Matthew 26:36 Then Yeshua went with his talmidim to a place called Gat-Sh’manim and said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Kefa and Zavdai’s two sons. Grief and anguish came over him, 38 and he said to them, “My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die! Remain here and stay awake with me.” 39 Going on a little farther, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet — not what I want, but what you want!” 40 He returned to the talmidim and found them sleeping. He said to Kefa, “Were you so weak that you couldn’t stay awake with me for even an hour? 41 Stay awake, and pray that you will not be put to the test — the spirit indeed is eager, but human nature is weak.”
Mark 14:32 They went to a place called Gat Sh’manim; and Yeshua said to his talmidim, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took with him Kefa, Ya‘akov and Yochanan. Great distress and anguish came over him; 34 and he said to them, “My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die! Remain here and stay awake.” 35 Going on a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if possible, the hour might pass from him: 36 “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”) “All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me! Still, not what I want, but what you want.” 37 He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Kefa, “Shim‘on, are you asleep? Couldn’t you stay awake one hour? 38 Stay awake, and pray that you will not be put to the test — the spirit indeed is eager, but human nature is weak.”
Luke 22:39 On leaving, Yeshua went as usual to the Mount of Olives; and the talmidim followed him. 40 When he arrived, he said to them, “Pray that you won’t be put to the test.” 41 He went about a stone’s throw away from them, kneeled down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.” 43 There appeared to him an angel from heaven giving him strength, 44 and in great anguish he prayed more intensely, so that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 On rising from prayer and coming to the talmidim, he found them sleeping because of their grief. 46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you won’t be put to the test!”
What major issue is before you right now that you want lifted away from your life?
If you had the full power of God at your disposal, what changes would you make? The next question is: why?
It’s human nature for us to want a problem free life. Now, we don’t really mind problems that are solvable or ones that allow us to show off our skills. But real problems? There isn't one of us that gets excited about those.
As humans, we tend to face a myriad of problems daily. In so many ways, problem-solving is our full-time profession. From an empty toothpaste tube to the car not starting to an explosive exchange with someone you love, problems of varying types show up more frequently than political mailers.
So how do you respond? Better still, how should you respond?
Let’s begin by categorizing the types of problems we encounter.
These are low-grade issues that essentially just draw your attention. It’s not really a problem worth mentioning but it does pull you in to at least noticing it. We may roll our eyes or suck our teeth, but in the end we can suck it up and move on about our day.
In summary, our selfishness gets a small challenge but emotionally we can contain this before it unwinds into something more. And when we can’t?
Problems at this level contain enough of a rub to cause you to have an emotional response. Likely not anger-based, but you do feel something inside of you. You needed a fork and the server accidentally brought you a spoon. You were looking forward to watching that sporting event but the cable is going in and out. Someone was supposed to help you at 2pm but they didn’t get there until 3.
Again, our selfishness gets pushed back a bit more and our emotions step up in response. Someone or something is overstepping your bubble and it diverts the path and/or timing you had planned for yourself. Containable, but it may trigger a judgment.
Now our emotions are getting the best of us. Anger likely makes an appearance and we may act out in ways we normally wouldn’t. We are pushed into areas that ultimately force us to apologize. Or we don’t.
Our way of life is being tested. No one or no thing has any business stepping over into our lives and causing my perfect world to be disrupted. It's then in this frustration we step beyond the mental exercise of judgment and launch head first into opening our mouths. In some situations, we may even get physical. You know, punching a wall or something like that. This level is much less contained and you may need counsel to make things right.
Here we need a guilty party because I am now a victim. A crime has been committed and the perpetrator needs to face severe punishment. A punishment of my choosing, even. All of this is executed within our own minds and through that court we enter into a state of unforgiveness. Relationships may get permanently damaged. In fact, it’s almost impossible to avoid.
There is no real resolution to this type of problem because we are convinced the problem is not ours -- it’s theirs.
The highest peak of problems in your life: life and death.
A lot of people tend to enter a state of internal reflection and true repentance if they receive a grim diagnosis from their doctor. Being told that your time has come and having a clock put on your remaining time here on earth fuels a completely different view of what’s important. Think of all of those things in your life that pull your attention: work, general busyness, hobbies, money -- in an instant, none of those things matter. Facing death introduces you to your mortality:
“Did I do a good enough job with my kids? Will my grandkids be ok? How about the great grandkids?”
“Did I make any impact whatsoever in the Kingdom?”
“Did my life matter at all?”
It turns out the problem of death is not the actual problem at all -- it’s what it implies. Your eternal existence is written in stone and there is absolutely nothing you can do to change it. There’s not too much you can do if you have mere hours in front of you.
Not only is it what’s to come that gets solidified, but the legacy you’re leaving behind may cause a stoniness in those that follow after you. Relationships that have been strained or ignored will not likely see any kind of repair at all. Wounds you carry may not have time to be healed. Worse still, wounds you’ve had a hand in causing may go on unresolved -- seeds to be planted in future generations.
We can usually tolerate inconveniences with little overall effort on our part. We struggle to navigate aggravation and subsequent frustrations with minimal damage, but at least it's repairable damage. Despite prolonged pain, it’s possible we may even survive the catastrophic troubles that appear from time to time. But the problem of death? That one is hard.
Why would Yeshua want that cup taken from Him? He did everything His Father asked. He knew He’d be sitting at the right hand of the Father, as well. Seems like a slam dunk decision to run through death at full speed, right?
Well, maybe it wasn’t death that He was struggling with in this hour.
The name “Gethsemane” means “Oil Press” in Hebrew, and the garden was full of olive trees.
Oh, the pressing that was about to come. I could not imagine the intensity of this moment. So intense that Yeshua’s sweat became like drops of blood.
The Messiah was being pressed into a desperate place. The One that healed the multitudes and called forth the dead back into life is seemingly in a position of helplessness. Was He powerless? No chance. He even said He could call down angels if He wanted. Was He afraid of what was to come? If He practiced what He preached, it’s unlikely He held onto any fear at all. (Besides, I don't believe desperation necessarily maps to fear anyway.)
“In great anguish,” it says, “he prayed more intensely.”
What?! How is it possible that Yeshua could pray more intensely? Weren’t all of His prayers intense? What does this even mean?
I think this is directly related to the “great anguish” He was experiencing.
This word appears precisely once in the Greek and in zero places is it used in the LXX:
G74 ἀγωνία agonia (ag-o-nee'-ah) n.
1. a struggle
2. (properly) the state of struggle
3. (figuratively) anguish
Agonia…agony.
Have you ever been in agony? You know, that twisting and turning within? As a result, the struggle to rest and even sleep is almost too much to bear. You are unsettled, stressed maybe, and most certainly just want this feeling lifted from you.
A state of struggle. Over what, though?
Based on how we process our own life, we may assume the fear of death is the struggle set before Him. I don’t think this is so. If Yeshua were to go through with offering up Himself in your place, He knew He’d have to absorb your guilt. Being guilty (and dying in that state), He would then be cut off from His Father. Devastating.
For us, we’re comfortable with this disconnect from the Father and have a hard time understanding why Yeshua was truly in agony. We get a lot of practice running on our own for long periods of time then turning back to Abba once we remember Him (with sincerity, sure, but it is sporadic). You know how easy it is to get lost in our work, hobbies, gossip, judgments, etc…
Yeah, it’s hard to understand the severity of being cut off because we can roam away from Him but are always welcomed back. We can be casual with our God because we have all the time in the world.
Until we don’t.