Mark 14:32-36 NIV
“They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.””
Gethsemane…”the press”. For believers, Gethsemane arouses feelings of sadness, foreboding, impending horror, but…Gethsemane was just an olive grove outside Jerusalem, a garden of trees that bore an abundance of olives. Who owned Gethsemane? No on knows but…Gethsemane was the place Jesus chose for His final and greatest battle.
The name of the garden, Gethsemane, means “press”, an apt title for the processing of olives, and an even more apt symbol of Jesus’ next few hours. As the flesh of the olive fruit was bruised, broken, and severely pressed to extract the precious oil, so the “flesh” of our Saviour, His vulnerable human nature, was pressed beyond human limit to extract…what? To press every other consideration to protect and preserve Himself except His commitment to do the will of the Father.
Said Isaiah…
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
The piercing, the crushing, the wounding He anticipated was not against but in complete harmony with the Father’s will. In His battle in the garden, He must, once again, as He did throughout His life, surrender His will to the will of the Father.
“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”
Isaiah 53:10 NIV
For Jesus, the issue of suffering and death was far more than the way He would leave earth and returned to heaven. It was how He made the transition from Gethsemane to Calvary, and Calvary to the tomb that would be the difference between life and death.
Let’s consider one statement the writer to the Hebrews made that gives us a glimpse of the real nature of the battle.
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”
Hebrews 5:7 NIV
How profound is this insight into the relentless war Jesus waged, a war which reached its climax in Gethsemane! Death would be, if He failed to submit to the Father, not just the end of His earthly life but also the end of His eternal position in heaven and the destiny of all mankind. He would suffer the same fate as all fallen humanity, and be separated from the Father forever.
From the eternal “now” of eternity, when Jesus embraced the Father’s will to be the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, to the moment of His conception in the womb of Mary and to this moment, Jesus had one all-consuming objective…to do the Father’s will.
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.””
Psalms 40:6-8 NIV
Jesus submitted to Him in every thought, word, and deed during His life on earth. What, then, was the battle that He fought, that caused Him to suffer, and to learn obedience through His suffering? Was it the relentless temptation to choose self-will over the Father’s will?
Again, Hebrews answers the question for us.
“For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Hebrews 2:17-18 NIV
Please note these Scriptures because in them is the heart of what Jesus came to do!
- Jesus was as fully human as we are…flesh and spirit.
- Like the first Adam before he sinned, Jesus, the last Adam, was able to sin and able not to sin, able to obey or not to obey the Father.
- To be a perfect high priest and atoning sacrifice, He had to do the Father’s will perfectly.
- He had to endure and overcome the same temptations we suffer, to obey the father, no matter what.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
Hebrews 4:15 NIV
In what way did Jesus suffer being tempted?
Here, Peter answers the question for us.
“But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
1 Peter 2:20-21 NIV
The crux of the issue was…how would Jesus react to unjust suffering, His way as a man or God’s way as His Son? Suffering unjustly is the expression of what Jesus’ people did to Him…rejection…and produces one of two reactions…of the flesh or of the spirit? The flesh retaliates to protect self, the spirit responds to glorify and trust the Father.
Again, Peter explains…
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
1 Peter 2:22-23 NIV
The way Jesus responded to unjust suffering was the greatest evidence of His commitment to doing the Father’s will. In those final moments, in the heat of the fire that lay before Him, before His arrest and trial, He had to settle the issue once and for all, His will or the Father’s will?
For Jesus, this was “the press”, so intense that the sweat poured from Him like the flow of blood from a fatal wound. With His choice came the peace that carried Him through to His final breath. Compassion for His tormentors and His killers spoke forgiveness from His parched lips, and assurance to a lost soul hanging on a cross beside Him of a place in paradise with Him.
So, as for Jesus, so for us, His followers, our suffering in temptation and our victory over temptation is to choose Him over ourselves and His way over our way. The way of non-retaliation defeats every demand of the flesh for vindication.
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”
Romans 12:19 NIV
Then we will be in the safest place on earth, in the will of God.