Luke 22
Bible Passage: Luke 22
There are many important lessons we can learn in Luke 22 and again I can only pick one. I would like to share my feelings of Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.
This garden is one with many olive trees and it is at Mount of Olives. Jerusalem is on Mt. Zion and these are mountain peaks that rise to about 800m above sea level. Between Mt. Zion and Mt. of Olives is the Kidron Valley. The Old City is perched on the slope of the mountain peak with the Kidron Valley as a defensive parameter. In this position it becomes hard for the attacker to attack from Kidron Valley as the Old City would have the higher ground and thus better defense. There is some distance between the Old City and Mt. of Olives and it is possible to walk between these two areas.
During the Passover, which occurs around March-April, it is possible that the temperature at night to be around 6 to 8 deg C and less; based on current temperature in Israel. It could be colder since this was 2000 years ago without Global Warming. It was a cold night (Jn 18:18) when Jesus was arrested.
Jesus knowing that His ministry on earth is coming to the end, went to Mt. of Olives with Peter and John to pray.
When Jesus was on earth, He led a very prayerful life, often withdrawing Himself to the mountains to pray. Likewise, in the middle of a cold night in Jerusalem, Jesus with His two disciples went out to pray. It was this prayer that gave Jesus the strength to complete His ministry on earth and one can safely say that if Jesus did not pray that night, we probably would not have salvation today.
Why was it necessary for Jesus to pray?
The Bible states that Jesus prayed so that He could do the Will of the Father; and that is to be the sacrifice for the sins of man. Jesus had to take the bitter cup. It was bitter, in fact so bitter that the only way Jesus could accept it was to pray vehemently to the Father.
“who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear” (Heb 5:7)
I think the reason why Jesus had such a great struggle within Himself was that He had to choose between suffering and dying for the sins of man and walking away from this. It is always very easy to love someone who is able to repay back our love and probably most of us fall in this category. Sadly, our human love generally is selfish and we do hope that there is a return of favour in love.
It is difficult to love a stranger, and even more difficult to love our enemies! On the opposite side of the spectrum, Jesus had to suffer and die for people who abuse Him, insult Him, curse Him, mock Him and have no faith in Him! However, it was His prayer to the Father with vehement cries and tears that allowed Him to pull through this huge struggle.
His prayers were so earnest that (Luke 22:44) described His perspiration as great drops of blood.
Do we perspire when we pray in church?
Do we even perspire so much that our sweat can be described as great drops of blood?
Recently there was a sermon spoken by Bro. Pau Fah and he talked about how two church brethrens prayed earnestly in church for the Holy Spirit till they were totally drenched in perspiration and left a pool of sweat.
Imagine that Jesus was praying in the middle of a cold night of less than 6 deg C compared to 25deg C in our church hall, and yet He persevered in prayer for hours in the cold and perspired so greatly! How earnest was His prayer much more so than these two church brethrens!
I always feel that it is really hard to comprehend the extent of the love of Christ.
As Christians today, one of our main aims is to become more like Jesus. To be more like Jesus will mean that we have to put away our own will and do the will of God. Moreover, we also have to love others to the level we love ourselves. Jesus, being better than us loved us sinners more than Himself and it is this great love that compelled Him to do the will of the Father.
Loving others as ourselves is not easy. But if we are able to do that it brings harmony and joy to the people around us.
Many conflicts arise because of difference in opinions and the pride in man.
This pride compels man to not listen to others and insist on his own way. Frankly most of the time people have different opinions and do not see eye to eye. Insisting on one’s own way is in actual fact loving oneself more than others. Whenever we quarrel and whether or not we started the quarrel, what makes it difficult to reach peace is due to our lack of mercy for the other party.
If we are able to humble ourselves down and learn to give in to others, we are learning to love ourselves less and others more. Peace and harmony can only be attained through love.
Once my secular friend asked me how to have a lasting relationship with her boyfriend (now husband), I told her, that she needed to give in to him and love him more than herself. Of course not having faith and not able to know the great love of Christ, she found it a joke and think that through understanding one can achieve a lasting relationship.
However, truly from my experiences, if we are able to love others equal or more than ourselves we will become peacemakers and transforming catalysts to people in our lives. Our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace has demonstrated that love can cover a multitude of sins and bring true peace to man.
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” (Col 3:12-15)
Are we able to love others as much as Christ loves us?