Experiencing The Prayer Of Jesus

| Experiencing the Prayer of Jesus

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EXPERIENCING THE PRAYER OF JESUS Scripture: Jesus’ Prayer:

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

Objective:

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

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

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

II.

Jesus’ Prayer in Gethsemane Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane is a very important part of the Passion story. This is where Jesus’ battle really began. If He didn’t spend as much time here as He needed to, then who knows what would happen when He went out in the death field. But because He strengthened Himself in prayer, the rest was just a road He had to go through. Victory was already with Him, because He ran to the Father, He acknowledged what He has to go through, and He submitted to the Father’s will. 1.

“Abba, Father…” -

Jesus knew where to run during His darkest hour.

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

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| Experiencing the Prayer of Jesus







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When we are about to undergo something big in our lives, it is only natural for us to want to be with the ones closest to us. • i.e. Graduation, Birthdays (showbiz answer–quiet dinner with family), Hospitalization, etc. It was the hour when Jesus’ desperately needed his friends’ prayer support and encouragement but his friends failed him. • The disciples, maybe because of all the food and wine they just had during the Supper, couldn’t keep themselves awake. • “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (Mark 14:37) People may disappoint us , even abandon us, in our most trying times, but our Abba Father will never abandon us.

Don’t leave God out of [the big events in] your life. Call unto Him, he has already given us the privilege of calling Him our Abba. 





Jesus knew where to go and whom to go to when he became desperate. During that time of deep loneliness and sorrow, Jesus went to the Father. He was calling on him in desperation. He may have sounded like the ff: • Parent drops off his child on the first day of school – child cries in desperation (“Don’t leave me all alone!!!”) • Beloved breaks up with lover- the lover cries out in desperation (“Don’t leave me! I can’t go on without you.”). He was about to undergo separation from God (because the sins of the entire human race was about to be put unto him).

God is still my Father, even in my darkest moments. What is your biggest struggle today? Are you in desperation? Don’t put God as the last on your who-to-run-to-forhelp list. Put him on top of that list.

APPLICATION: Pause for a short prayer. Allow this time for the congregation to cry out to God the Father about what’s troubling them.

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

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| Experiencing the Prayer of Jesus

2.

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“Take this cup from me.” Jesus understood the intensity of what He had to go through. -

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

No matter what “cup” you are undergoing right now, be comforted in the fact that Jesus himself has undergone the cup of suffering. o o o

3.

He knows what you’re going through. He understands you. Just as He was able to overcome it, you can too! But you have to follow what Jesus did: (Proceed to point #3).

“Yet not what I will, but what you will.” -

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Jesus submitted to the will of the Father.

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

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| Experiencing the Prayer of Jesus

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Are you willing to follow Jesus’ example (obedient even to the point of death)? With what you are going through, can you honestly pray to the Father “Not what I will, but what You will?” -

III.

The point of going to the Father is lost when you aren’t willing to submit to His will. Illust: o Imagine a person coming to you, seeking your help for his big problem. o You are willing and able to help that person out, but for that to work, he needs to do as you say. o When he hears of your plan, he is unwilling to go along with it. o Then you’ll realize how foolish stubbornness can be: the answer to the problem is within your grasp but you just aren’t willing to reach out for it.

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

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

IV.

Challenge / Application

“Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Mark 14:37b38) Full Life Study Bible notes (Mk.14:37) Peter and the disciples neglected to keep watch and pray, the only thing that could have saved them from failure at this time of testing. Failure in our Christian life is absolutely certain without prayer. Praying during our most difficult times is a must. But we must not pray only during bad times. Jesus was able to pray as He did in Gethsemane because He always made it a point to keep his daily appointment with the Father. His words to his disciples to “watch and pray…” is an obvious command, even for us, to have a regular time for prayer and devotion. Commit a regular prayer time with the Father and keep it!

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