Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our
Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text:
(Luke 22:41)
And
he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from
me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.
Prayer:
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in
your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In Isaiah 63, there’s a question that is asked of the
future Messiah: Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who
treads the winepress?
And the Messiah replies: I have trodden the winepress
alone, and from the peoples no one was with me…their juice spattered on my
garments, and stained all my apparel.
We also read in Genesis 49, when Jacob gathers all his
sons together to bless them before he dies, he gives a special prophecy about
Judah. Judah was the son of Jacob who is the ancestor of Jesus—Jesus is
referred to in the book of Revelation as the lion from the tribe of Judah.
And Jacob says about Judah: He has washed his garments in wine and his
vesture in the blood of grapes.
In recent months, in the Barossa Valley, and other
wine-growing regions, there has been a great rush to harvest the grapes. And
many of you may know about the process of having to tread down the grapes, to
stomp on them with your feet, to crush them down, so that the grape juice flows
out of them. Of course, the grapes are also put into a machine—there have been
all kinds of machines, some more complicated than others, all throughout the
centuries which are called wine-presses, to press down the grapes and juice
them so that it can be made into wine.
And what is said here in the prophecies from Isaiah 63
and Genesis 49 relates very much to our readings tonight, where we are
reflecting on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The name “Gethsemane” means an
“oil-press”. Here we see Jesus undergoing such unbelievable internal suffering.
He is treading out the winepress, and he is treading it out alone. There is no
one who is even able to tread out the grapes except Jesus—no one is able to
endure God’s wrath, his curse, his anger, the anguish of hell, other than
Jesus, the Son of God. We even see his human body pressed under God’s hand to
such an extent that the juice was pressed out of him—he sweated bloody sweat,
so that his clothed were stained with blood. As we read: I have trodden the
winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me…their juice spattered
on my garments, and stained all my apparel.
So today, we’re going to meditate particularly on this
internal suffering of Christ. We read about his great sorrow—his trembling and
shaking. We also read about his strong prayer. And we also read about his agony
and bloody sweat.
Firstly, we read in the gospels about how he went to the
Mount of Olives with his disciples. At that place, there was an estate or
property called Gethsemane which had a garden there. It’s amazing to stop and
think for a moment that just as Adam and Eve fell into sin in such a wonderful
garden full of light and life, Jesus begins his suffering also in a garden. For
those of you who are gardeners, this might be something for your to think about
as you go about your pruning and planting.
Jesus takes 8 of his disciples and says to them: Sit
here, while I go over there and pray. There are asked to keep watch at the
entrance of the garden, but also at the same time, he then takes the remaining
3 disciples, Peter, James and John and takes them with him to keep watch closer
to him. Not long before, Peter, James and John had been taken up the mountain
of transfiguration, and seen Jesus with his face and clothes shining white with
bright light, with Moses and Elijah there talking to him. But now they will see
him with his face and clothes not shining bright light, but glowing bright red
with blood and sweat. And yet, John, who was there, later writes in one of his
letter: the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. It’s this
wonderful, precious, atoning blood of Christ that is our forgiveness, our
purity, our righteousness.
I think there’s also a sense in which Jesus gives us a
wonderful example about prayer. Here Jesus is going through his time of
profound anguish and suffering, and even though he had gone to the Mount of
Olives many times before alone, here he brings along his disciples to be a
comfort and a support to him. And if Jesus, the Son of God, asks his disciples
to watch and pray, how much more when we are experiencing hard times should we
seek out the company of other people, and ask them to pray for us.
We also see here something a bit like when Moses went up
on Mount Sinai. Moses led the 70 elders up the mountain, and then he asks Aaron
to come with him a bit closer again, but when he goes into the cloud to speak
with God, he does it alone. The same happens here: Jesus asks his disciples to
pray at the entrance of the garden, he asks Peter and James and John to come
with him closer and to pray, but then Jesus must enter into his suffering
alone. In fact, the prayers of the disciples are no use here for Jesus. Could
you not watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into
temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. Jesus
receives no human comfort here. His disciples all fall asleep and Jesus prays
alone. He treads the winepress alone.
Now, we read: Taking with him Peter and the two sons
of Zebedee, [Jesus] began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them,
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” It is a great mistake to ask
Christians to be happy all of the time. Many new converts to Christianity
sometimes feel as though they have to force themselves to be happy all day, but
especially when they are with other people. In Anglo-Saxon countries, this is
especially the case—and especially in America where people are supposed to be
in the pursuit of happiness. Sometimes, people are made to feel guilty
for being sad, as if they are failures in life, or they are letting people
down, simply for being sad. And then sadness and guilt spiral around each other
and drag people down into depression.
However, in other countries, such as Germany and Scandinavia, it’s much
more acceptable to be sad. In German, there’s a word, “Weltschmerz”, which
means “sadness at the state of the world”. There’s actually a word for that!
Sometimes, we need to realise that there are actually some things to be sad
about. In the previous year, we have seen the Christian population in Iraq and
Syria completely ravaged by ISIS—this is something to be really, truly sad
about. We see a tremendous amount of people in our own country suffering from
depression. Different people have experienced different “traumas”—someone once
told me that now when we talk about “trauma”, in older times people used to
call it “sadness”. And we know that one person’s sadness can be shared. We see
this especially in the church, where St Paul says: If one member [of the
body] suffers, all suffer together.
But if we could imagine various degrees of sadness and
sorrow, we see here in Jesus the most profound kind of sorrow. All the sadness of
the world is gathered together into one cup and Jesus is made to drink it here.
He says: My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Here Jesus
experiences the sadness not just of earthly death, but of eternal death. He
feels to sorrow of death, and wages of sin, since St Paul says: The wages of
sin is death. Of course, these wages are what should belong to us, and yet
Jesus is the one who willing takes them on himself here.
This is also prophesied in Isaiah 53 where it says that
he is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. All of the world’s
sorrows are laid on Jesus. And he is acquainted with grief—he know it, he has
experienced it, he understands it. As it says in Hebrews: We do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in
every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. In the book of
Lamentations, we read those wonderful words which apply so fittingly to Christ
here: Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is
any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.
So from this sorrow of Christ, we learn something here.
We learn that our human sin, our desire for forbidden fruit, and our constant
inclination to sin cause Jesus such tremendous sorrow. This suffering and
trembling and sorrow is what we actually deserve. Jesus sorrow here is a direct
result of our weak flesh and our sinful desires.
But we also learn something else from this—we receive a
comfort from it. Here we see Jesus himself has suffered the sorrow which we
deserve and he has taken it upon himself. Through his sorrow, we are redeemed
from eternal sorrow, anguish and pain.
Now there are many times in our lives where we might be
allowed to sink into a time of sadness and sorrow. But it is not eternal—it
will come to an end. Jesus will lead us out of it in his own time. For us, we also need to remember that in 2
Corinthians there are two types of sorrow: a worldly sorrow which leads to
death, and a godly grief that leads to salvation. Imagine two criminals who are
in gaol for the same crime. One has a godly grief and the other has a worldly
grief. The one with the godly grief laments the fact that he committed the
crime. He is sad about the lives he has destroyed, and wants to do everything
he can to make amends. However, the criminal with the worldly grief is just
sorry that he got caught.
Sometimes it happens that we have some worldly sorrow,
and Jesus sits with us for a while to teach us from it what godly sorrow is.
And this is a wonderful thing. Tears shared with Jesus are valued by him.
Sadness with Jesus is quality time with him. Don’t you think you would rather
be sad here for short time, knowing that you will be filled with eternal joy
and gladness and happiness for eternity? When we realise our weakness, then we
are plunged into the depths of God’s mercy. As Jesus says to St Paul in 2
Corinthians 12: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in weakness. So when the message, “Rejoice in the Lord always”, are
overshadowed by the sadness of your heart, then sit with Jesus awhile, your
Saviour, the man of sorrow, and wait with him through the dark night, and be
sad with him. One of the psalms says: Weeping may tarry for the night, but
joy comes with the morning. St Peter says: Pay attention [to God’s word]
as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star
rises in your hearts.
Let’s think for a moment now on Christ’s prayer. We read:
He fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might
pass from him. And he said: Abba, Father, all things are possible for your.
Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will… Again, for the
second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I
drink it, your will be done… And leaving them again, he went away and prayed
for the third time, saying the same words again.
We actually read about this in Hebrews 5, where is says: In
the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud
cries and tears, to him who has able to save him from death, and he was heard
because of his reverence.
We notice here, Christ’s wonderful humility. We read that
he knelt down and also that he fell to the ground. Adam’s head was raised far
too high and he wanted to be like God. But Jesus, who is actually true God,
lowers himself with his face to the ground, to atone for our pride. If you want
to be a proud Christian, God will bring you down. If you seek humility and to
bring yourself down, God will raise us up. As Mary says: He has brought down
the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled
the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. We need
to learn this kind of humility, so that the true praises of God can burst forth
from our soul. Abraham says: Behold, I have undertaken to speak with God, I
who am but dust and ashes. Let Jesus lying on the ground be in your heart
so that God will lift you up.
But let’s also listen to the wonderful strength of faith
in the words: Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. In Mark’s
gospel, he emphasises the word “Father”, by also putting it in Jesus’ mother
tongue, Aramaic: “Abba”. Abba, Father. Even though our darkest times,
God is always our Father. He never stops being our Father. We do not stop being
his child when we go through a time of suffering, as if we are only his child
on good days. God is a wonderful Father for us, and he can do anything. As
Luther says in the Catechism about the words: Our Father in heaven, With
these words, God tenderly invites us to believe that he is our true Father and
that we are his true children so that with all boldness and confidence, we may
ask him as dear children ask their dear father.
But also, we learn from Christ’s prayer here his
obedience to his Father’s will. He surrenders and plunges himself completely
into God’s will. He dives completely into the deep end of God’s will. But we
must know something about God’s will—when we dive into the deep end, we won’t
drown, but it is full of mercy, and grace, and wisdom, and holiness, and
everything good. Here for us, we read that in Isaiah 53, that it was the
will of God to crush him. But God crushes Jesus for us, so that we may be
resurrected. It was God’s will that Jesus should die for the sin of the whole
world, and this is also Jesus’ own will. This is Jesus’ perfect obedience at
work here: Christ humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
death on a cross.
So what a wonderful prayer we have here. We see Jesus
humility in his kneeling and falling on the ground, we see the great strength
of his words, the wonderful trust in God the Father, and his submission, his
obedience, which is all done purely for us.
But lastly, let’s read together about a detail that only
St Luke mentions in his gospel. We read: There appeared to him an angel from
heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and
his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Here we see once again not simply Jesus in his sorrow,
but also in agony, in pain. We see the prophecies fulfilled from Psalm 22: I
am a worm and not a man. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out
of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is
dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the
dust of death.
This particular part of Jesus’ suffering, we often call
his “Agony” in the garden. It seems to me that this aspect of Jesus’ suffering
is not often reflected upon any more with the same weight that it used to be.
In times past, it used to be reasonably common to see in books and in
stain-glass, pictures of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Let me read to you a passage from a sermon on this
passage by an old Lutheran pastor, Johann Arndt: The evangelist says that
the same drops of blood fell to the ground. Ah—they must flow from the holy
body of Christ for medicine against sin and for reconciliation with God! On the
earth the sin was committed which must be repaid with Christ’s blood, on earth
must the payment be made. God has not ordained sacrifices to be offered without
blood, so must this sacrifice be made for reconciliation before God with the
most holy blood of God… The earth, from which our flesh and blood was taken,
must again receive the noble and holy blood, so that it would thereby be
sanctified and be for us a fruitful field of God and a bed of rest for our bodies.
Therefore do not fear the grace. If the earth was worthy to receive Christ’s
blood, then it is also thereby made worthy and sanctified to receive your dead
body and finally to give it back up again through the power of this poured out
blood.
What powerful words! One more thing before we finish our
meditation on this passage. A couple of weeks ago, we read the passage from the
Gospel of Mark in church about Jesus fasting in the desert and being tempted by
Satan. And we read: And the angels were ministering to him. Between
Jesus’ birth and his resurrection, where angels were present, there are only
two passages in Jesus’ life where angels appear to help him. The first is in
the wilderness when Jesus is fasting, and being tempted by Satan. And here is
the second passage--when Jesus was sweating blood, St Luke reports: There
appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
And this is such an enormous comfort to us. Angels don’t
come to help in times when our ego needs a boost, but they come to help us in
times of the cross, in times of suffering. The angels ascend and descend upon
the Son of Man, and we see this most especially in Christ’s suffering. So often
people are always seeking some earthly glory and want to invite the angels to
celebrate with it. But the angels won’t be there—they will be there attending
to those who hear the gospel, to those who desire the comfort of the
forgiveness of sins, to those who need God’s strength and his help when all
else has failed.
Here we see Jesus, who for a little while, was made lower
than the angels. And yet, we read in the book of Hebrews: [Jesus] is the
radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he
upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much
superior to angels as the name has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
So let’s praise today our wonderful Saviour Jesus—our
Saviour who has entered into our world with all of its sorrows and sadness, who
continually prays for us, and has atoned for our sins with his holy and
precious blood. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, we can’t began to understand what you
went through in Gethsemane. We commend all our sadness and anguish into your
hands, and we trust in you to bring them to an end. Thank you, Jesus, for the
wonderful gift of your suffering and death, and of your holy precious blood.
Send your angels to protect and strengthen us. Amen.
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