Jesus and His disciples have now arrived at Gethsemane and His betrayal and arrest are imminent. However, before He is arrested, there are several things we need to look at. The first is found in John 18:2 that tells us Gethsemane was a place Jesus often went with His disciples. Usually called a garden, Gethsemane was actually an olive orchard located east of the city towards the Mount of Olives. Since open space was at such a premium inside the walls of Jerusalem, gardens, orchards and grazing space for animals were outside the walls of the city.
Someone known by Jesus probably owned Gethsemane and He obviously had permission to go there whenever He chose, and did so often. What strikes me here is that when you follow the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ public ministry, it seems to be a virtual whirlwind of travel and activity. But the indication here is that Jesus also enjoyed the quiet times of inactivity, either to commune with the Father or spend time relaxing with His disciples. Possibly a great example for us to follow: the essential combination of spirituality and humanity.
Then in Luke 22:40 we see Jesus telling His disciples, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” “Temptation” is from peirasmos, the meaning of which depends on the context. If the “temptation” is from God, it’s for the purpose of testing or proving something for the good of the believer. But, as in this case, if it comes from Satan, it’s for the purpose of causing one to fall or fail. The point is Jesus knew the disciples were not prepared for what was about to happen. And, he knew Satan was intimately involved in the events that were happening, even as He said this (see John 14:30, Luke 22:3, 31).
Matthew 26:37-46 gives us the account of Jesus taking Peter, James and John aside to pray with Him. I’ll just point out several things that take place during this time. First, note that John 18:4 tells us, “Jesus knew everything that was about to come to Him.”
This then allows us to understand why He asks the Father if it is possible for Him to avoid what is about to unfold (see Matthew 26:39) and then to affirm His determination to carry out the Father’s will (Matthew 26:42, 44).
However, Luke tells us that affirmation was not without difficulty. Luke 22:43 says, “An angel appeared from heaven to strengthen Him.” Is it possible that Jesus in His humanity lacked the strength to face the unspeakable horror of what He knew was about to befall Him? The very next verse (Luke 22:44) gives us at least some insight into His mental state. “And being in agony, He prayed even more earnestly, and His sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground.”
“Agony” is agonia, a word derived from agon, a place of assembly. It was used to describe the place where games or contests were held, then to describe the intense emotion sometimes connected to those contests and finally to simply describe severe emotional strain or anguish in any context – hence, Jesus’ mental state in Gethsemane. And Luke tells us how intense it was with his account. It is a medical fact that under extreme mental pressure the pores in the forehead can become so dilated that blood from the small capillaries will mix with sweat and become the bloody sweat Luke saw.
There is no doubt that under such pressure Jesus must have been somewhat conflicted: both asking the Father to let this cup pass, yet affirming His determination to follow the Father’s will. Yet, as you read Matthew’s account (26:37-46), it appears Jesus only mentions the possibility of avoiding what was to shortly come to Him only once (verse 39). In the last two mentions of what He said to His Father, He simply says, “since it cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done.” (Verses 42 and 44, where it says He prayed using the same words) Can we then assume that what Luke tells us about the angel coming to strengthen Him probably took place after the first prayer, but before the last two?
Now we go back to John 18 to see what happens next. In verse 3, “So Judas, having received a band of soldiers and some guards from the high priests and Pharisees came there with torches, lamps and weapons.” This was not an insignificant group. The “band” is from speira, a cohort of 600 soldiers, and there were others from the temple guard.
As we follow along in John, Jesus asks them, “Who are you looking for?” (Verse 4) In the next verse they answer, “Jesus of Nazareth”, to which Jesus answers, “I am.” In most translations you will find “I am he”. I prefer the more accurate and meaningful “I am.” Here Jesus is referring to Himself as the pre-existent, eternal Son of God, the creator and Lord of the universe.
And why is this important? Look at the next verse. “And as soon as He said to them, I am, they drew back and fell helpless to the ground.” Remember how I’ve emphasized in past lessons that Jesus was always in control of the circumstances and situations leading up to His crucifixion? There are two things going on here. Jesus is telling this large contingent of professional soldiers they had no power over Him without His consent. And He’s letting His disciples know He could escape if He wanted to, but that was not to be.
The other remarkable thing was the account of Peter drawing his sword and cutting off Malchus’ ear (John 18:10). Jesus immediately healed the wound (Luke 22:51); however, since there was such a large crowd, we could assume that not many of them knew it even happened. Here Jesus rebukes Peter for his actions and says “Don’t you know I could ask the Father to send more than twelve legions of angels (about 80,000), and He would? But then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that these things must happen? (Matthew 26:53-54). Even so I’ve often thought, in light of these events, should these men have realized Who they were dealing with? Then I remember, these are Roman soldiers and failure to carry out orders was not an option; Satan is guiding these events and the Father is allowing him because it has long been determined to unfold in this exact way – Jesus is going to the cross!