Session 6: The Garden

Session Overview

Creedal Statement

Pray then like this:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Key Elements

• Key Passage - Mark 14:32–42
• Scripture Memory - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6–7
• Catechism - Q: What practice helps us cultivate submission to God’s will? A: Prayer.

Introduction

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Prayer brings with it, as food does, a new sense of power and health. We are driven to it by hunger, and, having eaten, we are refreshed and strengthened for the battle which even our physical life involves. For heart and flesh cry out for the living God … Prayer is the assimilation of a holy God’s moral strength.

The Christian life is characterized by submission to God’s will. To be fully surrendered to Jesus is the believer’s joy and freedom. While the world seeks independence, autonomy, and self-expression, disciples discover fullness of joy in yielding to Christ. Surrendered to God, believers enjoy comfort in the midst of suffering, strength in times of weakness, confidence in the face of uncertainty, and resolve to overcome temptation. To resign ourselves to God’s authority is to entrust ourselves to God’s safekeeping. Mature faith in Christ is not measured by the lack of hardship; devoted disciples are characterized by increasing dependence upon Christ during times of intensifying suffering. Herein lies the beauty and brilliance of the Christian life: relinquishing our volition to God’s will is to avail ourselves to divine power for our well-being.

The life of surrender can be embraced and expressed in prayer. On the surface, prayer is a simple act. In prayer, we talk to God, express our concerns, and ask for his help. This act is accessible to children and young disciples alike. It is also a means for seasoned believers and communities to deepen faith in Christ and experience God’s presence. As much as prayer petitions God to intervene in our circumstances, believers themselves experience transformation and growth when they give themselves to earnest prayer. In this way, prayer is a discipline of faithful believers as much as it is a means to progress in the faith. Foundational to prayer is God’s availability to hear our requests, his mercy to respond to our needs, and his ability to help us in times of trouble. God delights in the sincere prayers of his needy people. God wants his people to seek him and express dependence upon him. In prayer, believers seek and commune with God in his presence. On many occasions, the Bible records narratives and teachings that help disciples understand the spiritual practice of prayer. In fact, the Scripture records Jesus himself praying to God the Father. To his example we turn as eager apprentices.

The Bible records Jesus’ practice of prayer in Mark 14:32–42. This text helps us consider the importance and character of Christian prayer. At the beginning of this narrative, Jesus and his disciples arrived at the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was overwhelmed with sorrow and burdened with great distress. Great suffering lay before him as he fulfilled his earthly mission. Jesus went into Gethsemane until he found a private place of prayer. While Jesus was vigilant in prayer, his disciples fell asleep. This happened three times. Jesus told his disciples to join in prayer so that they would be watchful and alert. Eventually, Jesus told his disciples that the moment of his betrayal had come. Having prayed with discipline, persistence, and resolve, Jesus was empowered to embrace his divine vocation regardless of the suffering he would endure.

Throughout this biblical narrative, Jesus’ example and instruction teach us about the practice of prayer. To seek God’s help and strength in our time of great need is a characteristic discipline of faith. Christians pray to God as an outlet for their suffering and as a petition for divine assistance. In prayer, believers enjoy fellowship with God and remind themselves of God’s true character. Throughout the history of the church, communities of believers have gathered corporately in prayer, and believers have retreated in solitude to make private entreaties to God. The practice of prayer is a blessing and a responsibility, an appeal and a confession, and a means to grow in faith and an expression of uninhibited devotion. We abide in God’s presence and prepare for God’s work through this profound practice of prayer. Ministry in the name of Christ marches forward upon the prayers of God’s people. May we study this biblical text to learn how to better appropriate God’s open invitation to prayer, modeled by Christ, in our daily life and ministry.

Biblical Interpretation: Hearing the Word

Study the Text: The Bible is God’s inspired word to his people. Christian disciples mature in the faith when they are grounded in God’s word. In this movement, you will study the basic details of the biblical text.

Observation Questions

Read (or listen to) the whole passage of Scripture. Discuss the questions below for each section of the story. Pay attention to the details of the text to recall what the passage is saying. Use the focus verses to guide your conversation.

Storycraft

Retell the story in your own words, recounting the overall flow of the narrative, the main segments of the story, and the major developments that take place.

Narrative Elements

Story Retell

Theological Dialogue: Discussing the Plot

Explore the Text: God’s word is his trustworthy and sufficient revelation to his people. We grow as Christ’s disciples by rooting our lives in God’s unchanging truth. In this movement, you will explore vital teachings of this biblical passage.

Discussion Questions

Summarize the biblical story. As a community, discuss the following questions. Be attentive to the truths taught in this text. Use the commentary on the next pages to uncover core principles this passage teaches about the Christian faith.

Biblical Commentary

Use this commentary to help you understand the meaning of the text. Refer to the infographic on the next page to think through how narratives work.

Passage Introduction

Key Idea

God is inviting us into a life of surrender and submission through the practice of prayer.

Passage Overview

In prayer, believers have access to God. This is an astonishing truth. God is ready and willing to receive our requests when we pray them in humility and dependence. Any time we want and need, we can seek divine aid and enjoy God’s presence. When we embrace a life of prayer, we express our full and complete dependence on God. Recognizing our own frailty, we pray for strength in times of need and comfort in seasons of suffering. We practice prayer to our great spiritual benefit, and we neglect prayer to our demise. Prayer brings about our spiritual transformation as it also seeks God’s intervention in our challenging circumstances. When we give ourselves to God in prayer, we are yielding our will to God’s will. Prayer is an act of submission and surrender. As such, it is fundamental to the life of discipleship. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus modeled the practice of prayer. His disciples’ sleepiness also warns us about the danger of prayerlessness. In life and instruction, Jesus teaches us about the importance and nature of Christian prayer. As you read and explore this important biblical narrative, use the following commentary to guide your thinking about prayer and motivate your practice of this most important spiritual practice.

Passage Outline

Petitions in the Garden

Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father’s face, and live in thy Father’s love.

Introduction

Jesus made it possible for believers to enjoy intimate fellowship with God. A redemptive and saving work, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection achieved salvation for sinners, reconciling believers to God. Although this saving work rests at the foundation of the Christian life, Jesus also exemplified a life of ongoing fellowship with God during his earthly life and ministry. While Jesus commended many spiritual practices to his followers, one way believers experience communion with God is through the spiritual practice of prayer. It is through this most precious Christian discipline that believers build the church, mature in faith, and participate in God’s missional purposes. While it is a natural instinct for humans to seek help in times of need, these mere human instincts may not result in a distinctively Christian approach to prayer. As Christ’s apprentices, Christian disciples do well to learn how to pray in a Christlike manner. Jesus’ prayerful life serves as an example as much as his teaching on prayer serves as a reliable instruction. In order to practice God’s presence and grow in the faith, Christians must be equipped to pray. We turn to a foundational biblical text in order to establish the foundations of prayer in our life of faith.

The biblical account of Mark 14:32–42 records Jesus’ disciplined and persistent prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus arrived at Gethsemane with his disciples, he was experiencing incredible distress. Jesus utilized prayer as a means to process his deep emotional turmoil, seek divine help, and express his intent to follow his Father’s will. In contrast to a praying Jesus are the sleeping disciples. They were overcome by weariness, exposing their lack of spiritual vigilance. In this garden scene, Jesus modeled and commended a life of prayer, teaching disciples of all generations about its important role in the life of faith and mission.

Understanding this narrative is crucial to the life of faith. It depicts the spiritual life as a battle: a frail body at odds with a willing spirit, sinful temptations opposing godly intentions, evil forces warring against faithful devotion, and painful suffering in the midst of Christ-centered mission. It also depicts a battle of wills. The human heart is stubborn, headstrong, and obstinate. It insists on its own way, scheming to fulfill its own desires. A most fundamental expression of sin is the human will in defiance against God. The human condition is warped by sin and has made the human heart inflexibly resistant to God’s will. This battle—a conflict between God’s will and ours—wages all around us. Faith in Christ involves the surrender of our will to God’s. The spiritual practice of prayer (as modeled by Jesus) is an intentional and ongoing spiritual habit that fosters continuous submission and surrender to God. In a moment of overwhelming emotional weight, imminent physical danger, and crushing spiritual weight, Jesus turned to prayer as a means to bear the burden of his mission, remain alert to pending danger, overcome the prowling assault of the enemy, resist the alluring pull of temptation, stay vigilant against opposition, and yield to his Father’s will. We study this narrative to learn to pray as Jesus prayed so that we can also emulate his example of faithful submission.

A Place Called Gethsemane: Turning to Prayer in Times of Great Suffering

Biblical Narrative (Mark 14:32–35)

Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane teaches us about the importance and power of prayer. This brief narrative took place after Jesus’ last supper with his disciples (14:12–25) and prior to Jesus’ betrayal and arrest (14:43–50). After they had finished their final meal, Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives (14:26). Eventually, “they came to a place called Gethsemane” (14:32). It was fitting that Gethsemane means “oil press.” Common in that day, people would use the weight of a heavy stone to press out the oil from olives. Like a squeezed or crushed olive in the process of having its oil extracted, Jesus was bearing considerable pressure as he journeyed toward the cross to save sinful humanity. With Jesus’ earthly mission reaching its climactic moment, the burden and difficulty mounted. On the path to accomplishing God’s redemptive plan, Jesus endured unimaginable hardship as he faced unspeakable suffering.

In the next hours, Jesus would be betrayed by one of his own disciples, Judas (14:43–50). He would be tried and accused before a rigged Jewish council (14:53–65). He would be denied three times by his lead disciple, Peter (14:66–72). He would be delivered and interrogated by the Roman governor Pilate (15:1–5). He would be flogged and delivered to be crucified while a murderous criminal was released (15:6–15). He would be mocked, stripped, humiliated, and struck by a battalion of soldiers (15:16–20). He would be nailed to a cross between two thieves with onlookers deriding him (15:21–32). He would die from asphyxiation, breathing his last breath on the cross (15:33–41). He would be buried in a tomb that he did not own (15:42–47). In the coming hours, Jesus would experience abandonment, accusation, rejection, flogging, ridicule, and death by crucifixion. Therefore, when Jesus arrived at the garden at Gethsemane, he was bearing the crushing weight of the world’s redemption. At this time of great hardship, Jesus resorted to prayer. He instructed the first group of disciples, “Sit here while I pray” (14:32).

The gravity of the moment and the severity of the suffering translated into acute emotional distress. Jesus left the majority of his disciples in one location and went a little further with “Peter, James, and John” (14:33). At this time, Jesus “began to be deeply troubled and distressed” (14:33). He was in inner turmoil and distraught in spirit. Jesus communicated his emotional anguish to his disciples: “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death” (14:34). Jesus eventually left these three disciples and went a little further by himself. He instructed his disciples to “stay here and keep watch” (14:34). Although they did not experience the same pressure as Jesus, the moment was precarious and demanded that they be watchful and alert. Experiencing immense distress and severe pressure, Jesus spent time in prayer. When Jesus reached this moment of solitude, he was so overwhelmed and overburdened that he “fell to the ground and prayed” (15:35). The opening of this brief biblical passage provides important instruction about the nature of Christian prayer.

Biblical Principles

Prayer as an Outlet for Inner Turmoil. Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane was deeply emotional and painfully difficult. The climax of his earthly mission involved a convergence of immense suffering. Arriving at “a place called Gethsemane” (14:32)—a place evoking the idea of an “oil press”—Jesus himself was under extreme pressure. His divine vocation was coming to a close. A chain of emotional phrases describes the tempest of emotions that Jesus was experiencing at this moment: “deeply troubled” (14:33), “distressed” (14:33), “consumed with sorrow” (14:34), and “to the point of death” (14:34). This concatenation of terms emphasizes Jesus’ inner turmoil. In the face of his great sorrow, Jesus resorted to prayer. This spiritual practice was an outlet for his emotional burden as much as a request for God’s help. That Jesus utilized prayer in this time of great distress especially means that prayer is a fitting practice for suffering Christians. The Creator of the universe wants us to voice our fears and anxieties to him. Even more, he wants us to cast our anxieties upon him, transferring the weight of our crippling burden and intense suffering off our shoulders into God’s strong hands. God has open ears to our doubts, questions, pain, and sorrow. The most vulnerable, raw, and uncensored emotions we experience find a safe outlet when we pray like Jesus. God knows our weak frame and desires our prayerful dependence on him.

Private and Community Prayer. The practice of prayer is both a private habit and a corporate discipline. In this narrative, Jesus went to a solitary place to pray (14:32, 35, 39) and invited his disciples to join him in watchful prayer (14:38). Times of corporate prayer reinforce our collective faith in Christ and encourage fellow believers to persevere in the faith. Prayer as a community of faith is a vital mark of the Christian church. It has sustained believers in the face of persecution, and it has commissioned disciples to courageous mission. Community prayer comforts the fainthearted as it edifies the immature. Christian fellowship is galvanized in times of earnest prayer, each member supporting one another with petitions to God. But prayer is also a private habit. To have direct access to God in prayer is an unspeakable privilege. We do not depend upon human intermediaries to access God’s presence. We do not need to wait in a queue to speak to God. At any time, we can approach God’s presence to find help in our time of need. A gift as much as a duty, prayer gains us an audience with God. Corporate and private prayer should mutually reinforce each other. Our personal habits of prayer should motivate us to pray as a community; corporate prayer should promote personal devotion and private prayer. When both of these modes of prayer occur in unison, Christian disciples are equipped for life, godliness, and mission.

And He Went Away and Prayed: Developing the Habit of Christlike Prayer

Biblical Narrative (Mark 14:34–41)

Jesus traveled to Gethsemane to be with his disciples and to be alone with God the Father. He left the first group of disciples with the following instructions: “sit here while I pray” (14:32). Then, Jesus left his inner threesome of disciples with the following message: “stay here and keep watch” (14:34). Leaving these three, Jesus then went “a little farther” (14:35). Overwhelmed with the burden and pressure of what was to come, Jesus “fell to the ground and prayed” (14:35). Jesus asked that “if it were possible, the hour would pass from Him” (14:35). The content of Jesus’ prayer was simple yet profound. He addressed God as “Abba, Father” and declared that “all things are possible for [Him]” (14:36). Jesus was fully aware of God’s power, but he was also fully committed to God’s plan. Jesus openly prayed that God the Father would rescue him from imminent suffering: “Take this cup from Me” (14:36). He followed this frank petition with an affirmation of his devotion and faithfulness to his Father: “Yet not what I will, but what You will” (14:36). An honest and candid prayer, Jesus’ petition sought God’s deliverance from his present and pending agony. In simultaneous fidelity, Jesus expressed his unreserved submission to God’s will.

After this first time of prayer, Jesus returned to his disciples and “found them sleeping” (14:37). While Jesus poured out his heart to God the Father, his followers had surrendered to their weary bodies. Their brief nap in Gethsemane was soon interrupted. Ever patient and invested in teaching his disciples, Jesus asked Peter two questions, serving as an exhortation as much as a rebuke: “Simon, are you asleep?” and “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?” (14:37). Simon’s slumber (however brief) was an act of indiscipline and inattentiveness, disobeying Jesus’ earlier instructions to “keep watch” (14:34). Obviously, one could not keep watch in the subconsciousness of sleep. In this way, Jesus’ questions confronted Peter in his moment of unwatchfulness. Jesus’ twofold question was also an exhortation. Inasmuch as Jesus was pointing out Peter’s lack of spiritual discipline, he was also enjoining him to greater vigilance. Consequently, Jesus gave the following instruction: “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation” (14:38). By joining together the dual admonition to “watch” and “pray,” Jesus was asserting that the spiritual practice of prayer was a vital means by which disciples remain watchful against spiritual danger and resist temptation. Jesus explained the importance and difficulty of watchfulness and prayer when he told Peter, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (14:38). Although disciples may have good intentions to be vigilant in the faith, they war against a weak and undisciplined human nature. The life of faith is not only a battle against the temptations we face in the world around us, but also against our own inner human frailty.

After this instruction, Jesus went by himself a second time to pray. Arriving in a place of solitude, Jesus prayed by “saying the same thing” (14:39) he had prayed before. When he came back to his disciples this second time, their exhaustion had once again overpowered them. They had not remained watchful and did not stay awake. Instead, Jesus “returned and found them sleeping” (14:40). They did not have the fortitude or endurance of Christ. They did not cultivate vigilance through prayer. Their “eyes were heavy” (14:40), and they gave in to their bodily weakness. When Jesus found them sleeping this second time, the disciples were aware of their error and had no legitimate excuse to tell their Lord. Consequently, the disciples “did not know what to answer Him” (14:40). Jesus went a third time to pray as he had done before and, upon his return, found his disciples once again sleeping (14:41). Offering another question intended as a rebuke, Jesus asked his disciples, “Are you still sleeping and resting?” (14:41). By this time, Judas was coming to Jesus to betray him.

Biblical Principles

Prayer as Honest Petition. In this brief narrative, we learn about the nature and purpose of prayer. In its most basic form, prayer asks God to work on our behalf. Through the example of Jesus, we see prayer as an honest petition for God’s powerful and merciful intervention. Prayer is a means to communicate the burdens of our hearts to God and to ask for his gracious help on our behalf. As Jesus pressed further into Gethsemane, his burdens pressed heavily on him. The narrative might suggest that the further Jesus went into Gethsemane, the greater his agony and distress grew. Leaving his disciples in two separate groups, Jesus arrived at a private place in Gethsemane where he “fell to the ground and prayed” (14:35). Jesus’ prayer was an outlet of his great distress, not only an expression of his sorrow but an urgent request for God to come to his immediate aid. Consequently, Jesus prayed to God: “Take this cup from Me” (14:36). This request was a candid and honest petition. Faced with the overwhelming gravity of his fate, Jesus prayed for his Father to intervene in his situation.

Here we have one of the most basic aspects of prayer: a humble and honest request. When we pray, we are asking God to work on our behalf, to rescue us from danger, to bring a remedy to our precarious situation, and to address our deepest concerns. Superficial prayers that are perfunctory and insincere fall short of this most basic characteristic. Prayer is a pipeline that connects the deepest recesses of our hearts to the available reservoir of God’s mercy and power. Said differently, prayer is the intersection of our great need and God’s gracious help. In prayer, we choose to cast the crushing weight of our burdens on God. In making humble and honest petitions to God, we exchange our predicament for God’s power, our hardship for God’s help, and our difficulty for God’s deliverance. Those who appeal to God in their moment of desperation acknowledge their own inadequacy and depend upon God’s supremacy and sovereignty over every human dilemma.

As a spiritual practice, prayer is based upon life-altering truths. God is attentive to our difficulties. He is interested in our lives. He is able to remedy our most challenging hardships. He is open to our petitions. And, he is merciful and willing to respond to desperate appeals for help. God does not ask for polished prose or erudite language as a prerequisite for prayer. Like a loving father who attends to his children’s cries, God delights in our most open and earnest requests. Growth in the Christian life is not a matter of overcoming our neediness and frailty. Rather, mature disciples are increasingly aware of their weakness and growingly dependent upon God’s help.

Prayer as Intimate Address. Prayer is also a way to experience and enjoy deep connection with God. In prayer, we approach God as a loving heavenly Father. When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, he began his prayer with the following address: “Abba, Father” (14:36). This address not only resembles the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer (cf. Matthew 6:9) but also highlights the intimate relationship that Jesus had with his Father (cf. Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). In a moment of great burden and deep emotion Jesus leaned on the relationship with his Father. This relationship would never fail him. Although Judas’ betrayal was looming, and although his disciples would desert him, Jesus relied upon the enduring faithfulness of God the Father. No other human could empathize with Jesus’ suffering, but God the Father was fully aware of what his Son was experiencing and would eventually endure. Prayer as communion with our all-knowing and attentive heavenly Father was a certain comfort. For Jesus (as for us), the intimacy of God’s presence is an unshakeable refuge in times of loneliness, abandonment, betrayal, and rejection.

Prayer enables us to acknowledge God as loving and caring, a heavenly Father who has our best interests in mind. A proper image of God is constantly threatened in our Christian walk. Christian prayer depends upon and fosters an accurate understanding of God and our relationship with him. Distorted understandings of God impede our growth in faith and corrupt our practice of prayer. To view God as an uninvolved, cosmic executive is to approach prayer as nothing more than a sort of intergalactic memo that informs God of our human happenings while hoping to remain in his favor. If we view God as a harsh dictator, prayer is nothing more than a strategic way to avoid the unpredictable outbursts of a cruel and capricious despot. In our minds, if we wrongly see God as an absentee landlord, prayer erringly becomes an intermittent communication with an authority who remains uninvolved in our daily lives. Those who think of God as a pagan power approach prayer as a ritual means to control the actions, manage the emotions, placate the temper, and boost the esteem of a volatile deity. But God is none of these. If we view God rightly, we will approach prayer correctly. For believers, God is a loving and caring heavenly Father who is interested and involved in the details of our daily lives. He is Creator and Redeemer, desiring the best for his people and wanting to shower his undeserved mercies upon the faithful. As such, prayer is a means of communion with God, an invitation to enjoy God’s presence, and a practice to cultivate intimacy with our Maker. We pray to fellowship with the good and sovereign God in a way that fosters and strengthens our faith.

Prayer as Truth Confession. In prayer, we acknowledge the reality of God’s character. Prayer is a way to reinforce our belief in God. As Jesus’ prayer continued, he made a confession about his Father: “all things are possible for You” (14:36). Overcome by the weight of his pending suffering, Jesus acknowledged his Father’s comprehensive care. Facing painful adversity, Jesus confessed that God the Father is all-powerful and all-sufficient. Jesus utilized prayer as a mechanism to affirm the truth about God’s person and attributes. Although Jesus prayed as a means of expressing his suffering, he did not use prayer as a mere catharsis to vent his emotional heartache. While prayer was a legitimate outlet for Jesus’ great distress, it was also a means of acknowledging the truth about God’s character. For Jesus (as for disciples in all generations and cultures), God is able, capable, powerful, and fully resourced to meet the deepest challenges that humans face. No pit is too deep, no precipice is too perilous, and no foe is too fierce for God. Prayer is inherently theological, encouraging us to rest with confidence in God’s trustworthiness and all-sufficiency.

Prayer is a means of confronting the seemingly insurmountable burdens of our present experience with the unconquerable power of God. When things feel uncertain and tenuous, prayer is a practice that helps us assert God’s character and capability. In prayer, we bask in God’s complete sovereignty, capitulate to God’s compassionate care, rest reassured in God’s timely provision, anchor ourselves to God’s steadfast patience, and linger in God’s unfailing love. Facing the chaotic seas of broken relationships, the fierce storms of a sinful world, and the tempestuous gusts of our hearts, we find refuge in God’s proven character and powerful works. Prayer brings calm and comfort in the midst of turmoil precisely because it tethers itself to God’s unchanging character. As we practice the presence of God in prayer, we take confidence in the fact that God is fully capable of running the course of the universe and caring for the specific details of our individual lives. In this way, Christlike prayer builds our faith as we confess the truth about God.

Prayer as Willful Submission. This biblical narrative also teaches us that prayer promotes our submission to God. To approach God in prayer is to yield to God’s will as a superior plan for our lives. After Jesus’ honest request for God’s intervention, his intimate address to his heavenly Father, and his confident assertion of God’s power, Jesus offered a powerful declaration of submission to God: “Not what I will, but what You will” (14:36). Certainly, Jesus’ submission to his Father’s will was the mode and manner of his entire life and ministry. In prayer, Jesus explicitly declared his fidelity to God the Father. Jesus acknowledged the struggle of his present hardship but also asserted the superior nature of God’s will. In humble resignation, he yielded to the purposes and plans of his Father. As a model for us all, Jesus’ prayerful submission teaches us to pray in a way that fosters obedient Christian discipleship.

Contained in God’s will is our best possible life. Suffering and adversity often obscure our spiritual vision, making it hard to see God’s will as good or desirable. When our vision is blurred, we tend to insist on our own will rather than yield to God’s commands. Disobedience usually coincides with prayerlessness. Without regular and repeated prayer, our selfish desires and sinful intentions gain control over our lives. We assert our autonomy and resist God’s authority. On the contrary, Christian disciples promote a life of obedience through disciplined prayer. In prayer, we acquiesce to God’s good commands, we yield to God’s inspired word, we submit to God’s unfailing purposes, and we align our lives to God’s sovereign plan. In prayer, we may experience a fierce battle between our wishes and God’s will. But prayer is a fitting means to wrestle our volition into submission, bending a knee to God’s authority. In fact, prayer brings comfort to the suffering Christian through this aim of willing submission. Undeniably, approaching God in prayer is an act of self-denial and self-abnegation. But this Christlike renunciation of self is a path to God’s protection, provision, and blessing. Important for formation in faith, as much as prayer seeks God’s divine intervention, it also expresses wholehearted resignation and submission to God.

Prayer as Watchful Vigilance. Even in the face of suffering, disciples enjoy a victorious and triumphant life through the practice of prayer. When Christ’s followers pray, they express reliance upon God and cultivate a spirit of watchful care. Prayer strengthens our resolve to follow Christ obediently, and it makes us watchful to resist temptation. In Gethsemane, Jesus demonstrated this by his example and encouraged the disciples in their failure. Jesus remained awake and vigilant, giving himself to repeated and focused prayer. He prayed to God the Father as a way of staying true to his divine calling, resisting the peril of temptation, and preparing himself for his soon-to-be betrayal. In this biblical text, Jesus commended prayer as a means of watchful vigilance when he told his disciples, “stay here and keep watch” (14:34). Jesus reinforced the importance of being alert when he asked his weary disciples, “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?” (14:37). He enjoined his disciples to “watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation” (14:38). The disciples’ failure to stay awake was related to their tragic prayerlessness. In the face of temptation, people may desire obedience, but human flesh is weak and vulnerable to sin’s alluring appeal (14:38). Prayer not only empowers disciples to conquer temptation but also to overcome the weakness and frailty of human nature. Throughout this story, sleepiness is compared to inattentiveness, and awakeness is a depiction of alertness. Prayer is an important way that disciples stay awake and remain alert. Through prayer, disciples remain aware of pending danger, resist surrounding temptation, prepare for life’s difficulties, and develop self-discipline. That Jesus prayed prior to his betrayal shows that all disciples can face opposition, persecution, and temptation with watchfulness, vigilance, and victory.

Prayer as a Regular Habit. The repeated nature of Jesus’ prayer is explicit in this passage, encouraging us to commit to regular, continuous, and persistent prayer. Prayer should be an ongoing habit of the Christian life. We never outgrow our need for prayer because we never outgrow our dependence upon God. Jesus waged spiritual warfare at Gethsemane with the weapon of prayer. Jesus invited his disciples to pray (14:38), and he himself went for a time of private prayer three times (14:35, 39, 41). When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, he spoke with God, “saying the same thing” (14:39). Faithful prayer is not measured by creativity or innovation. One does not need to be a professional rhetorician or orator to successfully petition God. Childlike faith is the God-appointed prerequisite for prayer. To repeatedly come to God with the same simple requests demonstrates faith and reliance upon God. Like Jesus’ earliest disciples, we pray to express and expand our faith in Christ. To pray with persistence and regularity requires deep dependence upon God and fosters an attentiveness to his presence. We come to God repeatedly, not because he is unable to answer us upon first request. Rather, we persist in prayer to build endurance and stamina in the faith. Heeding Jesus’ example and instructions in this narrative, Christian disciples should inculcate prayer as a regular and ongoing spiritual practice.

The Hour Has Come: Praying as Preparation for Mission and Vocation

Biblical Narrative (Mark 14:41–42)

By the third time Jesus had found his disciples sleeping (14:41), Judas was already approaching Jesus to betray him. In what would soon follow, Judas would kiss Jesus, signaling to an armed crowd the person they were to arrest (14:43–45). Jesus would be arrested, and everyone would desert him (14:46–52). The moment of Jesus’ betrayal would set in motion a cascade of events that would result in Jesus’ trial, suffering, rejection, flogging, crucifixion, and death. Having given himself to rigorous prayer, Jesus was secure in the will of his Father. When Jesus confronted his slumbering disciples for the third time, he exclaimed, “That is enough” (14:41). This was both a sentiment of disapproval of his disciples’ inattentiveness and an expression of readiness to obediently fulfill his divine vocation. Jesus acknowledged that “the hour had come” (14:41). The moment had come to secure redemption for sinful humanity. This was why Jesus had come to earth. Prayer had been a means to prepare and propel him into this most important and painstaking work. The fullness of time had come to fruition, and Jesus would die on the cross.

Jesus acknowledged his vocation with a voice of prophetic fulfillment: “The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (14:41). At that very moment, Jesus’ “betrayer [was] approaching” (14:42). Amazingly, Jesus did not cower or flee in the face of imminent danger. He did not send his disciples ahead of him as a buffer of protection. Through prayer, Jesus had prepared himself for the suffering and hardship that was to come. He embraced God’s will with complete surrender: “Rise, let us go” (14:42). Jesus invited his disciples with him, but did not depend upon their company (cf. 14:50). Jesus knew that he alone would bear the weight of divine wrath and righteous retribution to redeem his fallen creation. Prayer had empowered Jesus to embrace this vocation with faithful courage.

Biblical Principles

Challenges to a Life of Prayer. The brief biblical account of prayer in Gethsemane highlights the difficulty of prayer. On three separate occasions, the disciples fell asleep while Jesus privately prayed (14:37, 40, 41). The disciples’ spiritual willingness was confronted with their personal weakness (14:38). Their good intentions conflicted with the reality of human frailty and feebleness. Jesus’ final question—“Are you still sleeping?” (14:41)—expressed his disapproval of their slumber and the difficulty of cultivating a habit of watchful prayer. Obstacles to prayer abound. Humans are quickly distracted and easily interrupted. Tendencies toward self-reliance and independence grate against the impulse to pray. Overwhelming earthly concerns obscure our vision of spiritual reality. Innumerable intrusions and excuses will cause us to postpone prayer. In the contemporary world, technology itself can be a great hindrance to a life of prayer. However many benefits technology can bring, the absorbing, addictive, and all-consuming nature of the digital world can obstruct our communion with the living God. The fast pace of modern society, the strong desire for instant gratification, and cultural malaise about spiritual reality can discourage prayer, a spiritual practice that requires patience, endurance, and faith. We can become slaves to our inner emotional turmoil, rather than casting these concerns to the Lord. We can grow more dependent on the help of human agents than on God’s supernatural intervention in our lives. Media, entertainment, and general love of amusement can hamper the hard and holy work of petition to God. These and many more challenges can impede and discourage a life of prayer. Although developing a habit of prayer is difficult, it is not impossible. Jesus’ example commends to us a life and practice of prayer. His abiding presence empowers us to do so. Moreover, the fact that Jesus fulfilled his earthly mission (utilizing the practice of prayer) means that we have divine assistance in our pursuit of this most sacred spiritual habit.

Preparation for Suffering and Gospel Mission. At the end of this narrative, Jesus asserted that his earthly mission was coming to a culminating conclusion. The phrases “that is enough” and “the hour has come” (14:41) both highlight this fact. Jesus recognized that he was about to fulfill his life purpose and secure salvation for sinners. To accomplish his life purpose, Jesus faced betrayal and a cascade of other sufferings (14:41–42). Jesus embraced his life purpose in the face of suffering with the words, “rise, let us go” (14:42). Importantly, Jesus’ time of prayer in Gethsemane was a means of preparing him to endure suffering and persevere in his divine calling. As disciples who mold their lives after the image of Jesus, Christians embrace prayer as vital for Christian living and gospel mission. Through prayer, believers endure hardship, face betrayal, and withstand opposition; these are all common realities experienced in the journey of faith and the work of gospel witness. Throughout the ages, faithful Christians have prayed their way through persecution and martyrdom. In fact, greater intensity of suffering deepened urgency, dependency, and fervency in prayer. How Jesus prepared himself for his suffering and crucifixion is certainly a reliable model for his followers at all times and places.

Conclusion

Jesus arrived in Gethsemane with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Up to this point, faithful submission to his Father’s will had guided his life and ministry. This submission would continue. Now, Jesus would fulfill the divine plan for redemption by suffering and dying on the cross. He faced betrayal, accusation, rejection, abandonment, ridicule, and death. In Gethsemane, Jesus fell down on the ground and prayed to his heavenly Father. He asked for God’s help and expressed his willingness to follow God’s will. Unfortunately, Jesus’ watchful prayer was not imitated by his disciples. Instead, they fell into temptation and gave in to the weakness of the flesh when they fell asleep three separate times. Eventually, Jesus told his disciples that the time of his betrayal had come. Having communed with God in prayer, he was ready to face suffering and persevere in his divine mission. In this narrative, Jesus’ Gethsemane prayer is a compelling example for all disciples.

In the end, our lives are fullest when submitted to God’s will. Our submission to God’s will might begin as a dutiful act. However, as we accept God’s open invitation to a life of prayer and petition, surrender to God’s will can blossom into a splendid delight. The spiritual practice of prayer opens the door to communion with God. Prayer cultivates a daily awareness of God’s presence in our lives. As we commit to a life of prayer, we offer God an honest petition to work on our behalf. Prayer acts as a spiritually formative means to confess God’s capability to overcome any challenges we face and to exercise willing submission by surrendering to God’s will. Prayer cultivates a watchful eye and builds vigilance so that we can guard ourselves against the weakness of our flesh and the temptations of the world. So important is this spiritual practice to building stamina, endurance, and maturity in the faith that we should develop a regular habit of private and corporate prayer. An outlet for suffering disciples as much as a means of spiritual warfare, prayer equips God’s people for Christian living and gospel mission.

Session Synopsis

SESSION 6 SYNOPSIS
Faith-Filled Prayer	In this passage, Jesus commends the practice of prayer. Jesus was about to face the most difficult part of his life and ministry. Giving up his life voluntarily as a sacrifice for human sinners, Jesus was about to suffer and die on a cross. As he faced his looming betrayal, rejection, and death, Jesus brought his disciples to a garden in Gethsemane. He wanted to spend time with his community of followers and to commune with God the Father. Jesus brought three disciples further into the garden, inviting them to prayer. Then, Jesus went further in the garden to pray privately. Each time Jesus returned, he found his disciples sleeping. Eventually, Judas appeared to betray Jesus. In Jesus’ example and instructions, disciples learn the importance and practice of prayer in the Christian life. A summary of this story’s principles is outlined below.
The Nature of Prayer	Prayer is an honest and candid petition to God for merciful help in a time of need (14:35–36). Prayer is also intimate communion with God (14:36; cf. Matthew 6:9) and a means of confessing the truth about God (14:36). Prayer is a practice that allows us to express our great emotional need or life difficulty (14:32–34) and to assert our submission to God’s will (14:36). Inasmuch as prayer helps us cultivate a life of obedience, prayer also cultivates watchful vigilance in the face of human weakness, temptation to sin, and spiritual warfare (14:34, 37–38).
Prayer as a Habit	Jesus prayed the same prayer many times in this passage (14:35, 39, 41). Prayer should be a regular habit at both the individual (14:32, 35–36, 39, 41) and corporate level (14:38).
Challenges of Prayer	Many challenges make the practice of prayer difficult (14:37, 40–41). Some of these challenges can be physical, emotional, spiritual, or relational in nature.
Benefits of Prayer	Prayer prepares God’s people to endure suffering and to fulfill their ministry (14:41–42). It fosters unity and watchfulness in the Christian community. It supports people in their time of need and encourages those who are fainthearted. Prayer is a powerful and important weapon in spiritual warfare and the life of faith.

Personal Reflection: Entering the Story

Apply the Text: The word of God is binding and authoritative, the only reliable guide for faith and godliness. True disciples submit themselves to God’s word. In this movement, you will apply God’s word to your lives.

Reflection Questions

Encourage one person to share a testimony about how this story has impacted them so far. Use the reflection questions to examine your life in light of this biblical passage.

Spiritual Practice

Before the Presence of God

In the upcoming week, work through the following spiritual exercise. Try to give enough space to engage the presence of God in an unhurried manner. Take a moment to pray to God in each of the following movements: praise, confession, thanksgiving, request, and intercession. As you practice these different kinds of prayer, reflect on what role prayer should have in your life in the days ahead.

Praise: Declare to God His Worth

Confession: Acknowledge to God Your Sin and Sorrow

Thanksgiving: Express to God Your Thankfulness

Request: Lift Up to God Your Needs

Intercession: Come to God for Another’s Issue

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Ministry Practice: Rehearsing the Script

Minister the Text: God’s word is living and active. Through God’s word, the Christian community is edified. In this movement, you will utilize the biblical passage to minister to other believers and build them up in their faith.

Application Questions

Look at the infographic below. Use the questions to think about how to minister this text to other believers.

Missional Outreach: Publicizing the Truth

Witness the Text: The Bible is a message of God’s gracious salvation to the world. In word and deed, God’s people proclaim the good news of the gospel. In this movement, you will use this biblical passage to reach out to unbelievers.

Strategy Questions

Reflect on the infographic below. Consider how you can use this passage to witness to the surrounding world. Use the suggested ideas to prime your imagination. Then, put together a plan to share this passage with unbelievers, Afterward, reflect on this mission experience.