Luke 22:39-46
Never Before
Three of gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) describe this event, but
Luke’s is the most different. To put it plainly, Luke left out a lot
what the others put in and put in a lot of what the others left out.
All of this chapter thus far has been a brief summary of what
happened on Jesus’ last night on earth. Once Jesus finished the Last
Supper, shared the Passover, instituted the Lord’s Supper, and
finished His teaching, He and the eleven went across the brook Kedron
which runs between the Mount of Olives and the hills of Jerusalem.
There among the Olive trees, Jesus left 8 disciples and took with
Him, three (Peter, James, and John), to pray.
I. Jesus felt a heavy sorrow.
A. Matthew and Mark describe an immense and intense sorrow that
came upon Jesus.
Matt 26:37 And he took with him Peter and the
two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful
and very heavy.
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and
watch with me.
Mark 14:33 And he taketh with him Peter and
James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and
to be very heavy;
34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
B. Notice that Jesus said the sorrow was so great that it was
"even to death."
1. That’s intense!
2. While Jesus was no sinner so could not die, the statemeent
makes me think that the sorrow was so heavy that any
mortal man would have died under it!
C. That is all the Bible says about the sorrow so anything more
that I say will be conjecture, but I believe Jesus may have
been beginning to take the weight of the world’s sin upon
Him.
1. I do not know how God put the weight of all man’s sins
on Jesus.
2. How does one Man take the sins of the whole world upon
Him?
a. Does it entail a physical weight? Are sins physically
heavy?
(1) Perhaps not when we are speaking of just 1 or
2 or even 50 or 60, but what about when
taking the millions of sins for billions of
people?
(2) Is there a physical weight that comes with that?
(3) I cannot say.
b. But I believe there is an emotional weight that comes
with them.
(1) I believe that might have been what Jesus was
beginning to feel.
(2) You and I have felt it, even just bearing our own
sins.
(a) We have felt the guilt, the regret, the
sorrow, and the dread.
(b) Just dealing with the emotional weight of
our own sins is hard enough.
i. Some turn to liquor. Some to drugs.
ii. Some lie awake all night, weeping and
worrying.
iii. Some have ended their own lives because
they could not bear it any longer.
iv. Judas did that!
3. This was all new to Jesus.
a. Jesus had never felt anything like this before. No
human ever had.
b. There were many firsts for Jesus in becoming the God-
Man.
(1) God had never been confined. God is omnipresent
(everywhere). Until God became a man He had
never been confined to one body and required to
be in one place in one time.
(2) God had never needed help. God is omnipotent
(all powerful), but as soon as God put on flesh,
He—like all babies, was dependent upon His
mother, Mary. That dependence would continue
for years yet.
(3) God had never not known. God is omniscient (all
knowing,) but as a human, Jesus set aside His
all-encompassing knowledge to learn and perceive
as a human being.
(4) God has never felt pain. God is God. Nothing
can hurt God, but before Jesus surrenders His
spirit to death, He will feel pain like no
mortal man has ever felt.
(5) God had never felt this kind of sorrow before. I
am not sure how to define it. It was a weight.
Matthew and Mark both say that Jesus became
"heavy," burdened, under a load.
D. Interestingly, Luke does not mention Jesus’ sorrow at all.
1. It is alluded to in Jesus’ prayer but not directly
mentioned.
Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me:
2. Instead, Luke spoke of the three disciples’ sorrow.
Luke 22:45 And when he rose up from prayer, and
was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping
for sorrow,
a. Luke placed the sorrow ON the three disciples.
b. The heaviness of the sorrow caused them to fall
asleep.
3. Obviously, there were several reasons why the disciples
fell asleep.
a. The most obvious is they were TIRED.
(1) It was getting late. Jesus taught a lot and it
took Judas awhile to gather his troops.
(2) But it had also been a very long journey. They
had been traveling since Luke 9! I do not know
how many miles that was or how many days, weeks,
or months it took; but they were probably just
wore out.
b. Things were TENSE.
(1) They were in Jerusalem. This was known to be
the enemy’s territory.
(2) The disciples knew that being there was to take
their lives in their own hands.
(3) In John 11, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was
sick and the disciples saw that He was
determined to go to him, they said:
John 11:8 His disciples say unto him, Master,
the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest
thou thither again?
(4) That is when Thomas made his challenging speech.
John 11:16 Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also
go, that we may die with him.
c. But Luke made it clear that they TROUBLED.
(1) At what? The Bible does not say.
(2) But I wonder if the sorrow that Jesus was feeling
was not a spiritual sorrow, the weight of the
sins of the world.
(3) Regardless of what it was, these mortal men were
not equipped to handle it.
(4) Their systems just shut down! All three of them.
(5) Unless you think this is all make believe, let me
remind you that sadness, being tired, staying in
bed all day are all signs of depression. In
fact, some people who are depressed say they
tended to "sleep all day."
II. Jesus requested aid.
A. You might make a note of that. God does not request man’s
help very often.
B. The battle Jesus fought was real and intense.
1. The weight upon His soul grew greater and greater.
2. Luke gives us a fact not recorded in the other gospels.
Luke 22:44 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.
a. Whatever was upon our Lord, it seemed to be getting
heavier!
b. Was God allow Jesus to gradually take the weight and
sorrow of all mankind’s sins? If so, Jesus had
already begun to pay the price for sin for surely
that would be something of hell.
c. Is this stress? Is this is the dread of the cross?
(1) That is possible.
(2) All three of the gospels record the same prayer
by Jesus.
Luke 22:39 And he went a little further, and
fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt.
(a) It seems to offend some to think that Jesus
might be asking for another means of
delivering mankind from sin.
(b) They say God does not vacillate.
(c) They remind us that Jesus is God and this
had been His plan since before the
foundation of the world.
(d) My answer is:
i. Jesus was only asking for what was in
God’s will, and He never vacillated on
that. It is never wrong to pray for
the best option in God’s will—even if
you know what that is.
ii. Not only was Jesus all God, Jesus was
also all man. Not to realize either
of those truths is doctrinal error.
c. Whatever it is, Jesus was praying so heard that the
capillaries in his head began to burst!
3. Jesus asked for help that night.
C. The call was to the disciples.
Matt 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye
here, and watch with me.
1. A moment ago, I mentioned the firsts for God as Jesus
became a man.
a. One was that Jesus needed help.
b. That began as soon as Jesus became a human being, even
as a He was wrapped in the embryo of a human body.
2. But here Jesus was as a grown man and He wanted His
disciples to pray with Him.
3. Alas, Jesus’ disciples either could not or would not
help Jesus.
3. Luke indicated that perhaps they could not because their
sorrow was too great.
4. But from Jesus’ remarks, most have concluded that the
disciples simply would not.
Matt 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and
findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What,
could ye not watch with me one hour?
41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the
flesh is weak.
(a) Having full stomachs and heavy eyelids, they soon
fell asleep.
(b) It does seem that Jesus was disappointed, does it
not?
5. Regardless, no help came from the disciples.
D. So the Father sent an angel to strengthen Jesus.
Luke 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto him
from heaven, strengthening him.
1. How long did the angel stay? We don’t know.
a. Luke does not mention it, but Matthew and Mark tell us
that Jesus came back to check on the disciples
several times.
b. Did the angel come at the beginning of the end? Did
the angel return when Jesus returned? Did the angel
wait for Jesus to return?
c. So many questions to which we must say, "We don’t
know."
2. Isn’t it interesting that Luke—who was not even there—
was the only gospel writer to include this detail?
3. Someone asks, "How could Luke know an angel came? He
wasn’t even there?"
4. How could Matthew and John know, they were asleep?
a. Sometimes we forget, that it was not visual
verification that allowed Matthew and John to write
their gospels.
b. It was spiritual illumination, the fact that the Holy
Ghost of God told them what to write.
What was it like for God to become a man? We will never know, but
it is obvious that God experienced many firsts. One day, when our
transformation to the sons of God is complete, the shoe will be on
the other foot, and we will be the ones experiencing some firsts. I
believe our firsts will be far more pleasant than Jesus’ firsts.
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