Worshiping a Tempted Savior
And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. And when He arrived at the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done." Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation." Luke 22:39-46
It is difficult for us to wrap our minds around the sufferings of Jesus. There is first the reality of the scope and magnitude of the utter humiliation, rejection, and pain of the crucifixion. The cross is the pinnacle of human suffering and so, in many ways, outside of our experience and imagining. But there are also the doctrinal complexities surrounding the death of God’s own Son. Christ’s weakness, temptations, and passion are at once a tremendous comfort and perplexing truth for the believer. On the one hand we rejoice with the writer of Hebrews that, “since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). On the other hand we are confounded by the thought of the God of the universe, through whom all things were made (John 1:3; Col. 1:16), actually and truly enduring human weakness and in fact experiencing temptation. Facing – and embracing - the truths of Christ’s divinity and humanity, especially at the point of understanding his atoning work, is critical to biblical, orthodox, and historic convictions about the person and work of Christ.
Luke brackets this brief scene in Gethsemane with the exhortation to the disciples, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation” (NIV). Before we look at how Jesus practices what he preaches, we must ask what exactly Jesus means here. These verses could be translated, perhaps more literally (as in the NAS and KJV), “pray that you may not enter into temptation”. I opted for the NIV translation ‘fall’ because it communicates more clearly the biblical reality that temptation is inescapable, yet we must stand under it faithfully without giving in to sin (1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Timothy 6:9; 2 Pet. 2:9). Either translation of the Greek verb eiserchomai is allowable. But, there is an important distinction here, lest we think that Jesus is calling us to pray that we might never experience temptation. Quite the opposite is the case. Jesus is not only exhorting us to stand up under the weight of temptation, and in a sense he promises that such temptations will come (Luke 17:1).
The writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (4:15). Let’s not breeze by the power of this statement. Sometimes I think we allow the perfection of Christ to overshadow the fact of his sympathy with our weaknesses. This goes something like, “Yes, sure Jesus was tempted. But he is Jesus; certainly he doesn’t understand what it is to struggle and not be Jesus, like poor me.” But a closer look at Hebrews, and in fact the entire gospel account of Jesus’ suffering should compel us to a deep adoration of Christ as our sympathetic high priest. Jesus knew the full weight of temptation and the full power of sin in that he never gave in, in any capacity. This deepens his priestly identification with us. Because of his perfection, he understands the weight of sin more, not less.
Consider as well that Jesus had the power at his disposal to cause all the forces of hell that were pressing in upon him to cease. Yet he did not utilize his divinity to alleviate his suffering. This is, in a sense, what Paul means when he says that Jesus, “did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). Here in the garden Jesus is “very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt.26:38), yet he prays, “Thy will be done”. An angel is attending to him and giving him strength, but Jesus does not command the angel to fight against the coming crowd and its treacherous ringleader. Luke tells us that his agony at the prospect of receiving the sins of world caused his sweat to pour like blood, yet he continues in prayer. Upon finding his disciples asleep in a sort of anguished exhaustion, he offers a gentle rebuke and the exhortation to follow his pattern of prayer in the cosmic struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
In the garden we meet with a Savior who teaches us how to face temptation and how to battle sin. We are to pray. I like to read Jesus words in verses 40 and 46 a little differently than the construction may allow. But it helps us to learn the essence of Jesus’ exhortation. We naturally read these verses, “Ask the Lord to keep you from sinning under temptation.” But we may also read them in this way, “The Lord will keep you from sinning under temptation through prayer.” Notice that here in the garden that we have an example of a prayer request that is answered immediately. The answer is no. But with the answer comes strength to endure. And the strength to endure comes through prayer.
The Son begs, “Father, if it be your will, take this cup from me…”
The Father replies, “That is not my will, but I have given an angel charge over you, to lift you up…”
The Son cries in return, “With your strength I will pray the more earnestly, not my will, but yours, be done.”
In the final analysis we must not reduce this passage to a lesson on facing temptation, or how to pray earnestly. We do indeed find such lessons here. But these lessons pale in comparison to the great truth that grabs us in these eight short verses. This truth is proclaimed in Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This truth is the gospel, the reality that “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This truth calls us to obedience in the face of temptation. This truth calls us to pray to the Father, as Jesus did, “not my will but yours, be done”. But most of all this truth calls us to worship Jesus as we meet him --in the manger, in the garden, on the cross, and at his Father’s right hand. In every place we find one “made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17).
It is difficult for us to wrap our minds around the sufferings of Jesus. There is first the reality of the scope and magnitude of the utter humiliation, rejection, and pain of the crucifixion. The cross is the pinnacle of human suffering and so, in many ways, outside of our experience and imagining. But there are also the doctrinal complexities surrounding the death of God’s own Son. Christ’s weakness, temptations, and passion are at once a tremendous comfort and perplexing truth for the believer. On the one hand we rejoice with the writer of Hebrews that, “since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). On the other hand we are confounded by the thought of the God of the universe, through whom all things were made (John 1:3; Col. 1:16), actually and truly enduring human weakness and in fact experiencing temptation. Facing – and embracing - the truths of Christ’s divinity and humanity, especially at the point of understanding his atoning work, is critical to biblical, orthodox, and historic convictions about the person and work of Christ.
Luke brackets this brief scene in Gethsemane with the exhortation to the disciples, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation” (NIV). Before we look at how Jesus practices what he preaches, we must ask what exactly Jesus means here. These verses could be translated, perhaps more literally (as in the NAS and KJV), “pray that you may not enter into temptation”. I opted for the NIV translation ‘fall’ because it communicates more clearly the biblical reality that temptation is inescapable, yet we must stand under it faithfully without giving in to sin (1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Timothy 6:9; 2 Pet. 2:9). Either translation of the Greek verb eiserchomai is allowable. But, there is an important distinction here, lest we think that Jesus is calling us to pray that we might never experience temptation. Quite the opposite is the case. Jesus is not only exhorting us to stand up under the weight of temptation, and in a sense he promises that such temptations will come (Luke 17:1).
The writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (4:15). Let’s not breeze by the power of this statement. Sometimes I think we allow the perfection of Christ to overshadow the fact of his sympathy with our weaknesses. This goes something like, “Yes, sure Jesus was tempted. But he is Jesus; certainly he doesn’t understand what it is to struggle and not be Jesus, like poor me.” But a closer look at Hebrews, and in fact the entire gospel account of Jesus’ suffering should compel us to a deep adoration of Christ as our sympathetic high priest. Jesus knew the full weight of temptation and the full power of sin in that he never gave in, in any capacity. This deepens his priestly identification with us. Because of his perfection, he understands the weight of sin more, not less.
Consider as well that Jesus had the power at his disposal to cause all the forces of hell that were pressing in upon him to cease. Yet he did not utilize his divinity to alleviate his suffering. This is, in a sense, what Paul means when he says that Jesus, “did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). Here in the garden Jesus is “very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt.26:38), yet he prays, “Thy will be done”. An angel is attending to him and giving him strength, but Jesus does not command the angel to fight against the coming crowd and its treacherous ringleader. Luke tells us that his agony at the prospect of receiving the sins of world caused his sweat to pour like blood, yet he continues in prayer. Upon finding his disciples asleep in a sort of anguished exhaustion, he offers a gentle rebuke and the exhortation to follow his pattern of prayer in the cosmic struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
In the garden we meet with a Savior who teaches us how to face temptation and how to battle sin. We are to pray. I like to read Jesus words in verses 40 and 46 a little differently than the construction may allow. But it helps us to learn the essence of Jesus’ exhortation. We naturally read these verses, “Ask the Lord to keep you from sinning under temptation.” But we may also read them in this way, “The Lord will keep you from sinning under temptation through prayer.” Notice that here in the garden that we have an example of a prayer request that is answered immediately. The answer is no. But with the answer comes strength to endure. And the strength to endure comes through prayer.
The Son begs, “Father, if it be your will, take this cup from me…”
The Father replies, “That is not my will, but I have given an angel charge over you, to lift you up…”
The Son cries in return, “With your strength I will pray the more earnestly, not my will, but yours, be done.”
In the final analysis we must not reduce this passage to a lesson on facing temptation, or how to pray earnestly. We do indeed find such lessons here. But these lessons pale in comparison to the great truth that grabs us in these eight short verses. This truth is proclaimed in Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This truth is the gospel, the reality that “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This truth calls us to obedience in the face of temptation. This truth calls us to pray to the Father, as Jesus did, “not my will but yours, be done”. But most of all this truth calls us to worship Jesus as we meet him --in the manger, in the garden, on the cross, and at his Father’s right hand. In every place we find one “made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17).
Labels: Luke
posted by Pastor Erik at
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