Jesus was fearful of the cross

JESUS WAS FEARFULOF THE CROSS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
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 distressedand troubled. 34 “My
soul is overwhelmedwith sorrow to the point of
death,” he saidto them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
35 Going a littlefarther, he fell to the ground and
prayed that if possiblethe hour might pass from him.
36 “Abba,[f] Father,” he said, “everything is possible
for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will,
but what you will.”
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Strong Crying and Tears'
Alexander Maclaren
Mark 14:32

And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane:and he said to his
disciples, Sit you here, while I shall pray.…
'And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane:and He saith to His
disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.33. And He takethwith Him Peterand
James and John, and beganto be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; 34. And
saith onto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowfulunto death: tarry ye here, and
watch.35. And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed
that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.36. And He said, Abba,
Father, all things are possible unto Thee;take awaythis cup from Me:
nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.37. And He cometh, and
findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepestthou! couldest not
thou watchone hour? 38. Watch ye and pray, lestye enter into temptation.
The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.39. And againHe went away,
and prayed, and spake the same words.40. And when He returned, He found
them asleepagain, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to
answerHim.41. And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleepon
now, and take your rest, it is enough, the hour is come;behold, the Son of
Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.42. Rise up, let us go;lo, he that
betrayeth Me is at hand. -- Mark xiv.32-42.
The three who saw Christ's agonyin Gethsemane were so little affectedthat
they slept. We have to beware of being so little affectedthat we speculate and
seek to analyse rather than to bow adoringly before that mysterious and
heart-subduing sight. Let us remember that the place is 'holy ground.' It was
meant that we should look on the Christ who prayed 'with strong crying and
tears,'else the three sleepers would not have accompaniedHim so far; but it
was meant that our gaze should be reverent and from a distance, else they
would have gone with Him into the shadow of the olives.

'Gethsemane'means 'an oil-press.'It was an enclosedpiece ofground,
according to Matthew and Mark;a garden, according to John. Jesus, by some
means, had access to it, and had 'oft-times resortedthither with His disciples.'
To this familiar spot, with its many happy associations, Jesus ledthe disciples,
who would simply expectto pass the night there, as many Passovervisitors
were accustomedto bivouac in the open air.
The triumphant tone of spirit which animated His assuring words to His
disciples, 'I have overcome the world,' changedas they passedthrough the
moonlight down to the valley, and when they reachedthe garden deep gloom
lay upon Him. His agitationis pathetically and most naturally indicated by the
conflict of feeling as to companionship. He leaves the other disciples at the
entrance, for He would fain be alone in His prayer. Then, a moment after, He
bids the three, who had been on the Mount of Transfigurationand with Him
at many other specialtimes, accompanyHim into the recesses ofthe garden.
But againneed of solitude overcomes longing for companionship, and He bids
them stay where they were, while He plunges still further into the shadow.
How human it is! How well all of us, who have been down into the depths of
sorrow, know the drawing of these two opposite longings!
Scripture seldom undertakes to tell Christ's emotions. Still seldomerdoes He
speak of them. But at this tremendous hour the veil is lifted by one corner,
and He Himself is fain to relieve His bursting heart by pathetic self-revelation,
which is in fact an appeal to the three for sympathy, as well as an evidence of
His sharing the common need of lightening the burdened spirit by speech.
Mark's description of Christ's feelings lays stress first on their beginning, and
then on their nature as being astonishment and anguish. A wave of emotion
sweptover Him, and was in marked contrastwith His previous demeanour.
The three had never seentheir calm Masterso moved. We feelthat such
agitationis profoundly unlike the serenity of the rest of His life, and especially

remarkable if contrastedwith the tone of John's accountof His discourse in
the upper room; and, if we are wise, we shall gaze on that picture drawn for
us by Mark with reverent gratitude, and feelthat we look at something more
sacredthan human trembling at the thought of death.
Our Lord's own infinitely touching words heighten the impression of the
Evangelist's 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful,'or, as the word literally means,
'ringed round with sorrow.'A dark orb of distress encompassedHim, and
there was nowhere a break in the gloom which shut Him in. And this is He
who, but an hour before, had bequeathed His 'joy' to His servants, and had
bidden them 'be of goodcheer,'since He had 'conquered the world.'
Dare we ask whatwere the elements of that all-enveloping horror of great
darkness? Reverentlywe may. That astonishment and distress no doubt were
partly due to the recoil of flesh from death. But if that was their sole cause,
Jesus has been surpassedin heroism, not only by many a martyr who drew his
strength from Him, but by many a rude soldier and by many a criminal. No!
The waters of the baptism with which He was baptized had other sources than
that, though it poured a tributary stream into them.
We shall not understand Gethsemane at all, nor will it touch our hearts and
wills as it is meant to do, unless, as we look, we say in adoring wonder, 'The
Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.' It was the weightof the
world's sin which He took on Him by willing identification of Himself with
men, that pressedHim to the ground. Nothing else than the atoning character
of Christ's sufferings explains so far as it can be explained, the agonywhich
we are permitted to behold afar off.
How nearly that agony was fatalis taught us by His ownword 'unto death,' A
little more, and He would have died. Can we retain reverence for Jesus as a

perfect and pattern man, in view of His paroxysm of anguish in Gethsemane,
if we refuse to acceptthat explanation? Truly was the place named 'The
Olive-press,'for in it His whole being was as if in the press, and another turn
of the screw would have crushed Him.
Darkness ringedHim round, but there was a rift in it right overhead. Prayer
was His refuge, as it must be ours. The soul that can cry, 'Abba, Father!' does
not walk in unbroken night. His example teaches us what our own sorrows
should also teachus -- to betake ourselves to prayer when the spirit is
desolate. In that wonderful prayer we reverently note three things: there is
unbroken consciousnessofthe Father's love; there is the instinctive recoilof
flesh and the sensitive nature from the suffering imposed; and there is the
absolute submission of the will, which silences the remonstrance of flesh.
Whateverthe weight laid on Jesus by His bearing of the sins of the world, it
did not take from Him the sense ofsonship. But, on the other hand, that sense
did not take from Him the consciousness thatthe world's sin lay upon Him. In
like manner His cry on the Cross mysteriouslyblended the sense of
communion with God and of abandonment by God. Into these depths we see
but a little way, and adorationis better than speculation.
Jesus shrank from 'this cup,' in which so many bitter ingredients besides
death were mingled, such as treachery, desertion, mocking, rejection,
exposure to 'the contradiction of sinners.' There was no failure of purpose in
that recoil, for the cry for exemption was immediately followedby complete
submission to the Father's will. No perturbation in the lowernature ever
causedHis fixed resolve to waver. The needle always pointed to the pole,
howeverthe ship might pitch and roll. A prayer in which 'remove this from
me' is followedby that yielding 'nevertheless'is always heard. Christ's was
heard, for calmness came back, andHis flesh was stilled and made ready for
the sacrifice.

So He could rejoin the three, in whose sympathy and watchfulness He had
trusted -- and they all were asleep!Surely that was one ingredient of
bitterness in His cup. We wonder at their insensibility; and how they must
have wondered at it too, when after years taught them what they had lost, and
how faithless they had been! Think of men who could have seenand heard
that scene, whichhas drawn the worshipping regard of the world ever since,
missing it all because they fell asleep!They had kept awake long enoughto see
Him fall on the ground and to hear His prayer, but, worn out by a long day of
emotion and sorrow, they slept.
Jesus was probably rapt in prayer for a considerable time, perhaps for a
literal 'hour.' He was speciallytouched by Peter's failure, so sadly contrasted
with his confident professions in the upper room; but no word of blame
escapedHim. RatherHe warned them of swift-coming temptation, which they
could only overcome by watchfulness and prayer. It was indeed near, for the
soldiers would burst in, before many minutes had passed, polluting the
moonlight with their torches and disturbing the quiet night with their shouts.
What gracious allowancefortheir weaknessand loving recognitionof the
disciples'imperfect goodlie in His words, which are at once an excuse for
their fault and an enforcementof His command to watchand pray! 'The flesh
is weak,'and hinders the willing spirit from doing what it wills. It was an
apologyfor the slumber of the three; it is a merciful statement of the condition
under which all discipleship has to be carriedon. 'He knowethour frame.'
Therefore we all need to watchand pray, since only by such means can weak
flesh be strengthened and strong flesh weakened, orthe spirit preserved in
willingness.
The words were not spokenin reference to Himself, but in a measure were
true of Him. His secondwithdrawal for prayer seems to witness that the
victory won by the first supplication was not permanent. Again the anguish
sweptover His spirit in another foaming breaker, and againHe sought
solitude, and again He found tranquillity -- and again returned to find the

disciples asleep. 'They knew not what to answerHim' in extenuation of their
reneweddereliction.
Yet a third time the struggle was renewed. And after that, He had no need to
return to the seclusion, where He had fought, and now had conclusively
conquered by prayer and submission. We too may, by the same means, win
partial victories over self, which may be interrupted by uprisings of flesh; but
let us persevere. TwiceJesus'calmwas brokenby recrudescence ofhorror
and shrinking; the third time it came back, to abide through all the trying
scenes ofthe passion, but for that one cry on the Cross, 'Why hast Thou
forsakenMe?'So it may be with us.
The lastwords to the three have given commentators much trouble. 'Sleepon
now, and take your rest,' is not so much irony as 'spokenwith a kind of
permissive force, and in tones in which merciful reproach was blended with
calm resignation.'So far as He was concerned, there was no reasonfor their
waking. But they had lost an opportunity, never to return, of helping Him in
His hour of deepestagony. He needed them no more. And do not we in like
manner often lose the brightest opportunities of service by untimely slumber
of soul, and is not 'the irrevocable past' saying to many of us, 'Sleep on now
since you can no more do what you have let slip from your drowsy hands'?
'It is enough' is obscure, but probably refers to the disciples' sleep, and
prepares for the transition to the next words, which summon them to arise,
not to help Him by watching, but to meet the traitor. They had slept long
enough, He sadly says. That which will effectually end their sleepiness is at
hand. How completely our Lord had regainedHis calm superiority to the
horror which had shakenHim is witnessedby that majestic 'Let us be going.'
He will go out to meet the traitor, and, after one flash of power, which smote
the soldiers to the ground, will yield Himself to the hands of sinners.

The Man who lay prone in anguish beneath the olive-trees comes forth in
serene tranquillity, and gives Himself up to the death for us all. His agonywas
endured for us, and needs for its explanation the fact that it was so. His
victory through prayer was for us, that we too might conquer by the same
weapons. His voluntary surrender was for us, that 'by His stripes we might be
healed.'Surely we shall not sleep, as did these others, but, moved by His
sorrows and animated by His victory, watch and pray that we may share in
the virtue of His sufferings and imitate the example of His submission.
Gethsemane
A. Rowland
Mark 14:32-35
The MediatorbetweenGod and man experiencedall the vicissitudes of human
life. From the loftiest height of joy he plunged into the deepestdepths of
distress. Becauseofthe fullness of his nature he surpassedus in these
experiences, alike in the glory of the Transfiguration and in the agony of
Gethsemane. Therefore we are never beyond the range of his sympathy. We
are all familiar with the outward circumstances ofthis incident, but the wisest
of us knows but little of the depths of its mystery. Indeed, although our
interest in the scene is intense, although we feel it is fraught with the destiny of
our race, we shrink with hesitation from speaking much of it. A sense of
intrusiveness overpowers those who are conscious ofignorance and sin, when
they would gaze on that sinless agonyof grief. It seems as if our Lord still said
to his disciples, "Sitye here, while I shall pray." The place whereon we stand
is holy ground.

I. THE SUFFERING SAVIOR.
1. There is mystery about his agony. Our recognitionof the proper deity and
humanity of our Lord leads us to expect seeming contradictions in him. They
appear in his intercessoryprayer. In one breath he speaks as the Son of God,
in another he wrestles as a weak man might do. Sometimes he pleads as
Mediator, and sometimes he expresseshimself with Divine majesty and
authority. is so with our Lord's agony, which must ever be a stone of
stumbling to all who refuse to recognize that they only know in part and
prophesy in part. Thus some assertthat this experience contradicts the
composure and resolutionwith which our Lord had previously announced his
sufferings; and that his prayer is in antagonismwith his omniscience as the
Son of God. Here is the Prince of peace seeminglydestitute of peace;the
world's Redeemerwanting deliverance; the Comforter himself needing
consolation. As the old myth reminds us, we sometimes come acrossa fact
which appears like a glittering ring which a child could lift when we walk
around it and talk about it; but, when we try to lift it, we find it is no isolated
ring, but a link in a chain which we can hardly stir, for it girdles the earth and
reaches heavenand hell! "Behold, God is great, and we know him not; and
darkness is under his feet."
2. There is a meaning in this agony. We gain some little insight into it when we
remember the vicarious nature of Christ's sufferings; that "the Lord hath laid
upon him the iniquities of us all." If Jesus Christ were only a greatProphet,
who came to enlighten the world, he might now seemto have lost his courage.
If he were only an Exemplar of unconditional resignationor heroic
endurance, he was surpassedby others. All points to the conclusionthat his
sufferings were not like those of Job, or Jeremiah, or Paul, or Stephen, but
were unique in the world's history. He, the sinless One, was the
Representative and Substitute of the sinful world.

II. THE TROUBLED BELIEVER may find instruction and comfort in this
experience of his Lord, especiallyin the consciousnessofhis sympathy.
1. Sympathy was longed for even by our Lord. He wantedto have near him
those who could best understand him, so that in the thought of their affection
and prayer he might find comfort. It failed him. They were overpoweredby
sleep, and when aroused, they fell back into the old drowsiness. It was another
pang in his anguish. He trod the winepress alone. How tenderly he feels for
lonely sufferers!
2. Absence of sympathy intensified prayer. When our trouble is very heavy it
has a tendency to paralyze prayer, and makes the heart stony; but we should
rather follow him who, being in an agony, prayed the more earnestly. If, in
answerto prayer, the cup is not taken away, still the prayer is not useless.
Paul thrice besought the Lord in vain to remove the thorn in the flesh; but he
had an answer, "My grace is sufficient for thee." And our Lord came forth
from the place of prayer as one who had already gained the victory.
3. Earnestnessin prayer led to absolute submission. When we pray we realize
with growing intensity that there is another will besides ours and above ours
firm and wise and good. If God sees further than we see;if he knows what
would harm and what would bless us, when we do not; if he looks not only to
this little life, but to the eternity to which it leads;let us seek in prayer to
know what his will is, and then say, even though it be with tears,
"Neverthelessnotwhat I will, but what thou wilt." - A.R.
Blessings ThroughChrist's Soul Agony
H. Melvill, B. D.

Mark 14:32-36
It is this death — this travail of the soul, which from the beginning to the end
of a Christian life is effecting or producing that holier creature which is finally
to be presentedwithout spot or wrinkle, meet for the inheritance of the saints
in light. It is in the pangs of the soul, that he feels the renewing influence of the
Holy Ghost, realized in the birth of the Christian character, who in any age of
the world recovers the defacedimage of his God. I think it gives a
preciousness to every means of grace, thus to considerthem as brought into
being by the agonies ofthe Redeemer. It would go far, were this borne in
mind, to defend it againstthe resistance orneglect, if it were impressed on you
that there is not a single blessing of which you are conscious,that did not
spring from this sorrow — this sorrow unto death of the Redeemer's soul.
Could you possibly make light, as perhaps you now do, of those warnings and
secretadmonitions which come you know not whence, prompting you to
forsake certainsins and give heed to certain duties, if you were impressedthat
it was through the very soul of the Redeemerbeing "exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death," that there was obtained for you the privilege of accessto
God by prayer, or the having offers made to you of pardon and
reconciliation? Do you think you could kneel down irreverently or formally,
or that you could treat the ordinance of preaching as a mere human
institution, in regardto which, it mattered little whether you were in earnest
or not? The memory that Christ's soul travailed in agony to procure for you
those blessings — which, because they are abundant, you may be tempted to
underrate — would necessarilyimpart a preciousnessto the whole. You could
not be indifferent to the bitter cry; you could not look languidly on the scene
as you saw the cross. This is a fact; it was only by sorrow — sorrow unto
death of the Redeemer's soul — that any of the ordinary means of grace —
those means that you are daily enjoying, have been procured. Will you think
little of those means? Will you neglectthem? Will you trifle with them? Will
you not rather feelthat what costso much to buy, it must be fatal to despise?

Neither, as we said, is it the worth only of the means of grace that you may
learn from the mighty sorrow by which they were purchased; it is also your
own worth, the worth of your own soul. When we would speak ofthe soul and
endeavour to impress men with a sense ofits value, we may strive to set forth
the nature of its properties, its powers, its capacities, its destinies, but we can
make very little way; we show little more than our ignorance, forsearchhow
we will the soul is a mystery; it is like Deity, of which it is the spark; it hides
itself by its own light; and eludes by dazzling the inquirer. You will
remember, that our Lord emphatically asked:"What shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?" It is implied in the question, that if the whole world
were offered in barter — the world, with all its honours and its riches — he
would be the veriest of fools who would consentto the exchange, and would be
a loserto an extent beyond thought, in taking creationand surrendering his
soul. Then I hear you say, "This is all a theory!" It may be so. "The world in
one scale, is but a particle of dust to the soul in the other! We should like to
see an actualexchange:this might assure us of the untold worth that you wish
to demonstrate." And, my brethren, you shall see a human soulput on one
side and the equivalent on the other. You shall see anexchange!Not the
exchange — the foul exchange which is daily, ay, hourly! made — the
exchange of the soul for a bauble, for a shadow;an exchange, whicheven
those who make it would shrink from if they thought on what they were doing
— would shrink from with horror, if they would know how far they are losers
and not gainers by the bargain. The exchange we have to exhibit is a fair
exchange. Whatis given for the soul is what the soul is worth. Come with us,
and strive to gaze on the glories of the invisible God — He who has grieved in
the soul, "for He emptied Himself, and made Himself of no reputation," that
the soulmight be saved! Come with us to the stable of Bethlehem! Come with
us to Calvary! The amazing accumulationof which you are spectator — the
fearful sorrow, onwhich you hardly dare to look — the agony of Him who
had done no sin — the agonyof Him who was the Lord of glory — the death
of Him who was the Prince of Light — this was given for the soul; by this
accumulation was redemption effected. Is there not here an exchange — an
exchange actuallymade, with which we might prove it impossible to overrate
the value of the soul? If you read the form of the question — "Whatshall a
man give in exchange for his soul?" you will see it implies that it is not within

the empire of wealth to purchase the soul. But cannot this assume the form of
another question — What would God give in exchange for the soul? Here we
have an answer, not of supposition, but of fact: we tell you what God has given
— He has given Himself.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christ's Agony of Soul
H. Melvill, B. D.
Mark 14:32-36
It is on the sufferings of the soulthat we would fix your attention; for these,
we doubt not, were the mighty endurances of the Redeemer — these pursued
Him to His very lastmoments, until He paid the last fragment of our debts.
You will perceive that it was in the soul rather than in the body that our
blessedSaviour made atonement for transgression. He had put Himself in the
place of the criminal, so far as it was possible for an innocent man to assume
the position of the guilty; and standing in the place of the criminal, with guilt
imputed to Him, He had to bear the punishment that misdeeds had incurred.
You must be aware that anguish of the soul rather than of the body is the
everlasting portion of sinners; and though, of course, we cannotthink that our
Lord endured preciselywhat sinners had deserved, for he could have known
nothing of the stings and bodes of consciencebeneathwhich they must
eternally writhe, yet forasmuch as he was exhausting their curse — a curse
which was to drive ruin into their soul as well as rack the body with
unspeakable pain — we might well expect that the soul's anguish of a surety

or substitute would be felt even more than the bodily: and that external
affliction, howevervast and accumulated, would be comparatively less in its
rigour or accompaniments, than His internal anguish, which is not to be
measuredor imagined. This expectationis certainly quite borne out by the
statements of Scripture, if carefully considered. Indeed it is very observable
that when our Lord is setbefore us as exhibiting signs of anguish and distress
there was no bodily suffering whatever — none but what was causedmentally.
I refer, as you must be aware, to the scene in the garden, as immediately
connectedwith our text, when the Redeemermanifested the most intense grief
and horror, His sweatbeing as it were greatdrops of blood — a scene which
the most callous canscarcelyencounter:in this case there was no nail, no
spear. Ay, though there was the prospectof the cross, there was hardly fear. It
was the thought of dying as a malefactor, which so overcame the Redeemer,
that He needed strength by an angelfrom heaven. That it was that wrung out
the thrilling exclamation:"My soul is exceeding sorrowful." It is far beyond
us to tell you what were the spiritual endurances which so distressedand bore
down the Redeemer. There is a veil over the anguish of the incarnate God
which no mortal hand may attempt to remove. I can only suppose that holy as
He was — incapable of sinning in thought or deed — He had a piercing and
overwhelming sense ofthe criminality of sin — of the dishonour which it
attachedto the world — of the ruin which it was bringing on man: He must
have felt as no other being could, the mighty fearfulness of sin — linked alike
with God and with man — the brethren of sinners, and the being sinned
against. Who can doubt that, as He bore our transgressions in our nature, He
must have been wounded as with a two-edgedsword— the one edge
lacerating Him as He was jealous of divine glory, and the other as He longed
for human happiness? Though we cannotexplain what passedin the soul of
the Redeemer, we would impress on you the truth, that it was in the soul
rather than in the body that those dire pangs were endured which exhausted
the curse denounced againstsin. Let not any think that mere bodily anguish
went as an equivalent for the miseries and the tortures which must have been
eternally exactedfrom every human being. It would take awaymuch of the
terribleness of the future doom of the impenitent, to representthose sufferings
as only, or chiefly, bodily. Men will argue the nature of the doom, not the
nature of the suffering capacityin its stead. And, certainly, a hell without

mental agony, would be a paradise in comparisonwith what we believe to be
the pandemonium, where the soul is the rack, and consciencethe executioner.
Go not awayfrom Calvary, with thoughts of nothing but suffering a death by
being nailed to a cross and left to expire after long torture! Go away, rather
thinking of the horror which had takenhold of the soul of the forsaken
sufferer; and as you carry with you a remembrance of the doleful spectacle,
and smite your breasts at the thought of His piteous cry — a cry more
startling than the crashof the earthquake that announcedHis death — lay ye
to heart His unimaginable endurances which extort the cry: "My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christ's Sorrow and Desertion
H. Melvill, B. D.
Mark 14:32-36
It is beyond our powerto ascertainthe precise amount of suffering sustained
by our Lord; for a mystery necessarilyencircles the person of Jesus, in which
two natures are combined. This mystery may ever prevent our knowing how
His humanity was sustainedby His divinity. Still, undoubtedly, the general
representationof Scripture would lead to the conclusion, that though He was
absolute God, with every powerand prerogative of Deity, yet was Christ, as
man, left to the same conflicts, and dependent on the same assistances as any
of His followers. He differed, indeed, immeasurably, in that He was conceived
without the taint of original sin, and therefore was free from our evil

propensities:He lived the life of faith which He workedout for Himself, and
He lived it to gain for us a place in His Father's kingdom. Although He was
actually to meet affliction like a man, He was left without any external
support from above. This is very remarkably shown by His agonyin the
garden, when an angelwas sent to strengthen Him. Wonderful that a Divine
person should have craved assistance,and that He did not draw on His own
inexhaustible resources!But, it was as a man that He grappled with the
powers of darkness — as a man who could receive no celestialaid. And, if this
be a true interpretation of the mode in which our Lord met persecutionand
death, we must be right, in contrasting Him with martyrs, when we assertan
immeasurable difference betweenHis sufferings, and those of men who have
died nobly for the truth: from Him the light of the Father's countenance was
withdrawn, whilst unto them it was conspicuouslydisplayed. This may explain
why Christ was confounded and overwhelmed, where others had been serene
and undaunted. Still, the question arises, — Why was Christ thus desertedof
the Father? Why were those comforts and supports withheld from Him which
have been frequently vouchsafedto His followers? No doubt it is a surprising
as well as a piteous spectacle thatof our Lord shrinking from the anguish of
what should befall Him, whilst others have faced death, in its most frightful
forms, with unruffled composure. You never can accountfor this, exceptby
acknowledging that our Lord was no ordinary man, meeting death as a mere
witness for truth, but that he was actually a sin offering; bearing the weightof
the world's iniquities. His agony — His doleful cries — His sweating, as it
were, greatdrops of blood; these are not to be explained on the supposition of
His being merely an innocent man, hunted down by fierce and unrelenting
enemies. Had He been only this, why should He be apparently so excelledin
confidence and composure by a long line of martyrs and confessors? Christ
wad more than this. Though He had done no sin, yet was He in the place of the
sinful, bearing the weight of Divine indignation, and made to feel the terrors
of Divine wrath. Innocent, He was treated as guilty! He had made Himself the
substitute of the guilty — hence His anguish and terror. Bearin mind, that the
sufferer who exhibits, as you might think, so much less of composure and
firmness than has been evinced by many when calledon to die for truth —
bear in mind, that this sufferer has had a world's iniquity laid on His
shoulders; that Godis now dealing with Him as the representative of apostate

man, and exacting from Him the penalties due to unnumbered transgressions;
and you will cease to wonderthough you may still almostshudder at words, so
expressive of agony — "My soulis exceeding sorrowful, evenunto death."
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Resignation
R. N. Cust.
Mark 14:32-36
Of all the smaller English missions, the Livingstone Congo stands conspicuous
for its overflowing of zeal and life and promise; and of all its agents, young
M'Call was the brightest; but he was struck down in mid-work. His last words
were recordedby a strangerwho visited him. Let eachone of us lay them to
our hearts. "Lord, I gave myself, body, mind, and soul, to Thee, I consecrated
my whole life and being to Thy service;and now, if it please Thee to take
myself, instead of the work which I would do for Thee, whatis that to me?
Thy will be done."
(R. N. Cust.)

Instance of Resignation
Biblical Illustrator
Mark 14:32-36
During the siege of Barcelona, in 1705, CaptainCarletonwitnessedthe
following affecting incident, which he relates in his memoirs: "I saw an old
officer, having his only son with him, a fine young man about twenty years of
age, going into their tent to dine. Whilst they were at dinner a shot took off the
head of the son. The father immediately rose, and first looking down upon his
headless child, and then lifting up his eyes to heaven, whilst the tears ran
down his cheeks,only said, 'Thy will be done!'"
The Prayerin Gethsemane
C. S. Robinson, D. D.
Mark 14:32-36
I. Let us notice, in the outset, THE SUDDEN EXPERIENCEWHICH LED
TO THIS ACT OF SUPPLICATION. He beganto be "sore amazedand to be
very heavy." Evidently something new had come to Him; either a disclosure of
fresh trial, or a violence of unusual pain under it. Here it is affecting to find in
our Divine Lord so much of recognizedand simple human nature He desired
to be alone, but He planned to have somebodyHe loved and trusted within
call. His grief was too burdensome for utter abandonment. Hence came the

demand for sympathy He made, and the persistence in reserve he retained,
both of which are so welcome and instructive. Forhere emphatically, as
perhaps nowhere else, we are "with Him in the garden." Oh, how passionately
craving of help, and yet how majesteriallyrejectful of impertinent condolence,
are some of these moments we have in our mourning, "when our souls retire
upon their reserves, and will open their deepestrecesses onlyto God! Our
secretis unshared, our struggle is unrevealed to men. Yet we love those who
love us just as much as ever. It is helpful to find that even our Lord Jesus had
some feelings of which He could not tell John. He "wentaway" (Matthew
26:44).
II. Let us, in the secondplace, inquire concerning THE EXACT MEANING
OF THIS SINGULAR SUPPLICATION. In those three intense prayers was
the Savioursimply afraid of death? Was that what our version makes the
Apostle Paul sayHe "feared"? Was He just pleading there under the olives
for permissionto put off the human form now, renounce the "likeness of
men" (Philippians 2:7, 8), which He had taken upon Him, slip back into
heaven inconspicuouslyby some sortof translationwhich would remove Him
from the powerof Pilate, so that when Judas had done his errand "quickly,"
and had arrived with the soldiers, Jesus wouldbe mysteriously missing, and
the traitor would find nothing but three harmless comrades there asleepon
the grass?Thatis to say, are we ready to admit that our Lord and Master
seriouslyproposed to go back to His Divine Father's bosomat this juncture,
leaving the prophecies unfulfilled, the redemption unfinished, the very honour
of Jehovahsullied with a failure? Does it offer any help in dealing with such a
conjecture to insist that this was only a moment of weaknessin His "human
nature?" Would this make any difference as a matter of fact for Satan to
discoverthat he had only been contending with another Adam, after all?
Would the lost angels any the less exult over the happy news of a celestial
defeatbecause they learned that the "seedof the woman" had not succeeded
in bruising the serpent's head by reasonofHis own alarm at the last? Oh, no:
surely no! Jesus had said, when in the far-back counsels ofeternity the
covenantof redemption was made, "Lo, I come:I delight to do Thy will, O my
God" (Psalm 40:7, 8). He could have had no purpose now, we may be

evermore certain, of withdrawing the proffer of Himself to suffer for men.
There can be no doubt that the "cup" which our Lord desired might "pass
from" His lips, and yet was willing to drink if there could be no release from
it, was the judicial wrath of Goddischargedupon Him as a culprit vicariously
before the law, receiving the awful curse due to human sin. We rejectall
notion of mere physical illness or exhaustionas well as all conjecture of mere
sentimental loneliness under the abandonment of friends. In that supreme
moment when He found that He, sinless in every particular and degree, must
be consideredguilty, and so that His heavenly Father's face and favour must
at leastfor a while be withdrawn from Him, He was, in despite of all His
courageouspreparation, surprised and almostfrightened to discoverhow
much His own soul was beginning to shudder and recoilfrom coming into
contactwith sin of any sort, even though it was only imputed. Evidently it
seemedto His infinitely pure nature horrible to be put in a position, however
false, such as that His adorable Fatherwould be compelled to draw the mantle
over His face. This shockedHim unutterably. He shrank back in
consternationwhen He saw He must become loathsome in the sight of heaven
because ofthe "abominable thing" God hated (Jeremiah44:4). Hence, we
conceive the prayer coveredonly that. That which appears at first a startling
surrender of redemption as a whole, is nothing more than a petition to be
relieved from what He hoped might be deemed no necessarypart of the curse
He was bearing for others. He longed, as He entered unusual darkness, just to
receive the usual light. It was as if He had saidto His heavenly Father:"The
pain I understood, the curse I came for. Shame, obloquy, death, I care nothing
for them. I only recoilfrom being loadedso with foreignsin that I cannotbe
lookedupon with any allowance. I am in alarm when I think of the prince of
this world coming and finding something in me, when hitherto he had
nothing. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint, my
heart is like wax, when I think of the taunt that the Lord I trusted no longer
delights in Me; this is like laughing God to scorn. Is there no permitted
discrimination betweena real sinner, and a substitute only counted such
before the law in this one particular? All things are possible with Thee;make
it possible now for Thee to see Thy Son, and yet not seem to see the imputed
guilt He bears! Yet even this will I endure, if so it must be in order that I may
fulfil all righteousness;Thy will, not Mine, be done!"

III. Again, let us observe carefully THE EXTRAORDINARYRANGE
WHICH THIS PRAYER IN THE GARDEN TOOK. It is not worth while
even to appear to be playing upon an accidentalcollocationofwords in the
sacrednarrative; but why should it be assertedthat any inspired words are
accidental? The whole history of Immanuel's sufferings that awful night
contains no incident more strikingly suggestive than the record of the distance
He kept betweenHimself and His disciples. It is the act as well as the language
which is significant. Mark says, "He went forward a little." Luke says, "He
was withdrawn from them about a stone's east." Matthew says, "He wenta
little farther." So now we know that this one petition of our Lord was the
final, secret, supreme whisper of His innermost heart. The range of such a
prayer was overHis whole nature. It exhaustedHis entire being. It covered
the humanity it represented. In it for Himself and for us "He went a little
farther" than ever He had in His supplication gone before. One august
monarch rules over this fallen world, and holds all human hearts under His
sway. His name is Pain. His image and superscription is upon every cointhat
passes currentin this mortal life. He claims fealty from the entire race of man.
And, soonerorlater, once, twice, or a hundred times, as the king chooses, and
not as the subject wills, eachsoul has to put on its black garment, go sedately
and sufferingly on its sad journey to pay its loyal tribute, preciselyas Joseph
and Mary were compelled to go up to Bethlehem to be taxed. When this tyrant
Pain summons us to come and discharge his dues, it is the quickestof human
instincts which prompts us to seek solitude. That seems to be the universal
rule (Zechariah 12:12-14). Butnow we discoverfrom this symbolic picture
that, wheneverany Christian goes awayfrom other disciples deeperinto the
solitudes of his own Gethsemane, he almost at once draws nearer to the
Saviour he needs. For our Lord just now "went forward a little." There He is,
on ahead of us all in experience!It is simply and wonderfully true of Jesus
always, no matter how severe is the suffering into which for their discipline
He leads His chosen, He Himself has takenHis position in advance of them.
No human lot was everso forlorn, so grief-burdened, so desolate, as was that
of the GreatLife given to redeem it. No path ever reachedso distantly into the
regionof heart trying agony as that it might not still see that peerless Christof

God "about a stone's cast" beyondit, kneeling in some deeper shadows ofHis
own. No believer ever went so far into his lonely Gethsemane but that he
found his Masterhad gone "a little farther."
"Christ did not send, but came Himself, to save;
The ransom price He did not lend, but gave;
Christ died, the Shepherd for the sheep, —
We only fall asleep."
IV. Finally, let us inquire after THE SUPREME RESULTS OF THIS
SUPPLICATION OF OUR LORD.
1. Considerthe High Priestof our profession(Hebrews 12:2-4). What good
would it do to pray, if Christ's prayer was unsuccessful?
2. But was it answered? Certainly(Hebrews 5:7-9). The cup remained (John
18:11), but he got acquiescence(Matthew 26:42), and strength (Luke 22:43).
3. Have we been "with Him in the garden"? Then we have found a similar
cup" (Mark 10:38, 39).
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

The Sufferings of the Good
Norman Macleod.
Mark 14:32-36
disciples, Sit you here, while I shall pray.
My life has been to me a mystery of love. I know that God's educationof each
man is in perfect righteousness. Iknow that the best on earth have been the
greatestsufferers, becausethey were the best, and like gold could stand the
fire and be purified by it. I know this, and a greatdeal more, and yet the
mercy of God to me is such a mystery that I have been tempted to think I was
utterly unworthy of suffering. God have mercy on my thoughts! I may be
unable to stand suffering. I do not know. But I lay myself at Thy feet, and say,
'Not that I am prepared, but that Thou art good and wise, and wilt prepare
me.'"
(Norman Macleod.)
Gethsemane
R. Green
Mark 14:32-42

With reverent steps and bent head must we approachthis scene. It would be
improper to intrude upon the privacy of the Savior's suffering had not the
Spirit of truth seenfit to "declare" this also unto us. The disciples, with the
three, exceptions, were excludedby the words, "Sit ye here, while I pray."
And even from the favoredthree "he went forward a little," "about a stone's
cast." Then, "sore troubled," and with a "soulexceeding sorrowfuleven unto
death," he "fell on the ground," kneeling, with his face to the earth. Then,
from that spirit so sorely wrung, the cry escaped, whichhas ever been the cry
from the uttermost suffering, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me."
Thrice the holy cry was heard, and in so great"an agony" that "his sweat
became as it were greatdrops of blood falling down upon the ground," though
strengthenedby "an angelfrom heaven." Thrice the words of uttermost
submission, "Thy will be done!" completedhis actof entire surrender and
self-devotion. "The will of the Father," which had been his law through life,
was no less his one law in death. For all ages and for all sufferers Gethsemane
is the symbol of the uttermost suffering, and of the supremest actof devotion
to the will of the Father on high. Its depth of suffering is hidden in its own
darkness. The bearing of this hour upon the great work of redemption, as well
as the precise referencesofthe Redeemerin his words, and many other
solemn questions that this scene suggests, deserve the most careful thought.
But we turn, as in duty bound, to considerits instruction to us. By him, who
taught us to pray, we have been led to desire the accomplishmentof the Divine
will. By him, who is ever for us the Example of righteous obedience, we have
been constrainedto seek to bring our life into conformity with that will. And
by him, from whom our richest consolationshave descended, we have been led
to submission and lowly trust in the times of our deepestsufferings. We would
that his example should gently lead us to keepthe sacredwords upon our lips,
"Thy will be done!" If we would use them in the supreme exigencies ofour
life, we must learn to use them as the habitual law of our life. Therefore, letus
so use them that they may express:
1. The abiding desire of our heart.

2. The habit of our life.
3. The uppermost sentiment in the hour of our trial and suffering.
The former steps leadto the latter. We cannotdesire the will of the Lord to be
done by our suffering unless we have first learnt to submit to it as the law of
our activity.
I. "THY WILL BE DONE!" IS TO BE THE ABIDING DESIRE OF OUR
HEARTS. The habitual contemplation of the Divine will is likely to lead us to
desire its fulfillment. We shall see, if faintly, the wisdom, the goodness,the
pure purpose, which that will expresses. It is a desire for the Divine Father to
do and carry out his ownwill in his own house on earth, "as it is in heaven."
Seeing Godin all things, and having entire confidence in the unsullied wisdom
and unfailing goodness ofthe Father on high, it desires both that he should do
his ownwill in all things, and that by all that will should be soughtas the
supreme law. It knows no goodoutside of the operation of that will. Within its
sphere all is life, and health, and truth, and goodness;without is darkness and
the regionof the shadow of death.
II. As our prayer becomes the true expressionof our desire, we shall seek to
embody it in our daily conduct. It will then become THE HABIT OF OUR
LIFE. Our greatExemplar said, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent
me;" "I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me;" "I am come
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
And the spirit of his obedience is uttered in one word: "I delight to do thy will,
O my God: yea, thy Law is within my heart." How blessedto have a "will of
the Lord" to turn to for our guidance!How holy a Law is it! The truest
greatness oflife is to hold it in subjestionto a greatprinciple. There can be no

higher one than "the will of the Lord." Devotionto a greatprinciple
transfigures the whole life; it makes the very raiment white and glistering.
III. But there are exigenciesin life when the crush of sorrow comes upon us.
He who has habitually soughtto know and observe the will of the Lord in his
daily activity will easilyrecognize the Divine will in his sufferings; and to bow
to that will in health will prepare him to acquiesce in it in sickness. To say,
"Thy will be done!" when health and friends and possessions allare gone,
needs the training of days in which all the desires of the heart have been
brought into subjection. Many things transpire which are contrary to the
Divine will; but obedient faith will rest in the Divine purpose, which can work
itself out by the leastpromising means. Though held in "the hands of wicked
men," it will cry, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not
my will, but thine, be done." - G.
Gethsemane
E. Johnson
Mark 14:32-42
I. THE SPIRIT'S NEED OF OCCASIONALSOLITUDE. We need to collect
and concentrate ourselves. "We must go alone. We must put ourselves in
communication with the internal ocean, notgo abroadto beg a cup of waterof
the urns of other men. I like the silent church before the service beans better
than any preaching. How far-off, how cool, how chaste the persons look,
begirt eachone with a precinct or sanctuary! So let us always sit" (Emerson).

II. ITS NEED TO THROW ITSELF ON GOD. We ask advice of others too
much, and depend on human sympathy when we ought only to depend on
God. But God does not speak his deepestmessagesto men amidst a mob, but
in the desert, when they are alone with him. Amidst the confusionof opinion
and conjecture, his will becomes clearto us. In solitude it shines, the pole-star
of our night. His will is ever wisestand best. It is ever possible to follow: -
"When duty whispers low, 'Thou must,'
The soul replies, 'I can!'" It is ever safest:-
"'Tis man's perdition to be safe
When for the truth he ought to die."
III. THE NEED OF WATCHFULNESS AND PRAYER. Porphyry says, in his
affecting life of the greatphilosopher Plotinus, that the latter, though full of
suffering, never relaxed his attention to the inner life; and that this constant
watchfulness overhis spirit lessenedhis hours of sleep. And he was rewarded
by an intimate union with, or absorption in, the Divinity. He was ever
interrogating his soul, lestit should be yielding to fallacy and error. This was
the greatman of whom his disciple againsays, that he was ashamedof having
a body. Even in ascetic extremes, there are lessons for us. "The spirit indeed is
forward, but the body is feeble." - J.
The Agony in the Garden
A.F. Muir
Mark 14:32-42

I. ITS SORROW.
1. The manner in which it was experienced. There were premonitions. All
through life there ran a thread of similar emotions, which were now gathering
themselves into one overwhelming sense ofgrief, fear, and desolation:it was
crescentand cumulative. He did not artificially create orstimulate the
emotion, but entered into it naturally and gradually. Gethsemane was sought,
not from a sense ofaesthetic or dramatic fitness, but through charm of long
associationwith his midnight prayer, or simply as his wontedplace of
retirement in the days of his insecurity. As a goodIsraelite observing the
Passover, he may not leave the limits of the sacredcity, yet will he choose the
spot best adapted for security and retirement.
2. At first awakening conflicting impulses. He cravedat once for sympathy
and for solitude. The generalcompany of disciples were brought to the verge
of the garden, and informed of his purpose; the three nearestto him in
spiritual sympathies and susceptibilities were takeninto the recesses ofthe
garden, into nearer proximity and communion. And yet ultimately he must
needs be alone. All this is perfectly natural, and, considering the nature of his
emotion, explicable upon deep human principles: "Sympathy and solitude are
both desirable in severe trials" (Godwin). There was a sort of oscillation
betweenthese two poles.
3. To be attributed to the influence of supernatural insight upon his human
sympathy and feeling. What it was he saw and felt cannot be adequately
conceivedby us, but that it was not emotion occasionedby ordinary earthly
interests or attachments we may assure ourselves. The exegesiswhich sees in

"exceeding sorrowfulto die" a reasonfor concluding that it was the idea of
dying which so overwhelmedour Savior, may be safelyleft to its own
reflections. The "cup" he felt he had to drink to its dregs he had already
alluded to (Mark 10:38). It had "in it ingredients which were never mingled
by the hand of his Father, such as the treacheryof Judas, the desertion of his
disciples, denial on the part of Peter, the trial in the Sanhedrim, the trial
before Pilate, the scourging, the mockeryof the soldiery, the crucifixion, etc."
(Morison). "He beganto be sore amazed [dismayed, sorrowful], and to be
very heavy [oppressed, distressed]," are terms which are left purposely vague.
He saw the depths of iniquity, he felt the overwhelming burden of human
sinfulness.
4. He betook himself to prayer as the only relief for his surchargedfeeling.
The safestand highest wayof recovering spiritual equilibrium. Well will it be
for a man when his grief drives him to God! There is no sorrow we cannot
take to him, whether it be greator small.
II. THE SOLITUDE.
1. Symbolized by his physical apartness from the three disciples. "Is there any
sorrow like unto my sorrow?" We may not intrude. God only can fathom its
depths and appreciate its purity and intensity.
2. Suggestedby their failure to "watch."
III. THE CONFLICT. The physical effects of this are given by St. Luke. His
prayer was a "wrestling," not so much with his Fatheras with himself. But
the struggle gradually subsides to submission and rest. This shows itself in his
detachment from his ownemotions and attention to the condition of his

disciples, and soonin his movement towards the approaching band of the
betrayer. There is a complete "grammar" of emotion gone through, however,
ere that spiritual result is attained. Uncertainty, dread, the weakness of
human nature, are overcome by the resolute contemplation of the Divine will.
His own will is deliberately and solemnly submitted to his Father's, and the
latter calmly and profoundly acquiescedin as best and most blessedfor all it
concerns. - M.
COMMENTARIES
And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane:and he saith to his
disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
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EXPOSITORY(ENGLISHBIBLE)
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(32) While I shall pray.—Literally, till I shall have prayed.
MacLaren's Expositions
Mark
‘STRONG CRYING AND TEARS’

Mark 14:32 - Mark 14:42.
The three who saw Christ’s agonyin Gethsemane were so little affectedthat
they slept. We have to beware of being so little affectedthat we speculate and
seek to analyse rather than to bow adoringly before that mysterious and
heart-subduing sight. Let us remember that the place is ‘holy ground.’ It was
meant that we should look on the Christ who prayed ‘with strong crying and
tears,’else the three sleepers would not have accompaniedHim so far; but it
was meant that our gaze should be reverent and from a distance, else they
would have gone with Him into the shadow of the olives.
‘Gethsemane’means ‘an oil-press.’It was an enclosedpiece of ground,
according to Matthew and Mark;a garden, according to John. Jesus, by some
means, had access to it, and had ‘oft-times resortedthither with His disciples.’
To this familiar spot, with its many happy associations, Jesus ledthe disciples,
who would simply expectto pass the night there, as many Passovervisitors
were accustomedto bivouac in the open air.
The triumphant tone of spirit which animated His assuring words to His
disciples, ‘I have overcome the world,’ changedas they passedthrough the
moonlight down to the valley, and when they reachedthe garden deep gloom
lay upon Him. His agitationis pathetically and most naturally indicated by the
conflict of feeling as to companionship. He leaves the other disciples at the
entrance, for He would fain be alone in His prayer. Then, a moment after, He
bids the three, who had been on the Mount of Transfigurationand with Him
at many other specialtimes, accompanyHim into the recesses of the garden.
But againneed of solitude overcomes longing for companionship, and He bids
them stay where they were, while He plunges still further into the shadow.
How human it is! How well all of us, who have been down into the depths of
sorrow, know the drawing of these two opposite longings! Scripture seldom
undertakes to tell Christ’s emotions. Still seldomer does He speak of them.

But at this tremendous hour the veil is lifted by one corner, and He Himself is
fain to relieve His bursting heart by pathetic self-revelation, which is in fact
an appeal to the three for sympathy, as well as an evidence of His sharing the
common need of lightening the burdened spirit by speech. Mark’s description
of Christ’s feelings lays stress first on their beginning, and then on their
nature as being astonishment and anguish. A wave of emotion sweptover
Him, and was in marked contrastwith His previous demeanour.
The three had never seentheir calm Masterso moved. We feelthat such
agitationis profoundly unlike the serenity of the rest of His life, and especially
remarkable if contrastedwith the tone of John’s accountof His discourse in
the upper room; and, if we are wise, we shall gaze on that picture drawn for
us by Mark with reverent gratitude, and feelthat we look at something more
sacredthan human trembling at the thought of death.
Our Lord’s own infinitely touching words heighten the impression of the
Evangelist’s ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful,’or, as the word literally means,
‘ringed round with sorrow.’A dark orb of distress encompassedHim, and
there was nowhere a break in the gloom which shut Him in. And this is He
who, but an hour before, had bequeathed His ‘joy’ to His servants, and had
bidden them ‘be of goodcheer,’since He had ‘conquered the world.’
Dare we ask whatwere the elements of that all-enveloping horror of great
darkness? Reverentlywe may. That astonishment and distress no doubt were
partly due to the recoilof flesh from death. But if that was their sole cause,
Jesus has been surpassedin heroism, not only by many a martyr who drew his
strength from Him, but by many a rude soldier and by many a criminal. No!
The waters of the baptism with which He was baptized had other sources than
that, though it poured a tributary stream into them.

We shall not understand Gethsemane at all, nor will it touch our hearts and
wills as it is meant to do, unless, as we look, we say in adoring wonder, ‘The
Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.’ It was the weightof the
world’s sin which He took on Him by willing identification of Himself with
men, that pressedHim to the ground. Nothing else than the atoning character
of Christ’s sufferings explains so far as it can be explained, the agonywhich
we are permitted to behold afar off.
How nearly that agony was fatalis taught us by His ownword ‘unto death,’ A
little more, and He would have died. Can we retain reverence for Jesus as a
perfect and pattern man, in view of His paroxysm of anguish in Gethsemane,
if we refuse to acceptthat explanation? Truly was the place named ‘The
Olive-press,’for in it His whole being was as if in the press, and another turn
of the screw would have crushed Him.
Darkness ringedHim round, but there was a rift in it right overhead. Prayer
was His refuge, as it must be ours. The soul that can cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ does
not walk in unbroken night. His example teaches us what our own sorrows
should also teachus-to betake ourselves to prayer when the spirit is desolate.
In that wonderful prayer we reverently note three things: there is unbroken
consciousnessofthe Father’s love; there is the instinctive recoilof flesh and
the sensitive nature from the suffering imposed; and there is the absolute
submission of the will, which silences the remonstrance of flesh. Whatever the
weight laid on Jesus by His bearing of the sins of the world, it did not take
from Him the sense ofsonship. But, on the other hand, that sense did not take
from Him the consciousness thatthe world’s sin lay upon Him. In like manner
His cry on the Cross mysteriously blended the sense of communion with God
and of abandonment by God. Into these depths we see but a little way, and
adorationis better than speculation.

Jesus shrank from ‘this cup,’ in which so many bitter ingredients besides
death were mingled, such as treachery, desertion, mocking, rejection,
exposure to ‘the contradiction of sinners.’ There was no failure of purpose in
that recoil, for the cry for exemption was immediately followedby complete
submission to the Father’s will. No perturbation in the lowernature ever
causedHis fixed resolve to waver. The needle always pointed to the pole,
howeverthe ship might pitch and roll. A prayer in which ‘remove this from
me’ is followedby that yielding ‘nevertheless’is always heard. Christ’s was
heard, for calmness came back, andHis flesh was stilled and made ready for
the sacrifice.
So He could rejoin the three, in whose sympathy and watchfulness He had
trusted-and they all were asleep!Surely that was one ingredient of bitterness
in His cup. We wonder at their insensibility; and how they must have
wondered at it too, when after years taught them what they had lost, and how
faithless they had been! Think of men who could have seenand heard that
scene, whichhas drawn the worshipping regard of the world ever since,
missing it all because they fell asleep!They had kept awake long enoughto see
Him fall on the ground and to hear His prayer, but, worn out by a long day of
emotion and sorrow, they slept.
Jesus was probably rapt in prayer for a considerable time, perhaps for a
literal ‘hour.’ He was speciallytouched by Peter’s failure, so sadly contrasted
with his confident professions in the upper room; but no word of blame
escapedHim. RatherHe warned them of swift-coming temptation, which they
could only overcome by watchfulness and prayer. It was indeed near, for the
soldiers would burst in, before many minutes had passed, polluting the
moonlight with their torches and disturbing the quiet night with their shouts.
What gracious allowancefortheir weaknessand loving recognitionof the
disciples’imperfect goodlie in His words, which are at once an excuse for
their fault and an enforcementof His command to watchand pray! ‘The flesh
is weak,’and hinders the willing spirit from doing what it wills. It was an

apologyfor the slumber of the three; it is a merciful statement of the condition
under which all discipleship has to be carriedon. ‘He knowethour frame.’
Therefore we all need to watchand pray, since only by such means can weak
flesh be strengthened and strong flesh weakened, orthe spirit preserved in
willingness.
The words were not spokenin reference to Himself, but in a measure were
true of Him. His secondwithdrawal for prayer seems to witness that the
victory won by the first supplication was not permanent. Again the anguish
sweptover His spirit in another foaming breaker, and againHe sought
solitude, and again He found tranquillity-and againreturned to find the
disciples asleep. ‘They knew not what to answerHim’ in extenuation of their
reneweddereliction.
Yet a third time the struggle was renewed. And after that, He had no need to
return to the seclusion, where He had fought, and now had conclusively
conquered by prayer and submission. We too may, by the same means, win
partial victories over self, which may be interrupted by uprisings of flesh; but
let us persevere. TwiceJesus’calmwas brokenby recrudescence ofhorror
and shrinking; the third time it came back, to abide through all the trying
scenes ofthe passion, but for that one cry on the Cross, ‘Why hast Thou
forsakenMe?’So it may be with us.
The lastwords to the three have given commentators much trouble. ‘Sleepon
now, and take your rest,’ is not so much irony as ‘spokenwith a kind of
permissive force, and in tones in which merciful reproach was blended with
calm resignation.’So far as He was concerned, there was no reasonfor their
waking. But they had lost an opportunity, never to return, of helping Him in
His hour of deepestagony. He needed them no more. And do not we in like
manner often lose the brightest opportunities of service by untimely slumber
of soul, and is not ‘the irrevocable past’ saying to many of us, ‘Sleep on now

since you can no more do what you have let slip from your drowsy hands’? ‘It
is enough’ is obscure, but probably refers to the disciples’sleep, and prepares
for the transition to the next words, which summon them to arise, not to help
Him by watching, but to meet the traitor. They had slept long enough, He
sadly says. That which will effectually end their sleepiness is at hand. How
completely our Lord had regained His calm superiority to the horror which
had shakenHim is witnessedby that majestic ‘Let us be going.’He will go out
to meet the traitor, and, after one flash of power, which smote the soldiers to
the ground, will yield Himself to the hands of sinners.
The Man who lay prone in anguish beneath the olive-trees comes forth in
serene tranquillity, and gives Himself up to the death for us all. His agonywas
endured for us, and needs for its explanation the fact that it was so. His
victory through prayer was for us, that we too might conquer by the same
weapons. His voluntary surrender was for us, that ‘by His stripes we might be
healed.’Surely we shall not sleep, as did these others, but, moved by His
sorrows and animated by His victory, watch and pray that we may share in
the virtue of His sufferings and imitate the example of His submission.
BensonCommentary
Mark 14:32-38. Theycame to Gethsemane — For an explanation of these
verses see the notes on Matthew 26:36-39. And beganto be sore amazed —
Greek, εκθαμβεισθαι, to be in a consternation. The word implies the most
shocking mixture of terror and amazement: the next word, αδημονειν, which
we render, to be very heavy, signifies to be quite depressed, and almost
overwhelmed with the load: and the word περιλυπος, in the next verse, which
we translate exceeding sorrowful, implies, that he was surrounded with
sorrow on every side, breaking in upon him with such violence, that, humanly
speaking, there was no way to escape. Dr. Doddridge paraphrases the passage
thus: “He beganto be in very greatamazement and anguish of mind, on
accountof some painful and dreadful sensations, whichwere then impressed
on his soul by the immediate hand of God. Then, turning to his three disciples,

he says, My soulis surrounded on all sides with an extremity of anguish and
sorrow, which tortures me even almost to death; and I know that the infirmity
of human nature must quickly sink under it without some extraordinary relief
from God. While, therefore, I apply to him, do you continue here and watch.”
Dr. Whitby supposes, that these agonies ofour Lord did not arise from the
immediate hand of God upon him, but from a deep apprehension of the
malignity of sin, and the misery brought on the world by it. But, considering
how much the mind of Christ was wounded and brokenwith what he now
endured, so as to give some greaterexternal signs of distress than in any other
circumstance of his sufferings, there is reasonto conclude, there was
something extraordinary in the degree of the impression; which in all
probability was from the Father’s immediate agency, laying on him the
chastisementof our peace, or making his soul an offering for our sins. See
Isaiah53:5; Isaiah53:10. He went forward a little — Luke says, about a
stone’s cast, and fell on the ground — Matthew, fell on his face, and prayed
that the hour might pass from him — That dreadful seasonofsorrow, with
which he was then almost overwhelmed, and which did pass from him soon
after. And he said, Abba, Father — That is, Father, Father: or, perhaps, the
word Father is added by Mark, by way of interpreting the Syriac word, Abba.
All things are possible unto thee — All things proper to be done. Take away
this cup from me — This cup of bitter distress. Nothing is more common than
to express a portion of comfort or distress by a cup, alluding to the custom of
the father of a family, or masterof a feast, sending to his children or guests a
cup of such liquor as he designedfor them. Nevertheless, notwhat I will, but
what thou wilt — As if he had said, If thou seestit necessaryto continue it, or
to add yet more grievous ingredients to it, I am here ready to receive it in
submission to thy will; for though nature cannotbut shrink back from these
sufferings, it is my determinate purpose to bear whatsoeverthine infinite
wisdom shall see fit to appoint. And he cometh, &c. — Rising up from the
ground, on which he had lain prostrate: he returns to the three disciples;and
findeth them sleeping — Notwithstanding the deep distress he was in, and the
solemn injunction he had given them to watch; and saith unto Peter — The
zealous, the confident Peter! Simon, sleepestthou? — Dostthou sleep at such
a time as this, and after thou hast just declaredthy resolutionto die with me?
dost thou so soonforget thy promise to stand by me, as not so much as to keep

awake andwatch one hour? Hast thou strength to die with me, who canstnot
watchso little awhile with me? Watch ye and pray — Ye also, who were so
ready to join with Peterin the same profession;lest ye enter into temptation
— Lest ye fall by the grievous trial which is now at hand, and of which I have
repeatedly warned you. Observe, reader, watching and praying are means
absolutely necessaryto be used, if we wish to stand in the hour of trial. The
spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak — I know your mind and will are
well inclined to obey me, but your experience may convince you, that your
nature is very weak, andyour resolutions, howeversincere and strong, easily
borne down and broken. Every one is apt to flatter himself, when he is out of
danger, that he caneasily withstand temptations; but without prayer and
particular watchfulness the passions are wontto prevail over reason, and the
flesh to counteractthe motions of the Spirit. It is justly observedby
Archbishop Tillotson, (Sermons, vol. 2. p. 435,)that “so gentle a rebuke, and
so kind an apologyas we here read, were the more remarkable, as our Lord’s
mind was now discomposedwith sorrow, so that he must have had the deeper
and tenderer sense ofthe unkindness of his friends. And, alas!how apt are we,
in general, to think affliction an excuse for peevishness, andhow unlike are we
to Christ in that thought, and how unkind to ourselves, as wellas our friends,
to whom, in such circumstances,with our besttemper, we must be more
troublesome than we could wish.”
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
14:32-42 Christ's sufferings beganwith the sorestofall, those in his soul. He
beganto be sorelyamazed; words not used in St. Matthew, but very full of
meaning. The terrors of God set themselves in array againsthim, and he
allowedhim to contemplate them. Neverwas sorrow like unto his at this time.
Now he was made a curse for us; the curses of the law were laid upon him as
our Surety. He now tasted death, in all the bitterness of it. This was that fear
of which the apostle speaks,the natural fearof pain and death, at which
human nature startles. Can we ever entertain favourable, or even slight
thoughts of sin, when we see the painful sufferings which sin, though but
reckonedto him, brought on the Lord Jesus? Shallthat sit light upon our

souls, which sat so heavy upon his? Was Christ in such agonyfor our sins, and
shall we never be in agony about them? How should we look upon Him whom
we have pierced, and mourn! It becomes us to be exceedinglysorrowfulfor
sin, because He was so, and never to mock at it. Christ, as Man, pleaded, that,
if it were possible, his sufferings might pass from him. As Mediator, he
submitted to the will of God, saying, Nevertheless,not what I will, but what
thou wilt; I bid it welcome. Seehow the sinful weaknessofChrist's disciples
returns, and overpowers them. What heavy clogs these bodies of ours are to
our souls!But when we see trouble at the door, we should get ready for it.
Alas, even believers often look at the Redeemer's sufferings in a drowsy
manner, and instead of being ready to die with Christ, they are not even
prepared to watchwith him one hour.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
See the notes at Matthew 26:36-46.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
Mr 14:32-42. The Agony in the Garden. ( = Mt 26:36-46;Lu 22:39-46).
See on [1507]Lu22:39-46.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Ver. 32-42. See Poole on"Matthew 26:36", andfollowing verses to Matthew
26:46.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And they came to a place which is named Gethsemane,....At the foot of the
Mount of Olives, where the olives, which grew in greatplenty on the mount,
were pressed:and where our Lord began to be bruised, for our sins:
and be saith to his disciples:to eight of them:

sit ye here while I shall pray; at some distance from hence; See Gill on
Matthew 26:36.
Geneva Study Bible
(10) And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane:and he saith to
his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
(10) Christ suffering for us the most horrible terrors of the curse of God, in
that flesh which he took upon him for our sakes, receivesthe cup from his
Father's hands, which he being just, drinks right awayfor the unjust.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Mark 14:32-42. Comp. on Matthew 26:36-46. Comp. Luke 22:40-46.
Mark 14:33. ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι]usedin this place of the anguish (otherwise at
Mark 9:15). The word occurs in the N. T. only in Mark, who uses strongly
graphic language. Comp. Mark 16:5-6. Matthew, with more psychological
suitableness, has λυπεῖσθαι.
ἕως θανάτου]See on Matthew 26:38, and comp. Sir 37:2; Clem. 1 Corinthians
4 : ζῆλος ἐποίησεν Ἰωσὴφ μέχρι θανάτου διωχθῆναι, Test. XII. Patr. p. 520.
παρέλθῃ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ]Comp. Test. XII. Patr. p. 527:ηὔξατο … ἵνα παρέλθῃ ἀπʼ
ἐμοῦ ἡ ὀργὴ κυρίου.

ἡ ὥρα] the hour κατʼἐξοχήν, hora fatalis. It passes overfrom the man, when
the latter is spared from undergoing its destiny.
Mark 14:36. Ἀββᾶ] ‫א‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ָּ‫;א‬ so spoke Jesus in prayer to His Father. This mode of
address assumedamong the Greek-speaking Christians the nature of a proper
name, and the fervour of the feeling of childship added, moreover, the
appellative address ὁ πατήρ,—a juxtaposition, which gradually became so
hallowedby usage that here Mark even places it in the very mouth of Jesus,
which is an involuntary Hysteron proteron. The usual view, that ὁ πατήρis an
addition by way of interpreting, is quite out of place in the fervent address of
prayer. See on Romans 8:15. Against the objections of Fritzsche, see on
Galatians 4:6.
παρένεγκε] carry awaypast. Hahn was wrong, Theol. d. N. T. I. p. 209 f, in
deducing from the passage(and from Luke 22:24) that Jesus had been
tempted by His σάρξ. Every temptation came to Him from without. But in this
place He gives utterance only to His purely human feeling, and that with
unconditional subordination to God, whereby there is exhibited even in that
very feeling His μὴ γνῶναι ἁμαρτίαν, whichis incompatible with incitements
to sin from His own σάρξ.
ἀλλʼ οὐ] The following interrogative τί shows how the utterance emotionally
broken off is here to be completed. Hence somewhatin this way: but there
comes not into question, not: ἀλλʼ οὐ γενέσθω.
Mark 14:41. καθεύδετε λοιπὸνκ.τ.λ.]as at Matthew 26:45, painful irony:
sleepon now, and take your rest! Hardly has Jesus thus spokenwhen He sees
Judas approach with his band (Mark 14:42-43). ThenHis mood of painful
irony breaks off, and with urgent earnestness He now goes onin hasty,
unconnectedexclamations:there is enough (of sleep)! the hour is come!see,

the Sonof man is delivered into the hands of sinners! arise, let us go (to meet
this decisive crisis)!see, my betrayer is at hand! It is only this view of ἀπέχει,
according to which it refers to the sleepof the disciples, that corresponds to
the immediate connectionwith what goes before (καθεύδετε κ.τ.λ.)and
follows;and how natural is the change of mood, occasionedby the
approaching betrayers! All the more original is the representation. Comp.
Erasmus, Bengel(“suas jam peractas habetsoporvices; nunc alia res est”),
Kuinoel, Ewald, Bleek. Hence it is not: there is enoughof watching
(Hammond, Fritzsche). The usus loquendi of ἀπέχει, sufficit (Vulgate),
depends on the passages,whichcertainly are only few and late, but certain,
(pseudo-) Anacreon, xxviii. 33; Cyrill. in Hagg. ii. 9, even although the gloss of
Hesychius: ἀπέχει, ἀπόχρη, ἐξαρκεῖ, is critically very uncertain.[166]Others
interpret at variance with linguistic usage:abest, sc. anxictas mea (see
Heumann, Thiess), or the betrayer (Bornemann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1843, p.
103 f.); ἀπέχειν, in fact, does not mean the being removed in itself, but denotes
the distance (Xen. Anab. iv. 3. 5; Polyb. i. 19. 5; 2Ma 11:5; 2Ma 12:29). Lange
also is linguistically wrong in rendering: “it is all over with it,” it will do no
longer. The comparisonof οὐδὲν ἀπέχει, nothing stands in the way,—inwhich,
in fact, ἀπέχει, is not intransitive, but active,—is altogetherirrelevant.
[166]See Buttmann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1858, p. 506. He would leave ἀπέχει
without any idea to complete it, and that in the sense:it is accomplished, it is
the time of fulfilment, the end is come, just as Grotius, ad Matthew 26:45
(peractum est), and as the codexBrixiensis has, adestfinis, while D and min.
add to ἀπέχει: τὸ τέλος. The view deserves consideration. Still the usual it is
enough is more in keeping with the empirical use, as it is preservedin the two
passagesofAnacreon and Cyril; moreover, it gives rise to a doubt in the
matter, that Jesus should have spokena word equivalent to the τετέλεσται of
John 19:30 even now, when the consummation was only just beginning.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Mark 14:32-42. In Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46, Luke 22:40-46).

Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
32. And they came]They would pass through one of the city gates, “openthat
night as it was Passover,”downthe steepside of the Kidron (John 18:1), and
coming by the bridge, they went onwards towards
a place which was named Gethsemane]The word Gethsemane means “the
Oil-Press.” Itwas a garden (John 18:1) or an olive orchard on the slope of
Olivet, and doubtless contained a press to crush the olives, which grew in
profusion all around. Thither St John tells us our Lord was oftenwont to
resort(John 18:2), and Judas “knew the place.” Thoughat a sufficient
distance from public thoroughfares to secure privacy, it was yet apparently
easyof access. Fora description of the traditional site see Stanley’s Sinai and
Palestine, p. 455.
32–42.The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 32. - And they come (ἔρχονται) - here againSt. Mark's present gives
force to the narrative - unto a place which was named Gethsemane. A place
(χωρίον) is, literally, an enclosedpiece ofground, generallywith a cottage
upon it. Josephus tells us that these gardens were numerous in the suburbs of
Jerusalem. St. Jerome says that "Gethsemane wasatthe foot of the Mount of
Olives." St. John (John 18:1) calls it a garden, or orchard (κῆπος). The word
"Gethsemane"means literally "the place of the olive-press," whither the
olives which abounded on the slopes of the mountain were brought, in order
that the oil containedin them might be pressedout. The exactposition of
Gethsemane is not known; although there is an enclosedspotat the footof the
westernslope of the Mount of Olives which is calledto this day El maniye.
The real Gethsemane cannotbe far from this spot. Our Lord resortedto this

place for retirement and prayer, not as desiring to escapethe death that
awaitedhim. It was wellknown to be his favourite resort; so that he went
there, as though to put himself in the way of Judas, who would naturally seek
him there. Sit ye here, while I pray. St. Matthew (Matthew 26:36) says,
"While I go yonder and pray." Mark 14:32
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Mark 14:32 Theycame to a place named Gethsemane;and He said to His
disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed."
they came:Mt 26:36-46 Lu 22:39 Joh18:1-11
while: Mk 14:36,39 Ps 18:5,6 22:1,2 88:1-3 109:4
Mark 14 Resources -Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
RelatedPassages:
Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus *came withthem to a place calledGethsemane,
and *saidto His disciples, “Sithere while I go over there and pray.”
Luke 22:39+ And He came out and proceededas was His custom to the Mount
of Olives; and the disciples also followedHim.

John 18:1-2 When Jesus had spokenthese words, He went forth with His
disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He
entered with His disciples. 2 Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew
the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples.
IN THE GARDEN OF
GETHSEMANE
I think Daniel Akin is "spoton" when he says "Theseverses constitute sacred,
holy ground. We will never know the depths of agonyand pain our Savior
endured that night alone for love of sinners like us." And that thought makes
grace eventhat much more amazing!
Paul Apple - Historical present tense used 9 times in this paragraph (Mark
14:32-34)– inserts the readers into the narrative Maybe a little before
midnight – He will be hanging on the cross in about 12 hours
James Edwards - According to Mark, the decisionto submit to the Father’s
will causes Jesus greaterinternal suffering than the physical crucifixion on
Golgotha. The cross (8:34)is a matter of the heart before it is a matter of the
hand, a matter of the will before it is an empirical reality. (Pillar NTC Mark)
They came (historical present - "coming")to a place named Gethsemane -
Hiebert note that "the historicalpresent, graphically carries the reader back
to the scene. (The historical-presenttense occurs nine times in this
paragraph.)" Gethsemane means "oilpress" or "olive press" was apropos
name considering the fact that Jesus would be pressedhard by thoughts of the
impending crucifixion. We don't know exactly what time of the night it was,
but very likely it was close to midnight. The Jewishregulations calledfor the

Passovermealto be consumedbefore midnight. It would have taken them
some time to leave the city and make their way up the Mount.
Guzik on Gethsemane - It was a place where olives from the neighborhood
were crushed for their oil. So too, the Son of God would be crushedhere.
The modern locationof this gardenis uncertain so that "Todaythere is a
Latin (Roman Catholic), Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and RussianOrthodox
Gethsemane.” (Brooks)
Wiersbe asks "Butwhy a Garden? Human history beganin a Garden (Gen.
2:7-25) and so did human sin (Gen. 3). For the redeemed, the whole story will
climax in a "gardencity" where there will be no sin (Rev. 21:1-22:7). But
betweenthe Gardenwhere man failed and the Garden where God reigns is
Gethsemane, the Garden where Jesus acceptedthe cup from the Father's
hand." (Bible ExpositionCommentary).
William Barclayon the Garden of Gethsemane - The space within Jerusalem
was so limited that there was no room for gardens. Many well-to-do people,
therefore, had private gardens out on the Mount of Olives. Some wealthy
friend had given Jesus the privilege of using such a garden, and it was there
that Jesus wentto fight his lonely battle.
And He said to His disciples (mathetes) - He is addressing Peter, James and
John (the latter being the two sons of Zebedee)who accompaniedJesus into
the actualolive grove. The other 8 disciples apparently remained at the
entrance or gate leading into the garden. As MacArthur says "It is likely that
the gardenwas fenced or walledand had an entrance, perhaps even a gate."

James Edwards - All three have earlier crowedof their mettle (Peter, 14:29–
31; James and John, 10:38–39;14:31); they should be exactlythe companions
Jesus needs in the crisis before him. (Pillar NTC Mark)
Grassmick - Though Satanis not mentioned directly, he was no doubt present,
giving the event the characterofa temptation scene (cf. 1:12–13). The
Synoptics give five renderings of Jesus’prayer, all similar but with minor
variations. Jesus probably repeatedthe same requestin different ways (cf.
14:37, 39).
Sit here until I have prayed - Sit is a command in the aoristimperative calling
for immediate attention/obedience!Notice that Jesus did not command them
"Sleephere," but "Sit here!" Sadly, they proceededto disobey His clear
command and were soonasleep(and how one could fall asleepin light of
severalincredible declarations by Jesus atthe Last Supper is almost
incomprehensible).
Pray (4336)(proseuchomai)is used only of prayer directed consciouslyto God,
with a definite aim. Notice this verb has the prefixed preposition pros which
means towards and adds the idea of definiteness of one's focus, a conscious
direction of one’s prayer as directed to God, and a consciousnessonthe part
of the one praying, of God’s presence and attention to our pleas. Uses in
Mark- note 4x in Mark 14 = a key word in this chapter! Mk. 1:35; Mk. 6:46;
Mk. 11:24; Mk. 11:25; Mk. 12:40;Mk. 13:18;Mk. 14:32;Mk. 14:35; Mk.
14:38;Mk. 14:39
LIFE’S FINAL CROSSROADS- John Mayshack
“And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane:and he saith to his
disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.” Mark 14:32

1. Gethsemane—The CrossroadofPrayer
2. Gethsemane—The CrossroadofBetrayal
3. Gethsemane—The CrossroadofGod’s Will
Spurgeon- My Sermon Notes - Mark 14:32—“Andthey came to a place
which was named Gethsemane.”
Our Lord left the table of happy fellowship, and passedover the brook
Kedron, so associatedwith the sorrows ofDavid. 2 Sam. 15:23.
He then entered into the garden, named Gethsemane, notto hide himself from
death, but to prepare for it by a seasonof specialprayer.
Gethsemane was our Lord’s place of secretprayer. John 18:1, 2.
If he resortedto his closetin the hour of trial, we need to do so far more.
In his solitary supplication he was oppressedwith a greatgrief, and
overwhelmed with a terrible anguish.
It was a killing change from the cheerful communion of the Supper to the lone
agonyof the garden.
Let us think with greatsolemnity of the olive gardenwhere the Saviour sweat
as it were great drops of blood.
I. THE CHOICE OF THE SPOT—
1. Showedhis serenityof mind, and his courage.
He goes to his usual place of secretprayer.
He goes there though Judas knew the place.

2. Manifestedhis wisdom.
Holy memories there aided his faith.
Deepsolitude was suitable for his prayers and cries.
Congenialgloomfitted his exceeding sorrow.
3. Bequeathedus lessons.
In a garden, Paradise was lostand won.
In Gethsemane, the olive-press, our Lord himself was crushed.
In our griefs, let us retreatto our God in secret.
In our specialprayers, let us not be ashamedto let them be known to our
choicerfriends, for Jesus took his disciples with him to his secretdevotions in
Gethsemane.
II. THE EXERCISE UPON THE SPOT.
Every item is worthy of attention and imitation.
1. He took all due precautions for others.
He would not have his disciples surprised, and therefore bade them
watch. So should we care for others in our own extremity. The intensity of his
intercourse with God did not cause him to forget one of his companions.
2. He solicitedthe sympathy of friends.
We may not despise this; though, like our Lord, we shall prove the
feebleness ofit, and cry, “Couldye not watch with me?”
3. He prayed and wrestledwith God.
In lowliestposture and manner. See verse 35.
In piteous repetition of his cry. See verses 36 and 39.

In awful agonyof spirit even to a bloody sweat. Luke 22:44.
In full and true submission. Matt. 26:42, 44.
4. He againand againsoughthuman sympathy, but made excuse for
his friends when they failed him. See verse 38. We ought not to be soured in
spirit even when we are bitterly disappointed.
5. He returned to his God, and poured out his soul in strong crying
and tears, until he was heard in that he feared. Heb. 5:7.
III. THE TRIUMPH UPON THE SPOT.
1. Behold his perfect resignation. He struggles with “if it be
possible,” but conquers with “not what I will, but what thou wilt.” He is our
example of patience.
2. Rejoice in his strong resolve. He had undertaken, and would go
through with it. Luke 9:51; 12:50.
3. Mark the angelic service rendered. The blood-bestainedSufferer
has still all heavenat his call. Matt. 26:53.
4. Remember his majestic bearing towards his enemies.
He meets them bravely. Matt. 26:55.
He makes them fall. John 18:6.
He yields himself, but not to force. John 18:8.
He goes to the cross, and transforms it to a throne.
We, too, may expect our minor Gethsemane.
We shall not be there without a Friend, for he is with us.
We shall conquer by his might, and in his manner.

IN MEMORIAM
The late Rev. W. H. Krause, of Dublin, was visiting a lady in a depressedstate,
“weak, oh, so weak!” She told him that she had been very much troubled in
mind that day, because in meditation and prayer she had found it impossible
to govern her thoughts, and kept merely going over the same things againand
again. “Well, my dearfriend,” was his prompt reply, “there is provision in the
gospelfor that too. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when his soul was exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death, three times prayed, and spoke the same words.”
This seasonable applicationof Scripture was a source of greatcomfort to her.
Gethsemane, the olive-press!
(And why so called let Christians guess.)
Fit name, fit place, where vengeance strove,
And griped and grappled hard with love.
JosephHart.
“My will, not thine, be done,” turned Paradise into a desert. “Thy will, not
mine, be done,” turned the desert into Paradise, andmade Gethsemane the
gate of heaven.—E. ae Pressensé.
An inscription in a gardenin Wales runs thus:—
“In a gardenthe first of our race was deceived,
In a garden the promise of grace he received,

In a garden was Jesus betrayedto his doom,
In a garden his body was laid in the tomb.”
There will be no Christian but what will have a Gethsemane, but every
praying Christian will find that there is no Gethsemane without its angel.—
Thomas Binney.
The Fatherheard; and angels, there,
Sustained the Son of God in prayer,
In sad Gethsemane;
He drank the dreadful cup of pain—
Then rose to life and joy again.
When storms of sorrow round us sweep,
And scenes ofanguish make us weep;
To sad Gethsemane
We’ll look, and see the Saviour there,
And humbly bow, like Him, in prayer.
S. F. Smith.
“And there appeared an angelunto him from heaven, strengthening him.”—
What! The Son of God receives help from an angel, who is but his creature?
Yes. And we learn thereby to expecthelp and comfort from simple persons
and common things, when God pleases. All strength and comfort come from
God, but he makes creatures his ministers to bring it. We should thank both

them and him.—PracticalReflections onevery verse of the Holy Gospels, by a
Clergyman.
There is something in an olive-garden, on a hill-side, which makes it most
suitable for prayer and meditation. The shade is solemn, the terraces divide
better than distance, the ground is suitable for kneeling upon, and the
surroundings are all in accordwith holy thoughts. I can hardly tell why it is,
but often as I have sat in an olive-garden, I have never been without the sense
that it was the place and the hour of prayer—C. H. S.
My FatherIs with Me
You will be scattered, eachto his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am
not alone, because the Father is with Me. —
John 16:32
Today's Scripture: Mark 14:32-50
A friend struggling with loneliness postedthese words on her Facebook page:
“It’s not that I feel alone because I have no friends. I have lots of friends. I
know that I have people who can hold me and reassure me and talk to me and
care for me and think of me. But they can’t be with me all the time—for all
time.”
Jesus understands that kind of loneliness. I imagine that during His earthly
ministry He saw loneliness in the eyes of lepers and heard it in the voices of

the blind. But above all, He must have experiencedit when His close friends
desertedHim (Mark 14:50).
However, as He foretold the disciples’desertion, He also confessedHis
unshakenconfidence in His Father’s presence. He saidto His disciples: “[You]
will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me”
(John 16:32). Shortly after Jesus saidthese words, He took up the cross for us.
He made it possible for you and me to have a restoredrelationship with God
and to be a member of His family.
Being humans, we will all experience times of loneliness. But Jesus helps us
understand that we always have the presence of the Father with us. God is
omnipresent and eternal. Only He can be with us all the time, for all time. By:
Poh Fang Chia (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids,
MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your promise that You will never leave me
or forsake me. When I feellonely, help me to remember You are always with
me.
If you know Jesus, you’ll never walk alone.
Does GodCare?
[Jesus]beganto be troubled and deeply distressed. ThenHe said to them,
“My soul is exceedinglysorrowful, even to death.” —Mark 14:33-34

One dreadful year, three of my friends died in quick succession. My
experience of the first two deaths did nothing to prepare me for the third. I
could do little but cry.
I find it strangelycomforting that when Jesus facedpain, He respondedmuch
as I do. It comforts me that He cried when His friend Lazarus died (John
11:32-36). Thatgives a startling clue into how God must have felt about my
friends, whom He also loved.
And in the gardenthe night before His crucifixion, Jesus did not pray, “Oh,
Lord, I am so grateful that You have chosenMe to suffer on Your behalf.”
No, He experiencedsorrow, fear, abandonment, even desperation. Hebrews
tells us that Jesus appealedwith “vehement cries and tears to Him who was
able to save Him from death” (5:7). But He was not savedfrom death.
Is it too much to say that Jesus Himself askedthe question that haunts us:
Does Godcare? Whatelse can be the meaning of His quotation from that
dark psalm: “My God, My God, why have You forsakenMe?” (Ps. 22:1;
Mark 15:34).
Jesus endured in His pain because He knew that His Father is a God of love
who can be trusted regardless ofhow things appear to be. He demonstrated
faith that the ultimate answerto the question Does Godcare? is a resounding
Yes! By: Philip Yancey (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

The aching void, the loneliness, And all the thornclad way, To Thee I turn
with faith undimmed And ’mid the darkness pray. —O. J. Smith
When we know that God’s hand is in everything, we canleave everything in
God’s hand.
Selfless Love
Love suffers long and is kind; love . . . does not seek its own. —1 Corinthians
13:4-5
I don’t like to fish. So I was less than enthusiastic when my son Dan, about 12
at the time, askedme to take him fishing. We woke up early and gotout on the
lake just before dawn. Dan was excited, but when 10 long minutes passed
without a bite I was alreadybored. So I rearrangeda few life preservers, got
comfortable, and promptly fell asleep. A little while later we returned home,
even though the morning was still young. Needlessto say, Dan was
disappointed—and I felt guilty!
Peter, James, and John disappointed Jesus when they fell asleepinsteadof
exerting themselves to pray with Him in His hour of greatsoul agony.
Although He showedthat He understood their weariness aftera long,
emotionally draining day, His grief is clearly evident in His words, “Are you
still sleeping and resting?” (Mk. 14:41).

By our thoughtlessness andselfishness we oftenwound family members and
close friends. I know a man who hurt his wife deeply when he went hunting
with some buddies instead of staying home to comfort her after a miscarriage.
Let’s avoid wounding those we love. Always keepin mind Paul’s words, “Love
suffers long and is kind; love . . . does not seek its own” (1 Cor. 13:4-5). By:
Herbert Vander Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Our selfishways can make us blind
So we won't see another's needs;
But when God's love is in our hearts,
We'll act with kind and selfless deeds.
—Sper
A selfish heart loves for what it canget; a Christlike heart loves for what it
can give.
The following chart is from RodMattoon - Man was createdin the Garden of
Eden. In Genesis chaptertwo, we find a gardenof tragedywhere the seeds of
death were planted. The events that took place in Eden led to the events in
Gethsemane, whichis the garden of testing where death stalkedour Savior
and beat at His door.
The Garden of Eden The Garden of Gethsemane
All was delightful.

All was dreadful & despicable.
Adam parleyed with Satan.
The Last Adam, Jesus, prays with the Father.
Adam disobeyed and sinned.
The Saviorsuffered and obeyed.
Adam is conqueredby sin.
Jesus conqueredHis ownwill.
Adam took fruit from Eve's hand.
Christ took the cup from His Father's hand.
God sought for Adam.
The Last Adam sought God His Father.
The Self-indulgence of Adam ruined us.

The agonies ofthe SecondAdam restoredus.
Adam's attitude, "My will be done."
Jesus'attitude was, "Thy will be done."
Mark 14:33 And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to
be very distressedand troubled.
Peter:Mk 1:16-19 5:37 9:2
and began:Ps 38:11 69:1-3 88:14-16 Isa 53:10 Mt 26:37,38 Lu 22:44 Heb 5:7
Mark 14 Resources -Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
RelatedPassages:
Matthew 26:37 And He took with Him Peterand the two sons of Zebedee, and
beganto be grieved and distressed.
Luke 22:44+ And being in agonyHe was praying very fervently; and His
sweatbecame like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
SPURGEON:Do we not perceive how intense must have been the wrestling
through which he passed, and will we not hear its voice to us? “Ye have not
yet resistedunto blood, striving againstsin.” Heb 12:4. Behold the great

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