The accounts of the four Gospels about what happened in Gethsemane undoubtedly belong to those sections of the Bible, that give us the deepest impressions of the sufferings and perfection of the Lord Jesus. To occupy ourselves with this is “holy ground.” One must not enter it with “soiled shoes.” For it is as J. N. Darby wrote regarding this scene. “Understanding this passage is more a matter of the condition of the heart than of interpretation.”
A Unique Event
In many respects this scene is unique. The call to the three disciples to keep watch with Him appears here. The loud crying and pleading also appear here. The agonizing struggle and the sweat like large drops of blood are found here. We find all this for the first and only time in the Lord’s life.
Yet something else makes the account of Gethsemane so special. The Gospels are completely silent about what happened in the three hours of darkness. There is only one exception. That is the cry of woe right at the end. Too deep are the sufferings under God’s judgment for our sins. Too incomprehensible for us is what went through the Savior’s heart and soul at the cross.
That is why the detailed description of Gethsemane has such great value for us. A little of the veil is lifted. That veil lies over the Lord’s innermost feelings at the cross. We gain a faint sense of the depth of the sufferings at the cross. We see in Gethsemane how the Savior already suffered. He suffered as He felt in advance what would happen at the cross. And if the shadows of the cross triggered such a fierce struggle – how dreadful must the reality of the three hours of darkness have been.
Not Golgotha
In doing so, we do not overlook that Gethsemane is not Golgotha. The Lord saw the sufferings of the cross before Him in Gethsemane. Yet He did not endure them then. The cup was before Him and He was occupied with it. But He drank it only at the cross.
That is why the Lord went through this severe trial in fellowship with God. He was not yet burdened with sins. Otherwise, He could not have said “Abba, Father.” And the Father would not have sent Him the angel from heaven who strengthened Him (Mark 14:36; Luke 22:43). Only at the cross, in the three dark hours, were our sins upon Him. Only then was He made sin by God. The bitter but unavoidable result followed. The holy God had to forsake Him. And He had to punish Him in His wrath.
No Atoning Sufferings
The sufferings in Gethsemane were therefore not atoning sufferings. Although the event is unique in many respects, we also find something of the example He left us (1 Peter 2:21). And what an example it is.
It affects us especially because it is accompanied by weakness and failure. That weakness and failure belonged to the disciples. We also do not want to overlook it. We want to let it speak to us. Gethsemane is very suitable for giving us deep impressions of who He is. At the same time, it teaches us who we are.
The Situation Comes to a Head
We now want to accompany the disciples in spirit. They followed their Master to the Mount of Olives. We want to look there with reverence. There our Lord spoke the “hard yes.” There He accepted the cup from the Father’s hand.
The disciples had noticed that the situation was coming to a head. When the Lord Jesus wanted to go to Judea again to raise Lazarus, they objected. “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and yet You are going there again?” And when the Lord did not let Himself be dissuaded, Thomas said resignedly. “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!” (John 11:8, 16).
They expected death. After that, the Lord withdrew again. It was “to a city called Ephraim” (John 11:54). Later, when they were again on the way up to Jerusalem, He went on ahead of them. “They were amazed, and those who followed were fearful.” Then the Lord tells them once more He would be handed over and killed in Jerusalem (Mark 10:32–33).
In Bethany they heard Him say something. He said Mary had kept the nard for the day of His burial (John 12:7). All this confused and frightened the disciples. It increasingly awakened in them an awareness of change. They experienced their Master shaken and troubled.
Because of the question from the Greeks, the Lord’s thoughts were directed to the grain of wheat that would have to fall into the ground and die. The shadows of the cross fell over His soul. He became deeply troubled and searched for words. Then the disciples heard the moving words. “Father, save Me from this hour” (John 12:24, 27).
The time was coming to an end. Until then, no one had laid a hand on Him. His hour had not yet come (John 7:30). Then in the upper room came the next shock for the Lord’s soul. He had to reveal the betrayer.
Through the Kidron Valley
Judas had gone out. The remaining ones sang a hymn. Then He went out with them from the house. He went out of the city and down the Kidron Valley (John 18:1). Surely they had often gone this way. Luke says it was “as was His habit.” He also says the Lord had often spent the night on the Mount of Olives. That was during His last stay in Jerusalem (Luke 21:37). But this time everything would change. It was the last time. The fact that only eleven followed the Master must have seemed strange to them.
And the Lord Jesus. Must He not have thought of another? About 1,000 years earlier, that one went out from Jerusalem in deep distress. He was a rejected king. He went through the Kidron Valley. David went “over the brook Kidron.” Then he went “up the ascent of the Mount of Olives and wept” (2 Samuel 15:23, 30).
Kidron means “black.” The Hebrew word qadar stands for a black that is the color of mourning (cf. Jeremiah 8:21). Unlike David, whose mourning surely included feelings of his own failure (cf. 2 Samuel 12:10), the Lord was on the way to become the sacrifice for the guilt of others. When David returned to Jerusalem, he came back to the throne. He returned crowned with the royal crown.
The return journey of the Son of David to Jerusalem ended differently. He hung on the cross crowned with a crown of thorns. The inscription “King of the Jews” was there only for mockery. The reference to the Kidron Valley shows us something. When we meditate on the Lord’s sufferings in Gethsemane, we must not forget the anticipation of the cross of Golgotha. Those sufferings were accompanied by many other sufferings. Even if they are not in the foreground here.
The Lord mourned because His earthly people rejected Him. He wept over Jerusalem, the beloved city that did not want Him. He also suffered because He knew something. He knew His trusted disciple Judas was occupied with betrayal. This happened while his Master prepared to walk the hardest path. No human being ever had to walk such a path.[1].
In how many ways the Lord suffered. And yet He said at the institution of the Supper. “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). For the sufferings of the cross were now imminent. In Gethsemane they cast their shadows ahead. They would far surpass everything He had suffered before.
A Place Called Gethsemane
Gethsemane means “oil press” or “oil vat.” The name is certainly not accidental. Gethsemane is the place we especially connect with the pressure of suffering. That pressure rested on the Redeemer. He saw before Him the judgment of the wrath of God. He saw it in its full weight (vat; cf. Revelation 19:15).
The note that there was a garden there (John 18:1) is not without reason. For there was once a man tempted in a garden. That was Adam in the garden of Eden. Yet in the garden of Eden, which means “delight,” the first man became disobedient. He did so under the most favorable conditions. He thereby brought sin into the world.
But the second man, Christ, was obedient in the garden of Gethsemane. He was obedient under the greatest pressure. In secret, at night, unseen by the world, He was close to the disciples. He was only a stone’s throw away. There the Lord Jesus came into the furnace of the severest testing. He was the true grain offering. And He proved perfectly obedient in it. He was “unleavened,” hidden from the eyes of men. Yet He was exceedingly precious to the Father.
His Willingness
It says that He “comes” to this place, that He “went” there and that He “entered” the garden. These are all expressions showing that no one forced Him to go there. He went there voluntarily. Judas knew this place. He considered it suitable for carrying out his evil plan. The Lord Jesus knew that too. It would have been easy for Him to escape the traitor. But He deliberately went to this place. Like a brave hero, He entered the field before His enemies. Judas’ actions surely pained Him infinitely. He also knew what physical and mental sufferings they would cause Him. But that was not what made the Lord shrink back. “Do not fear those who kill the body,” the Lord had told His disciples (Matthew 10:28). He did not fear them. He could say prophetically, “I have not been disobedient, nor have I turned back. I offered My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard” (Isaiah 50:5–6). This perfect willingness went hand in hand with perfect obedience. It must keep filling us with admiration.
Three Disciples accompany Him
Eight disciples stayed behind at the entrance to the garden. The Lord Jesus took only Peter, James, and John with Him. They were the three who had joined Him on the Mount of Transfiguration. He never burdens beyond ability. So the eight disciples were not warned and rebuked as seriously as the three.
Witnesses of Gethsemane
But the three disciples were to be witnesses of what happened. The sufferings in Gethsemane counted among the sufferings He endured. He endured them to leave us an example. We will look at further reasons later. Here, only one point should occupy us.
He Waited for Compassion
The Lord waited for compassion and for comforters. Those who had seen most of His glory were those from whom He could expect most. He could expect that they would sense His inner condition. But what the psalmist had foretold prophetically was fulfilled here. “I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none” (Psalms 69:21).
Deep Distress
Then it continues, He “began to be grieved and distressed.” There had already been several situations of turmoil in His soul. Compare John 11:33; John 12:27; John 13:21. Yet God also repeatedly granted Him refreshment. Mary’s act of homage did so (John 12:3). So did the Greeks’ question (John 12:21). And so did the Father’s words from heaven (John 12:28). There was also time of fellowship with the disciples in the upper room. There was the eating of the Passover with the disciples. There was the hymn. All of this was refreshment “from the brook” of God. The Father granted it to strengthen Him. Compare Psalm 110:7. Even on the cross, the conversion of the one criminal must have strengthened Him inwardly. He was the unspeakably suffering Savior.
“To the Point of Death”
Here He was again greatly distressed, as Mark reports. He was even fearful. When He Himself speaks of His inner condition, the words sound even stronger. “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38; Mark 14:34). “To the point of death.” The filth of sins that He would have to take upon Himself stood before Him. God’s wrath stood before Him. Being forsaken by God stood before Him. Death stood before Him. Because He saw all this coming, it caused His soul the most severe anguish.
Gethsemane and Golgotha
On Golgotha, during the three hours of darkness, we hear no word from His mouth. There is only the cry at the end. The severity of the sufferings was hidden. It was hidden by the darkened sun. It was hidden by the Savior’s closed lips. No one could see into the sufferings of the cross. No one can see into them to this day. But this scene in Gethsemane lets us sense something of His soul’s distress. The Lord lets the disciples share in His feelings. He thus also lets us share in them. If the shadows of Golgotha shook and terrified Him so deeply, consider the reality. How terrible it must have been.
A moving Request
“Remain here and keep watch with Me,” He asks the three disciples. Rarely did the Lord ask anything for Himself. Perhaps only Peter’s boat (Luke 5:3) and perhaps only something to drink from the Samaritan woman (John 4:9). Here He asks the disciples to keep watch with Him. He had always been the comforter. He had always been the shepherd. He had always been the helper. But here He Himself seeks hearts that suffer with Him. He seeks those who share in His distress. He seeks those who stand by Him with sympathy and comfort. This is an entirely human need. It is also a comfort for all who wait in vain for comfort and for those who wait for genuine compassion. The Lord knows this pain from His own experience.
A Stone’s throw away
Now the limit of even the last three disciples is reached. The Lord must leave them behind. “For He Himself knows our form; He is mindful that we are nothing but dust” (Psalms 103:14). They cannot follow Him in this wrestling struggle. They cannot follow Him outwardly nor can they follow Him inwardly. He would have to hang on the cross in deepest suffering, all alone. He must also be alone now in Gethsemane.
Shadows of Judgment
In many details, this scene is a shadow of Golgotha. Even the “stone’s throw,” a word used only here, may hint at something. Stoning was God’s appointed way in Israel. It was how judgment on evil was to be carried out. Compare Deuteronomy 17:7. And it was exactly “to that place” (Matthew 26:36) that He went to pray. He went where the thrown stone would fall. Everything speaks of judgment. The Kidron does. The oil press does. The stone’s throw does. The Lord must sense in advance what awaits Him on Golgotha. And He “knew all the things that were coming upon Him” (John 18:4).
He Falls to the Ground
Then the Lord Jesus kneels down. Mark writes that He “fell to the ground.” Matthew adds, “on His face.” A gripping picture. Since it was already night, the three disciples likely did not observe it. But it is still worth noting to the Spirit of God. Kneeling emphasizes His posture as a humble and dependent man. That is how He is repeatedly shown in Luke’s Gospel. But He “fell” to the ground. That shows how pressed He was inwardly. Then He brought His requests and pleas before His Father. He did so “with loud crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7). The words of His prayers differ in the Gospel accounts. Surely He presented His requests in various words. Mark summarizes beforehand that He “was praying that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by” (Mark 14:35).
“Abba, Father”
Even if no disciple could follow Him any longer, the Father was with Him. “They both walked on together” (Genesis 22:6, 8). The Father walked with the Son. The Son walked with the Father. Even if the disciples were scattered and would leave Him alone, He could still say this. “Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (John 16:32). The Lord Jesus was in the greatest distress. The Father here, as it were, handed Him the cup. It was filled with sufferings to the brim. Yet the Lord could begin His requests again and again with “Father.” Or with “My Father.” Or even with “Abba, Father.” “Abba” was an address of greatest love and intimacy. See Luke 22:42; Matthew 26:39, 42; Mark 14:36. His trust remained unbroken. Fellowship with His Father sustained Him in this hard hour. He did not speak with Satan. His whole inner being was directed toward the Father.
The Unfathomable Request
Then we hear this request, beyond our comprehension. “Remove this cup from Me” (Luke 22:42). What was it that made our Lord shrink back so much? We have already seen it was not Judas’ betrayal. It was not the “strikers” and the “plunderers” either. Neither was is “disgrace and spittle.” No, what He shrank back from was the “hour.” It was the “cup.” The Lord Himself never spoke about the contents of the cup. Not even here in Gethsemane. These are descriptions of something hardly expressible in human words. From other passages of God’s Word, we know what it involved. We know that God made Him sin on the cross. We know that He was burdened with our sins on the cross. We know that God then turned away from Him. We know that God brought upon Him holy and righteous wrath. It was all that sin deserved in His eyes. Isaiah speaks of Him being “pierced” and “crushed.” He had to endure “punishment” and “stripes” because of our sins. Compare 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5, 10. Who can grasp what that means? Our Savior saw that before Him. And He asked, “Remove this cup from Me.”
Pure Devotion
Nevertheless, this request has nothing to do with self-will or rebellion. The Lord Jesus was completely free of that. He also “offered up” this request (Hebrews 5:7), as one offers a sacrifice. It was just as pleasing to the Father as the following words. “Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:42). The Father recognized the complete purity and holiness of His Son. He perceived that His Son’s abhorrence of sin fully matched His own abhorrence. He also saw that for the One who valued fellowship above all, this was deepest suffering. He valued fellowship with His God and Father above everything. And He knew the love of God like no one else. It was the deepest suffering to have to forgo this fellowship with God. It happened at the very moment when He needed it most. Like fragrant incense, this wrestling prayer also rose up to the Father (cf. Psalm 141:2).
Perfect in Speech and Silence
These words, which He expressed so pleadingly, reveal His perfection very deeply. They do so as deeply as His later silence in the unjust court of men. So He remains the Perfect One in every situation. He is so whether He weeps and pleads, as here. Or whether He is silent, as in the Sanhedrin and Praetorium. He always does what is pleasing to the Father. What person ever had such a desire for fellowship with God? And for whom could the thought of losing that fellowship cause such inner pain? Has any one of us ever felt what sin is in God’s eyes? He is also the Unique One in Gethsemane. The “oil press” yields pure oil. So we can truly say of Him: “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” (Genesis 41:38).
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Matthew 26:39
Footnotes:
- David’s Betrayer
David also had a betrayer: Ahithophel (cf. 2 Samuel 15:31; Psalms 41:10; 55:13–15).
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