| Experiencing the Prayer of Jesus zarahlim_032209

EXPERIENCING THE PRAYER OF JESUS

Scripture: Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 12-17
Jesus’ Prayer: Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 17:19

Objective: To understand Jesus’ most intense prayer.

To have the same passion for prayer and obedience to the Father’s will as Jesus had.

Main points:
• “Abba, Father…” Jesus knew where to run during His darkest hour.
• “Take this cup from me.” Jesus understood the intensity of what He had to go through.
• “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus submitted to the will of the Father.

I. Introduction
The essence of the whole Passion story is lost on most of us because of over familiarity with it. We
hear it every time. We already know what’s going to happen – that Jesus will rise again, that He
has become victorious amidst all suffering. We tend to overlook the suffering part, the CUP
which Jesus had to partake.
Let’s put ourselves in the disciples’ shoes (or sandals! ☺) and try to feel what they went through that
whole time. The story was not yet completed then. They haven’t seen yet (though Jesus already
told them) the resurrection of Jesus. Imagine the one you most look up to being arrested. What
will you feel? What will you do?

II. Jesus’ Prayer in Gethsemane

Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane is a very important part of the Passion story. This is where Jesus’
battle really began. If He didn’t spend as much time here as He needed to, then who knows
what would happen when He went out in the death field. But because He strengthened
Himself in prayer, the rest was just a road He had to go through. Victory was already with Him,
because He ran to the Father, He acknowledged what He has to go through, and He submitted
to the Father’s will.

1. “Abba, Father…” Jesus knew where to run during His darkest hour.
- Abba means Father in Aramaic.
- The way Jesus called God “Abba” in this verse sounds differently from the way He taught the disciples
how to pray (The Lord’s Prayer).
o In The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus invited us to call God in the same way he calls Him – such as that
with an intimate relationship with the Father
 It is “combined tender intimacy and profound respect”
 “Lambing” - mode
o In the Gethsemane Prayer, Jesus is crying out in desperation.
 In Jesus’ most trying hour, he surrounded Himself with the people closest to Him –
His Father and his closest friends*.
• *Jesus usually goes off and leaves his disciples so He could spend time
alone with God. But this time, he told his closest friends (Peter, James and
John) to “stay [here] and keep watch [with me].” (Mt.26:38)

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 When we are about to undergo something big in our lives, it is only natural for us to
want to be with the ones closest to us.
• i.e. Graduation, Birthdays (showbiz answer–quiet dinner with family),
Hospitalization, etc.
 It was the hour when Jesus’ desperately needed his friends’ prayer support and
encouragement but his friends failed him.
• The disciples, maybe because of all the food and wine they just had during
the Supper, couldn’t keep themselves awake.
• “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (Mark
14:37)
 People may disappoint us , even abandon us, in our most trying times, but our Abba
Father will never abandon us.
Don’t leave God out of [the big events in] your life. Call unto Him, he has already given us the privilege of calling
Him our Abba.
 Jesus knew where to go and whom to go to when he became desperate.
During that time of deep loneliness and sorrow, Jesus went to the Father. He was
calling on him in desperation.
 He may have sounded like the ff:
• Parent drops off his child on the first day of school – child cries in
desperation (“Don’t leave me all alone!!!”)
• Beloved breaks up with lover- the lover cries out in desperation (“Don’t
leave me! I can’t go on without you.”).
 He was about to undergo separation from God (because the sins of the entire
human race was about to be put unto him).
God is still my Father, even in my darkest moments.
What is your biggest struggle today? Are you in desperation? Don’t put God as the last on your who-to-run-to-for-
help list. Put him on top of that list.

APPLICATION:
Pause for a short prayer.
Allow this time for the
congregation to cry out to
God the Father about
what’s troubling them.
Testimony: [Don’t elaborate on the medical condition, just stress the
importance of running to God in desperate moments]
Kimmie – with her condition, as a family we’re desperate. So we ran to God
for help, for comfort. We made a covenant to bring back prayer time in our
family. Though it took us a trying moment to realize the need for unity in
the form of family devotions/prayer time, what matters is you heed to the
call of coming back to him.

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2. “Take this cup from me.” Jesus understood the intensity of what He had to go through.
- When Jesus prayed this, he was not asking to be delivered from physical death. He knew right from
the beginning that He had to go through every suffering, even death, to fulfill his mission. (Mark
10:33-34)
- What he couldn’t bear was the separation from God the Father that would happen when the sins of
the entire human race are placed upon him.
- Illust:
o Think of the person whom you revere the most.
o Now imagine having to do something that would cause that person to stay away from you.
o The person you revere/look up to/love the most cannot stand to be with you anymore.
o How would you feel?
o That’s how Jesus felt. Only a million times (exagg?) stronger in intensity.
- The mere thought of being separated from God caused him to pray earnestly, so earnestly that his
sweat turned to blood.

No matter what “cup” you are undergoing right now, be comforted in the fact that Jesus himself has undergone
the cup of suffering.
o He knows what you’re going through. He understands you.
o Just as He was able to overcome it, you can too!
o But you have to follow what Jesus did: (Proceed to point #3).

3. “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus submitted to the will of the Father.
- Jesus, knowing what He has to go through, prayed this very bold yet humble prayer – “let it happen
as You will.”
- With this prayer, He acknowledged absolute dependency on the will of the Father.
o Absolute dependency is to leave it all up to God – whatever He thinks is best, you’re okay
with that.
- Don’t underestimate the power of these words.
- Because of Jesus’ submission to the will of the Father, everything was put to right again.
o “Jesus was by no means powerless. If he had insisted on his will and not the Father’s he
could have called down twelve legions of angels (72,000) to fight a Holy War on his behalf.”
(Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew)
o He could have wiped out evil without being harmed, but if he did that, then we would all still
be doomed for destruction.
o And that is not the will of the Father.
o God’s will is for us to be redeemed.
o Redemption can happen only through the shedding of blood, and only that of pure,
unblemished blood.
 Heb 9:22 “…and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
 Eph 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
in accordance with the riches of God’s grace…”
o With Jesus being the only qualified sacrifice for the entire human race, he had to go through
the gory process of being slaughtered.

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Are you willing to follow Jesus’ example (obedient even to the point of death)?
With what you are going through, can you honestly pray to the Father “Not what I will, but what You will?”
- The point of going to the Father is lost when you aren’t willing to submit to His will.
- Illust:
o Imagine a person coming to you, seeking your help for his big problem.
o You are willing and able to help that person out, but for that to work, he needs to do as you
say.
o When he hears of your plan, he is unwilling to go along with it.
o Then you’ll realize how foolish stubbornness can be: the answer to the problem is within
your grasp but you just aren’t willing to reach out for it.

III. Recap
1. “Abba, Father…” Jesus knew where to run during His darkest hour.
2. “Take this cup from me.” Jesus understood the intensity of what He had to go through.
3. “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus submitted to the will of the Father.

When we cry out in desperation to God, acknowledging the gravity of our present dilemma, the only remaining
key to our victory is our obedience to the will of the Father.

IV. Challenge / Application

“Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Mark 14:37b-
38)

Full Life Study Bible notes (Mk.14:37)

- Peter and the disciples neglected to keep watch and pray, the only thing that could have saved them
from failure at this time of testing.
- Failure in our Christian life is absolutely certain without prayer.

Praying during our most difficult times is a must. But we must not pray only during bad times. Jesus was able to
pray as He did in Gethsemane because He always made it a point to keep his daily appointment with the
Father.

His words to his disciples to “watch and pray…” is an obvious command, even for us, to have a regular time for
prayer and devotion.

Commit a regular prayer time with the Father and keep it!