction with the disciples. They then sang a hymn after the Supper, and together they left the upper room and walked through the streets of the city of Jerusalem in the stillness of the night. In the soft light of the Paschal moon, they crossed the Kidron Valley and began to climb the Mount of Olives.  
      As they walked, Jesus and His disciples turned off into an olive orchard named "Gethsemane". The name means "oil press". It was evidently a favorite retreat for Jesus, for John comments that He "had often met there with His disciples" (18:2).  Something took place in this garden which helps us to begin to understand the passion of the Christ. It was truly a Garden of Grief for Him. As we celebrate Maundy Thursday this night and as we take a look at this passage together, I would like for you to notice three things with me: 1) the need of Christ; 2) the prayer of Christ; and 3) the betrayal and arrest of Christ.

I.  The Need of Christ
      Our text tell us that leaving the other disciples behind and urging them to watch and pray, our Lord took Peter, James and John, the inner circle of His disciples, a little farther into the olive grove with Him, and there He fell to the ground and began to pray. B.B. Warfield, a great Presbyterian theologian of the 19th century, wrote a careful study entitled, "On the Emotional Life of Our Lord"[1], and in the course of his essay he referred to the terms employed by the Synoptic gospel writers in relation to the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke uses the word agonia, from which we get our English word "agony." Matthew and Mark share two expressions which speak of the troubled soul and despondency. Mark uses another word of his own, which is translated "deeply distressed" in v.33. It is a term which can also mean "horror-struck" and "alarmed dismay." Put together these expressive words indicate that Jesus was feeling an acute emotional pain which caused Him to sweat profusely as He looked with apprehension and almost terror at His future ordeal.
      I think that it is important to note the need of Christ during this difficult hour. He had a need for human fellowship, and He had a need for fellowship with the Father.
      A.  The Need for Human Fellowship. In His hour of trial, Jesus needed people, Jesus needed His friends. He took the 12 with Him, and then the inner circle of three. Our Lord felt the need for their presence in His time of crisis.  
      In our times of trouble, we want someone with us. We do not necessarily want that person to do anything. We do not necessarily even want to talk to them or have them talk to us. We only want them to be there. Jesus was like that, too.
      I was the one who found my father dead in our home, the victim of a massive heart attack at the age of 55. I was 22-years-old, and had just graduated from college. It was about midnight when I found him, and I had just come home from a date. After trying to revive him without success, I contacted my brothers and our family doctor to find out what I should do. I called the police and arranged for the funeral home to retrieve his body. And I cried. I called the young woman who I was dating at the time, the one I had been out with that night. Even though it was 2 a.m., I asked if she would go out for a Coke with me. I needed to be with someone. She was a blessed sister in Christ and sacrificed her night's sleep to offer me comfort. It meant more to me than she will ever know. In times of trouble, we need God with skin on.
      That's the way we feel, and that's the way Christ felt, too. The burden and agony were so great that He did not want to go it alone. He needed others; He needed His friends. He needed the ministry of presence.
      B. Fellowship With the Father. Christ also needed fellowship with the Father. In His prayer, which He uttered in a prone position, He cried out, "Abba, Father" (36).  The Aramaic word Abba is expressive of an especially close relationship. It was the Aramaic intimate form for addy" or "Papa." And in that moment, Jesus was calling out for His heavenly Father, His Papa.  
      People will let you down, people will disappoint you, and ultimately it is only the Father who will be your best support in times of difficulty. Only God will provide what you need when all is said and done. We see here in our text that despite our Lord's pleading and warning to watch and pray, the disciples let Him down. When Jesus needed them the most, they all fell asleep. Christ asked Peter, "Are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?" (37).  We can hear in our Lord's words a tone of disappointment and frustration.
      Try as they might, people will let you down. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We count on someone, we look to them to come through for us in the clutch, and still they disappoint and sadden us. It is in those times when we come to realize that only God can be for us what we ultimately need. He is the only one who has the resources to really be there for us. Corrie Ten Boom, a survivor of the German concentration camps in WWII, once said, d. Look inside you and get depressed. But look to Jesus and be at rest.

II.  The Prayer of Christ
      The passage tells us that three times Christ prayed to the Father, "Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will" (36:39,41). The cup that Jesus didn't want to drink from not only symbolized the physical pain of being flogged and crucified, or the mental distress of being despised and rejected, even by His own people. Rather the "cup" represented all that and the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world. In other words, the cup represented enduring the divine judgment which bearing our sins required.  
      There are many references in the Old Testament to the k of the way in which the  God's wrath. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus contemplated the implications of His coming death. From the experience of alienation from His Father which the judgment of sin would involve, He hung back in horror. John R.W. Stott asks a great question, den opens a window on to the greater agony of the cross. If to bear man's sin and God's wrath was so terrible in anticipation, what must the reality have been like?[2]
      Our Lord prayed three times, s cup from Me,at I will, but what You will.l desires to the Father, and He resigned Himself to do God's will. And from His agony of dread, Jesus emerged with a resolute confidence. When Peter drew his sword in a frantic attempt to avert the arrest, Jesus was able to say, "Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?" (Jn. 18:11).   
      Christ made His decision to die in the garden; He made His decision to do the Father's will there in prayer. The real battle was won in the garden, and that was the turning point. The betrayal and abandonment by friends, the night of trials, the beatings and taunts, the death by crucifixion, and becoming sinful for us was simply a living out of this decision, a decision that was made as a result of prayer.
      I believe that we see here a pattern of godly prayer. The apostle Paul repeated this pattern in 2 Corinthians 12 when he prayed three times that the Lord would take away his thorn in the flesh. The pattern is to speak honestly and candidly to the Lord about what our heart's desire is. We are to lay it clearly before His throne of mercy and not candy-coat our request and need. But having laid it before the Father, we are to leave it with Him and let it rest in His will. Our ultimate request is to be that the will of God be accomplished.  
      When there is a relationship that is breaking our hearts,
            when we are stricken with illness or disease,
                  when we yearn for a change in our job situation,
                        when we hope to be selected for that honor,
                              when we long to find a companion for life,
                                    when we ache in our hearts over a child,
it is then that we are to lay the matter clearly before the Father, let Him know exactly what we want or hope for, and then we leave it with Him, asking that His will be done, knowing that if He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for us, then He can be trusted to have our best interest at heart. That is the pattern of Christ’s prayer, and we would do well to follow that pattern in our own lives.

III. The Betrayal and Arrest of Christ
      The text tells us, "Just as [Jesus] was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders" (43).  The fact that Judas knew to look for Jesus in Gethsemane shows that the Lord was in the habit of going there. Judas was accompanied by a crowd sent from the three constituent groups of the Sanhedrin. The crowd consisted of a detachment of soldiers and some official attendants of the Sanhedrin, and they came armed with swords and clubs. Apparently, they thought they would meet with resistance. 
      The prearranged Jesus was for Judas to kiss him. Rabbis were customarily greeted by their disciples with a kiss, and it was a sign of respect and affection for a well-loved teacher. But here the kiss was a kiss of betrayal. Of this kiss James Stalker has written, pure love in the world, this act will be hated and despised by everyone who has ever given or received this token of affection. It was a sin against the human heart and all its charities. But none can feel its horror as it must have been felt by Jesus. That night and the next day His face was marred in many ways: it was furrowed by the bloody sweat; it was bruised with blows; they spat upon it; it was rent with thorns: but nothing went so close to His heart as the profanation of this kiss.[3]
      The soldiers seized Jesus and arrested Him. One of the disciples drew a sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. John tells us in his gospel that the disciple was Peter. Aroused from sleep, Peter came stumbling forward and tried to take matters into his own hands. Apparently, Peter aimed at the man's head, but the servant of the high priest sidestepped the blow, and it only caught his ear. Matthew tells us that Jesus rebuked Peter, and He healed the wounded ear of the servant. 
      The crowd of soldiers and representatives of the Sanhedrin stood there with torches, swords and clubs, and Jesus protested against the manner of His arrest. He had been teaching every day in the Temple courts; they could have arrested Him there. But they chose to come at night. It was as if the Lord was saying, ur hour and the power of darkness. This midnight hour is your hour, because you are the sons of night, and the power you wield against Me is the power of darkness.
      At this, all of the disciples deserted our Lord, and they fled for fear of their lives. He was abandoned by His closest friends at His most critical hour of need. This was the Garden of Grief.

Conclusion
      The Passion of the Garden of Gethsemane reveals the humanity of Jesus with astonishing fidelity. As C.F.D. Moule has written, He is shown to be bove temptation. So far from sailing serenely through His trials like some superior being unconcerned with this world, He is almost dead with distress.[4]  As I close this night and as we prepare to come to the Table of our Lord, let me ask you some questions.
      Have you abandoned Christ when He needed you the most? When you have had the opportunity to talk with a classmate, a friend, or a co-worker about Christ, did you tell them about Jesus? When a neighbor was going through a divorce or an illness, did you try to be there for them? When you saw on the TV the devastation of hunger around the world, did you try to do anything about it? When a friend had a new baby, did you take them a meal or volunteer to take their kids for an afternoon? Have you abandoned Christ when He needed you the most to be there for Him?
      Have you been like Peter and tried to take matters into your own hands? Instead of waiting on the Lord, have you tried to step in and help heaven along with accomplishing the Kingdom of God? We can be so impulsive, so driven, and so hot-headed at times. We need to learn to wait on the Lord, to take our lead from Him, and not try to do everything by ourselves. The hot-headed anger of a person cannot accomplish the work the Lord desires. Leave it to God. Let Him tell you what you should be doing for Him. God is sovereign. He can take care of Himself, and you. In the midst of this whole scene in Mark 14, Jesus is the only oasis of serenity in the whole confused mess. It is as if He was directing and orchestrating the whole affair. And you know, He was.
      Has the agony of the Christ’s passion truly gripped your heart? Do you fully appreciate all that Christ went through for you and me? Have you taken time to think about the pain that He experienced to provide for your salvation? Do you know that He became sin for you in order to give you eternal life?  
      If there is anyone here this evening to whom the Holy Spirit has been speaking, and you are starting to understand perhaps for the first time all the Christ has done for you in His suffering and death, I encourage you to open your heart to Jesus and invite Him to take up residence in your life. Exchange your rags of sin for the royal robes of the righteousness of Christ, and receive the gift of eternal life. If you had been the only person on earth, Christ still would have come to die for you. He loves you that much, so much that He went through the passion of the Garden of Gethsemane. Amen. 

[1]Warfield's essay is published in his book The Person and Work of Christ,  pp. 93-145.  
[2]John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, p.77.   "
[3]James Stalker, The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ,   pp. 10,11.  
[4]C.F.D. Moule, Gospel of Mark,  p.117.