THE LAST WEEK OF JESUS' PUBLIC MINISTRY AND HIS CRUCIFIXION
-The Agony of Gethsemane
-Matthew 26:30, 36-46; Mark 14:26, 32-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 18:1
-Following the discourse of John chapters 14, 15 and 16 and the prayer of John 17, Jesus
and the apostles sang a hymn and then departed from the upper room, left the city of Jerusalem,
went across the Kidron valley to the Mount of Olives and, in particular, to the Garden of
Gethsemane.
-Regarding the singing of a song prior to departing the upper room, McGarvey and Pendleton
noted, “the shadow of the cross did not quench the spirit of praise in Christ” (pg 685).
-Luke’s account (vs 39) indicates that it was Jesus’ custom to come to this location when
leaving the city, seemingly for the solitude of prayerfulness. Judas, being aware of this pattern
and this location, knew where he could eventually find our Lord. Of course, Jesus was fully
aware of this fact and knew that the time of His betrayal was at hand.
-Upon their arrival at the garden, Jesus instructed eight of the apostles to sit while He went on
to pray. It seems that it was to this group that He said, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation”
(Luke 22:40). Jesus then took the other three apostles - Peter, James and John - a little further
into the garden with Him and “...began to be sorrowful and very heavy” (Matt. 26:37).
-In regards to the descriptive phrase, “sorrowful and very heavy,” Barnes noted: “The word
in the original is much stronger than the one translated ‘sorrowful.’ It means, to be pressed
down or overwhelmed with great anguish.”
-Interestingly, the word “Gethsemane” means “...oil-press” (Strong’s). It was here that Jesus
was being pressed upon by the task that lay before Him. “He is overwhelmed in sorrow ‘and
sore troubled.’ These words are a climax, the last being the more emphatic. He was
sorrowful and baptized in mental anguish. Upon him God had put the sorrows, and the
chastisement of our peace was upon him. (Isa. 53.)” (Boles, Matthew, pg 508).
-Jesus indicated to Peter, James and John that His soul was “exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death” (Matt. 26:38).
-“The sufferings of death are the greatest of which we have any knowledge; they are the most
feared and dreaded by man; and those sufferings are therefore put for extreme and
indescribable anguish. The meaning may be thus expressed: My sorrows are so great that
under their burden I am ready to die; such is the anxiety of mind, that I seem to bear the
pains of death” (Barnes)!
-He then instructed the three apostles to tarry there and watch with Him. The word translated
“watch” means to “give strict attention to, be cautious, active” (Thayer’s). He wanted these men
to be alert and active in prayer.
-Going, as we would say “a stone’s throw” further by Himself, Jesus kneeled to the ground and
then fell down to His face before the Father in agony and in prayer.
-“The words ‘if it be possible’ with which it opens breathe the same spirit of submissive
obedience which is found in the closing words. Reminding the Father of the limitless range
of his power, he petitions him to change his counsel as to the crucifixion of the Son, if his
gracious purposes can be in any other way carried out” (McGarvey/Pendleton, pg 687).
-He prayed “...let this cup pass from me...” In various places in the scriptures, the wrath
of God is portrayed as a cup or drink (i.e. Isa. 51:17, Jer. 25:15). Jesus knew that He, as a
sacrifice for the sins of mankind, was about to experience the wrath of the Father -
something that He had never before experienced and would never again experience. The
thought of such pressed hard upon Him.
-The Perfect One was about to suffer terribly for the imperfect - the Creator for the created,
the Sinless for the sinful. “...[T]he absolutely Sinless One was regarded and treated as the
Guilty one, in order that the really guilty might in Him be regarded and treated as righteous”
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown).
-Jesus knew that he was about to take the punishment we rightfully deserve. “...[T]he
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).
-After His first prayer, Jesus returned to Peter, James and John and found them sleeping.
Undoubtedly, they were extremely tired. It had been a long day that concluded with a tense
night with the receipt of many trying and difficult words from their Master. Their exhaustion
gave way to sleep. May we then understand that our Savior, too, would have been exhausted
at this point as well. Yet, He would find no opportunity for sleep.
-McGarvey and Pendleton observed, “...it is not to be wondered at that the apostles, spurred
by no sense of danger, should succumb to the long-borne tension and fall asleep. Had they
comprehended how much the Lord needed their wakeful sympathy as he came again and
again seeking for it, they would probably have kept awake” (pg 688).
-Jesus spoke specifically to Peter with a kind rebuke and asked, “What, could ye not watch
with me one hour?” Yet, Jesus knew that the spirit was willing but the flesh weak. To these
men who had been overcome with sleep, Jesus once again gave instructions to “Watch and
pray” (Matt. 26:41).
-Jesus then sought out the solitude of prayer and repeated the request of His first petition. He
stated that He was willing to drink the cup that had been placed before Him but still prayed
for its removal.
-Following His prayer, He returned again to Peter, James and John. Once again, sleep had
overcome them “...and they did not know what to answer Him” (Mark 14:40, NASB).
-Once more, Jesus separated Himself from these three men and prayed to the Father.
-During these proceedings - some say accompanying His second prayer while others say the
third - an angel appeared and strengthened our Lord.
-We are not given any details as to how the angel strengthened our Savior. Yet, we can
see that with renewed strength, Jesus, “...being in an agony...prayed more earnestly: and
his sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
-“Luke is the only writer that records this fact; only Luke records the visit of the angel.
The original here denotes progressive agony; he progressed from the first prayer into an
intense struggle of prayer and sorrow. ‘Agony’ is only found here; it is used by medical
writers, and the fact of a ‘sweat’ accompanying an agony is also mentioned by the medical
writers; this is another evidence peculiar to Luke, the physician” (Boles, Luke, pg 425).
-What is the precise meaning of the phrase, “his sweat as it were great drops of blood”?
I do not know. Some advocate that blood literally oozed through His pores and dripped
from His skin while others refute the idea. In his article entitled “The Agony of
Gethsemane,” Wayne Jackson observed: “Did Jesus, then, actually sweat blood in those dark
hours? One may have to conclude that the language is a bit too ambiguous to reach a dogmatic
conclusion. The grammatical format seems to allow that view, and medical evidence supports
the possibility. More than this we probably should not say.” (www.christiancourier.com/
articles/421-the-agony-of-gethsemane)
-Regardless of the specifics, it is very evident that Jesus was in extreme agony and was
carrying a tremendous burden - a burden that was not His own - a burden that we placed
upon Him by our sins.
-Jesus once again returned to the apostles and once again they were asleep. He said to
them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is
betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray
me” (Matt. 26:45-46).
-“Our Lord’s words are paradoxical. In our judgment the saying is best understood by
regarding the first part of it as spoken from the Lord’s viewpoint, while the latter part is
spoken from the disciples’ viewpoint. It is as if he said, ‘So far as I am concerned, you
may sleep on and take your rest, for the time to be of comfort or assistance to me has
wholly passed. But so far as you yourselves are concerned, you must arise and be going,
because Judas with his band of temple police is upon us” (McGarvey/Pendleton, pg 688).