Mark 14:32-42 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Mark 14:32-42. With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage. Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage? After you’ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Mark 14:32-42 (NIV)
32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.
34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.
36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?
38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.
40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
41 Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
On verses 32-42: Gethsemane is a transliteration of two words in Hebrew that mean “olive press”. It’s also the name of a garden at the foot of Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives. Scholars say that in Gethsemane there was an olive grove as well as an olive press where olives would be pressed and the oil would be collected. On this most difficult night of Jesus’ life, Jesus is in Gethsemane. He knows that incomparable suffering and death await him the next day.
Thus far in Mark, it Jesus has been getting his followers ready for his suffering and death, assuring them that this is the way it has to be. But now, on the eve of his suffering taking place, Jesus faces his own stress and difficult emotions. Like an olive being pressed till the oil comes out, Jesus is in Gethsemane, feeling tremendous pressure from knowing that very soon he would be handed over to his enemies, tortured and killed. In Gethsemane Jesus’ suffering has already begun.
Notice that Jesus was with his disciples and in particular Peter, James and John. However, though Jesus asked them for support and prayer, they were completely unhelpful, succumbing to sleep as opposed to praying with and for Jesus. Jesus must have felt utterly alone. But he was not alone for he still had the presence of His Father. It is to the Father that Jesus directs his burdens. “Father, take this cup from me. Yet not what I will but what You will.” In other words, Jesus was asking his Father to find another way so that Jesus wouldn’t have to go through such suffering. But ultimately, Jesus was willing to submit to whatever His Father said. What excruciating pain it must have been for the Father to deny His Son’s request.
What can we learn from this?
– You may be in the darkest hour of your life, but God is not far away. He is there in the stress and the struggle. Like Jesus, in your most pressure-filled and stressful times, turn to God. Be real with God about how you’re feeling.
– A measure of spiritual maturity is not that you always get what you ask for, but that you live in surrender and submission to God’s will for your life.
– This is possibly the most private and vulnerable recorded moment in Jesus’ life. It shows that Jesus was truly human and experienced fear, stress and sorrow just like we do, and in fact to an even greater extent than most of us ever will.
In his private struggle in Gethsemane, Jesus would make a decision that would change human history. Jesus decides that no matter how much suffering lay ahead of him, he would keep on going, even if it means dying on a cross.
What can we learn from this? The decisions we make in private will determine the directions we take in public.
Jesus, thank You for willingly going through such incredible suffering on our behalf. The torment, the pressure, the stress, and the fear that you endured even before you were betrayed are hard for almost all of us to fathom. Thank You for never giving up and for showing the most ultimate commitment to the Father’s mission, willingly laying down your life. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
