​Sleeping Through a Garden Moment

​Sleeping Through a Garden Moment
Mark 14:32-42
Matthew 26:36-46
Luke 22:39-46
 
This is the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. No doubt we have all heard this story preached, read it ourselves, or seen movies regarding the Crucifixion of Christ. He was the perfect Son, in perfect union, with the perfect Father.
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Was Jesus attempting to escape the performance his undertaking? Jesus was communicating his actual sentiments however he did not deny or oppose God's will. He reaffirmed his desire to do what God needed him to do. His petition features the awful enduring he needed to suffer, and desolation more regrettable than dying since he needed to assume the transgressions of the entire world. The cup was the misery and agony of distance from God the Father, at the cross. The immaculate Son of God took on all our sins and transgressions and was isolated for some time from God so that we could be saved for all eternity.

• John 12:27, Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
• Hebrews 5:7-9, Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

 
While praying, Jesus knew about what doing the Father's will would cost him. He comprehended the suffering he was going to experience, and he would not like to bear the terrible experience. However, Christ supplicated, "Not what I will, but what thou will". Anything worth having cost something. What does our obligation to God cost? To have something worthwhile, we must be willing to pay the cost.
 
Jesus teaches about serving others.

• Matthew 20:22, But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

 
Jesus speaks on doing God’s will not his own.

• John 5:30, I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
• John 6:38, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
• John 18:11, Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

 
We will undergo trials, not because we want to suffer, but to obey God’s will. Just as Christ prayed, we should pray with an obedient spirit. Amid extraordinary pressure, we are defenseless against allurement and temptation, regardless of whether we have a willing soul. Jesus gave us an illustration of what to do to stand, pray to God (14:35), seek the support from other Christians (14:33, 37, 40-41), and focus on the purpose that God has placed for us (14:36).
 
Peter, James, and John went with Jesus to the garden, but what happened? Three times Jesus found them asleep. (The number 3 is the Divine Number, the number for completeness.) They went to a prayer meeting and fell asleep. How many times have we been guilty of that, and have we witnessed others doing the same thing? Was the prayer meeting boring? Was the prayer meeting too long? Was the Holy Spirit not at the prayer meeting, and if so, why not? Was the command ‘watch and pray’ for them to watch for temptation and pray for guidance/help?
 
The Spirit is truly ready, but the flesh is weak.

• Romans 7:23, But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

 
The sin inside us is often called the “flesh” or the “law in our members.” This is our weakness to sin; it alludes to everything inside us that is more faithful to our old method of egotistical living than to God. This is not saying that sleeping is a sin, but the time for sleeping was not at that time. These three men did not understand the urgency of the prayer meeting to which they were attending.

How can this apply to us today? Do we go to prayer meetings and fall asleep? Do we watch and pray lest we fall into temptation? Do we ask for others to help us pray?