Gethsemane Had One

Title: Gethsemane Had One
Date: 20 March 2016
Preacher: Rev Enoch

Joy is partnership
Grief weeps alone
Many guests had Cana
Gethsemane had one

Words from the poem “Grief and Joy” composed by Frederic L Knowles much captured the theme and the mood of the chapter from Mark that we are reading together this morning.

The crowd that was always waiting for Jesus to do the next miracle and who cheered “Hosanna”, as he entered Jerusalem, is no longer around. At the beginning of the chapter, we still read about friends eating with Jesus, and some from that gathering, most likely more the 12 persons actually, continued to join him during the Passover meal. But a few hours down the road, Jesus we see became at first a lonely soul, deeply distressed, and thereafter a captive and a punch bag with none of his own beside him.

The series of happenings began with Judas talking to the religious authority about handing Jesus over to them. And I suppose we know why a traitor is a necessary catalyst in this case. The time was Passover, where Israelites from all over the country would gather in Jerusalem to celebrate their status as God’s elect. The citizens who joined the festival also comes with the hope and expectation that God, as like years back, during the days of Moses, will lead his people in the evening of Passover unto freedom. And in this case, freedom from the Roman’s domination. With such a hope and expectation at work, can we see that there’s a readiness for the people to start anytime a revolution? The religious leaders are well aware of the potential, and were therefore afraid that capturing Jesus the charismatic leader and miracle worker in the open would cause a riot to take place. A riot was the last thing that they want to see happening. They rather be obedient puppets of the Roman authority, for in that manner they will continue to enjoy peace and power. So, to arrest Jesus they needed to do it by stealth, and Judas the traitor simply made their day.

Question, why did Judas betray Jesus? Judas wasn’t recruited but it was he who took the initiative to talk to the religious leaders. Why did Judas do what he did? We usually think it was because of money. But Mark in telling the story says that it was the religious leaders who were overjoyed in hearing about Judas intention and had in turn decided to give it to him. There was no mention that Judas had asked for money. Or was it because Satan was at work? Luke and John both attributed the reason of the betrayal to Satan, but we don’t see that in the Gospel of Mark.

What is clear is that in going to the religious leaders, Judas had changed side to stand with them and to abandon his rabbi. Could it be that he did what he did because he began to find what Jesus was preaching and practicing to be wrongheaded and even dangerous? Wrongheaded because Jesus kept talking about the messiah facing death, which is totally off-key. The messiah was only supposed to be well and alive and fighting and winning. And dangerous because Jesus preached and practiced love for all sorts and kinds, the righteous and sinners alike, what if Jesus had thought that the Romans are also to be loved? The messiah is expected to deal with the enemies, not loving them. Jesus in saying and doing all these didn’t fit the messiah model that Jews had in mind. In other words, could Judas have been a fanatic? Was he simply trying to do what was right for the nation, as in getting rid of the wrong candidate for messiah, so that people will look for the right one who will lead Israel to freedom?

So was it money, Satan or nationalism the reason behind the betrayal and abandonment? There must be a reason or reasons for Judas to have done what he did. Mark however chose to remain silent concerning this matter. Mark’s silence herein, perhaps also affords for us a space to reflect on the tons of reasons that we may find strong enough to abandon the Lord. Money, fun, love, approval, something that we long for or something we try to escape from?

In any case, treachery wasn’t the only form of abandonment that Jesus experienced that night. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and wanted Peter, James and John to stay close to him and to give him support, they slumbered into sleep the three times when Jesus went off to pray, leaving Jesus to struggle in prayer all by himself. That’s really totally unacceptable because these disciples had recently declared that the will willingly share in Jesus’ suffering (10.38-39). Further, they had just been told about the impending betrayal and death of Jesus at the Passover meal. And just a little while before that, they also witnessed the woman, whom we weren’t told her name, anointing Jesus for his burial. Alight, all these ain’t enough as push factor for them to stay up for Jesus. Then what about the pain in the voice and on the face of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? For whatever reason, all of these just weren’t enough for them to hold true to their commitment. And speaking about commitment, they had recently heard Jesus’ teaching on faith and commitment, where the closing warning statement was, “less he…find you asleep… Stay awake!” (13:35-37). Still, we see them abandoning Jesus by withdrawing their moral and emotional support.

Then, when Judas led in the men with swords and clubs, none of the disciple decided to stay around for fear of being implicated. And in case we fail to see the dastardly act of the disciples, Mark’s in the original language worded his sentence by putting the emphasis at the end, “And they left him and fled all” This time, it is abandonment by withdrawing support physically.

And when Jesus was on trial and Peter was there, the Greek used to describe his reaction when being questioned the third time most likely meant that he even cursed Jesus for fear of being identified (14:71). That’s abandoning of the one he hailed as the savior.

And as if that there is not enough abandonment that Jesus had already experienced, Mark tells of that mysterious young man who fled naked once the guards began laying their hands on him for following Jesus that night. (15:51-52)

All these instances of abandonment I believe would have caused us to question ourselves. Whether we can do any better during crunch time? And Mark’s silence this time with regards to the identity of the mysterious young man, by leaving him unnamed, affords us yet another space to reflect on our own readiness to abandon Jesus.

If any of the above scenarios seems to be telling of us, can our situations be helped? Of course! But not before another near abandonment that same night. It’s our turn now to wait up and pay attention to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Search the bible and we will not find expressions of agony and anguish comparable to that which Mark used on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Whether the laments in the Psalms, or the pain which Abraham felt in preparing to sacrifice Isaac, or what David went through at the death of his son Absalom, none of these are depicted in a manner as heart wrenching and painful as how Jesus is described herein.

We read in verses 33 and 34 that, “…he began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death..." The expression ‘distressed’ means that Jesus was alarmed and was in shock. The word ‘troubled’ refers to him being greatly distressed. And the next phrase suggests that Jesus was stretched emotionally to his very limit.

Have we ever wondered why Jesus was suddenly so out of character in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus himself declared that, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (10:45) He knew fully well what will happen and even considered it his life mission. And as horrifying as death can be, weren’t there many in history who faced death composed and unblinking. Jesus is no mere human. Why did he appear to be so terribly affected? To face the abandoned of God and be completely alienated from the Father should be one of the reasons (see 15:34), but is there a more detailed explanation to be found? I wish Mark had said something more, I really wish. But on this Mark is again silent.

There is however one thing that we can say for sure. Jesus, God the Son, who himself is God, is shocked when he now comes face to face with the cup that the Father has installed for him. And he was shocked and troubled to the point that he pleaded and wrestled with God to remove from him the cup. In other words, Jesus’ cup was something so terrible, that he had really thought of chickening out and abandoning his calling. Perhaps, just like Isaac he could escape the knife having wrestled with God through prayer.

So, into the prayer struggle Jesus plunged, and Jesus being Jesus of course did it with sound theology. One the one hand, he entered into the struggle being so sure that all things are possible with God. Yet at the same time, he knows fully well that when God wills something, it is to be accepted rather than be altered by prayers, which was why he prayed, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

The prayer of Jesus has something to say to us. For Jesus, “the cross is a matter of the heart before it is a matter of the hand.” [1] There was a near abandonment, by Jesus; but Jesus did after all stay to the course and completed his mission. He did walk to the cross, but he needed before that a time of agonizing prayer struggle, to align the heart to God’s will and before he did surrender his authority and his will to God. Friends, I believe we each have our cross to bear. It may be about treating or serving others better. Or serving God full-time locally or overseas. Are we carrying our cross? Or perhaps we should start our own wrestling match with God, since even for Jesus, the Son of God, who himself is God, the cross is a matter of the heart before it is a matter of the hand.

Are we familiar with the missionary family that bears the name Hudson Taylor? During the Second World War, the parents of Dr. James Hudson Taylor III were asked to go from the coastal area of China into the inland to minister to people. It was something very stressful for the missionary couple. It was wartime. And what about the children should they move inland? Dr Taylor’s mother prayed, and the end point of the prayer struggle goes something like this. She sensed God saying to her, you take care of my concern; I will take care of yours. For Dr Taylor’s family, it wasn’t the cross per se that they had; they also had the hands of the Good God in the future of their family as the put their hands to God’s matters.

In a word, success or failure in walking the way of the cross depends on a heart of obedience, and so be it if we will only surrender our will having wrestled with God in prayer. That’s exactly what we see in our Lord. Being abandoned, he struggled in prayer, stay true to his calling and we are now found in his embrace.

The prayer struggle of Jesus should also give us pause and to ask ourselves once again question such as, “What did our savior have to go through in drinking the cup that gives God glory and to us life?” Again, we will not attempt to go beyond Mark to explain or describe with words, but we can try to perceive the weight of grace that is at work here, can’t we? And we should ask, “What is the value of salvation to us (something that had taken Jesus a lot to secure)?” We can also ask, “What have I added to the cup that Jesus drank?”

[1] James R. Edward, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to Mark, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002. 431.