Sermon Tone Analysis

Mark 14:32-41

INTRODUCTION:

As we join Jesus and His men once again, they are in the midst of an eventful night.

They have just finished the Instituting of the Lord’s Supper, vv.

12-26.

They left the room and made their way from Jerusalem down through the Kidron Valley to A Place Called Gethsemane.

On the way to Gethsemane, Jesus discussed with His disciples all of the great truths contained in John chapters 14-17.

He taught them about Heaven, the peace of God, surrender to the Lord, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and He prayed the wonderful and powerful prayer of John 17.

All of this occurred as they made their way to the Garden of Gethsemane.

I. THE PRESSURE IN THE GARDEN-VS.

32-34

The name of this garden was “Gethsemane”.

It probably belonged to a friend of the Lord.

It still exists just outside the city of Jerusalem, in the Lord’s day it was probably a small garden enclosed by a wall and guarded by a gate, v. 32.

It was a place Jesus often visited with His men, Luke 22:39.

The name Gethsemane means “Olive Press”.

Gethsemane was, and is, a place where olive trees grew and produced their fruit.

The olives were collected, placed in a press and the olive oil was extracted from the olives under intense pressure.

Jesus and His men arrive at Gethsemane.

He leaves eight of the disciples at the gate to the garden.

He takes Peter, James and John with Him and they go deeper into the garden.

Why were these men singled out?

It seems that they were the leaders among the group.

They would see and hear things that would serve them as the led the other disciples in the future.

Jesus gave these three a time of special ministry so they could be used to help others to grow.

By the way, the Lord still does that today!

He will put some of His people into situations where they can see, hear and experience things others can’t imagine.

He does it so that He might use them to teach others about the power of His grace and sufficiency, Ill.

Peter – Luke 22:31-32.

A. There Were Internal Pressures-vs.

33-34

– The very language of these verses reveals the truth that Jesus Christ is in a time of intense emotional and spiritual trial.

· He Was Sore Amazed – This phrase means “to be struck with terror.”

The word has the idea of “terrified surprise”.

Jesus knew what was coming, but as He looked into the cup He was about to drink, He was astonished and overcome with horror.

No other human has ever experienced such anguish of soul as that which came upon Him.

· He was Very Heavy– Speaks of a condition of “great distress and anguish.”

· He said My Soul Is Exceeding Sorrowful – This phrase literally means “to be overwhelmed with sorrow.”

Jesus was “surrounded by overwhelming sorrows”.

· He said Even Unto Death– This phrase means that Jesus was “at the point of death” as He prayed in Gethsemane.

It is possible for a person to die of anguish alone.

The Word of God is telling us that Jesus was overwhelmed emotionally and spiritually by what He experienced as He entered the Garden of Gethsemane that night.

Think about the pressure the Lord was under.

He knows He is about to suffer intense physical pain.

He knows that He is about to become sin on a cross.

He knows that He is about to be judged by His Father.

He knows that, for the first time in eternity, there will be a breech in the unbroken fellowship He has enjoyed with His Father.

He knows that He will be abandoned by His nation, His followers and His Father.

He knows that He is about to be tried, rejected and condemned to death by the very people He came to save.

He knows that the most powerful human government on earth is about turn its fury upon Him.

B. There Were External Pressures

– When we read Luke’s account of the Lord’s suffering in Gethsemane, he records this: “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” Luke 22:44.

As He prayed, He did so with such earnestness that the capillaries in his forehead began to burst.

Sweat and blood mingled together and dropped to the ground.

While Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, the body He lived in was a frail human body just like ours.

His body knew weariness, it felt pain, it got hungry, sleepy and tired.

It was just a body.

As Jesus prayed that night, the emotional and spiritual pressures that came upon Jesus were almost more than His body could handle.

But, He did handle it!

He survived the agony of Gethsemane and He made it to Calvary where He died for our sins!

I.

It Was A Place Of Pressure

II.

THE PRAYER IN THE GARDEN-VS.

35-36

(Ill.

Jesus leaves eight of His men at the gate of the garden.

He takes three deeper with Him into the garden.

He tells these three, Peter, James and John, to wait for Him and to “watch” while He goes to pray.

The word means “to give strict attention to something.”

These men were to keep their eyes open for trouble, and they were to pray with Him, and probably, for Him as He prayed, v. 38.

Jesus went deeper into Gethsemane to pray.

I want to look at His prayer for a few moments today.)

A. The Object Of His Prayer-vs.

36

Jesus laid on the ground and began to call on His Father.

He addressed Him first as, “Abba”.

This is an Aramaic term that is equivalent to our word “daddy”.

It is a word of intense intimacy.

It was a word used in Jewish households of the day, but it was a word that no Jew would ever use when he was speaking to God.

Jesus enjoyed such intimacy with His Father that He felt most comfortable calling Him “Daddy”.

In Him, we have the same privilege!

Paul said in Romans 8:15, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

Through Jesus, we have the same privileges that Jesus enjoyed.

We are brought into a place of absolute intimacy with the Father!

As Jesus prayed He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me...” When you read this prayer, do not think for an instant that Jesus is trying to get out of going to the cross.

He was born for that purpose, John 18:37.

He was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”, Rev. 13:8.

No one was forcing Him to go to the cross.

He told the Pharisees, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.

I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

This commandment have I received of my Father,” John 10:17-18.

If Jesus wasn’t praying to avoid the cross, what was He praying for in the garden that night?

In Matthew’s account He records the Lord’s words as follows, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” Matt.

26:39.

It is possible that Jesus was asking the Father if accomplishing salvation another way was a possibility within the Father’s redemptive plan.

It is almost as if He prayed, “If there is another way, let Me do it that way.”

Think about it, Jesus is about to become sin on the cross, 2 Cor.

5:21.

For the first time in eternity, He will be separated from His Father, Mark 15:34.

He will be forsaken, abandoned and judged by His Father.

Thoughts of drinking that most bitter of cups must have overwhelmed the mind of the sinless Son of God!

That “cup” represented all the wrath and hatred of God against sin.

That “cup” symbolized the full, undiluted wrath of God that was about to be poured out on Jesus.

I would also remind you that Jesus is at the point of death in the garden.

It is a possibility that He was praying to live so that He could go on to the cross.